Things are getting tight. I awake, check my food supply and find that I have 3 Cliff Bars and one dinner left. That’s it. It will be enough, but it will be uncomfortable. I have been eating two Cliff Bars and one dinner every day. I am starting to discover that this is actually not quite enough food each day. And now we have a full day of walking ahead, an evening camping, and another 9.4 miles the next day before the ferry to VVR…
Purple Lake was lovely. Between Purple Lake and Lake Virginia, I met a PCTer named Lucky Nalgene. We chatted a bit about passes and snow and terrain. While chatting, two more folks popped up from behind me, Alex and Sye. They were also going to VVR, but they were taking a different trail than we were using. Floyd joined us and we all chatted a bit. Alex and Sye headed off to Lake Virginia and we made a quick plan to meet there to look at maps together. I stayed a bit to talk with Nalgene about his solar charger.
We stopped for a while at Lake Virginia, talked with Alex and Sye, and moved on. I made a dumb choice and took the harder of two rock hops across the Lake Virginia outlet and fell in the lake. It was a fine and short fall. No injuries. I only fell in to about waist deep. Nothing in my pack got wet. I did have to remove my shoes and wring out my socks, but that was the worst of it. And, a great place to reinforce a lesson about safety and care. I made better decisions after that.
We found a great place to camp near Squaw Lake just short of Silver Pass and as we were setting up, Alex and Sye showed up. They were moving on, but stopped to chat and give us some food! I had mentioned the food situation earlier and they were eager to help us out. Alex gave us a mashed potato dinner she had put together with great ingredients, as well as two fancy bars. One was a pistachio/sesame bar and the other was a honey/sesame bar. Both very nice! It is lovely to not be hungry or worry about becoming hungry! Big thanks to Alex and Sye!
My feet continue to heal on the treatment regiment I have worked out, and I am not experiencing any discomfort on that front. But, I am also running out of Duct Tape. I think I have enough to make it to VVR…
More blowdowns on the way and all through DPNM – but not at all as bad as we were told. There were some difficult parts, but nothing like what we were warned about. And the trail crews were out in force rocking those trees. We met a nice NPS worker who was leading his advanced crosscutting class.
Across from DPNM, we could see the field of devastation from the fire a few years back that added to the blowdowns this season. We did not know at the time that we would actually walk through that field of burned trees.
We found poor signage through the park, though it was closed and maybe not all the signs were out. We ended up down at Rainbow Falls, which was also nice. Luckily, that’s where I figured out what was happening before we walked all the way to Fish Creek. We backtracked and rejoined the JMT. The climb out was nice.
When we saw that the trail was taking us into the field of burned trees we were excited. As in other instances throughout the trip, it was fascinating to look at something on the horizon and then be there walking in it a few hours later. Getting a close-up look at the way the land responded to the fire was also interesting – seeing the new life growing through the bones of the old.
The hike up to Red Cones and the walk along the ridge there was also lovely. Anytime you get to walk on “level” ground after a lot of descent and ascent, it feels nice!
We found a host of crap at a creek crossing – old fuel canisters and a Bear Can that felt full. The stuff was heavy and rusty. Sadly, we left it there. That was some trash we just could not pack out.
A little hiccup later in the day…We could not tell whether or not that creek with the trash was Deer Creek. There is no water between Deer Creek and Duck Lake – about 5.5 miles. About 1 mile after the creek, I realized that had been THE creek and we were kinda screwed. I kicked into gear to try to make Duck Lake before dark. The distance between Jake and I grew steadily and after a bit I heard him calling out. Luckily, he was fine, just wanted to re-connect. Also luckily, not long after that reunion, we found an unmarked stream and set up camp for the night.
Can you feel it? We are getting closer to VVR! It is also clear to me at this time that I am probably going to run out of food before we get there.
Another night where I was not cold despite the cold air effect of sleeping next to an alpine lake!
We did a shorter day after yesterday’s exertions of Long walking (for us) and 2 passes. This was also the beginning of the descent into Devil’s Postpile and the sea of blowdowns we had been warned about back in Yosemite Valley.
There was a huge fire in the area, I think in the late 90s. And the large storm that came through recently knocked down a ton of trees. We were warned to expect 40-60 miles of blowdowns near Devil’s Postpile. I found that odd since the trail is only in that area for a fraction of that distance. We interviewed all the Northbound hikers we met to ask about the situation and discovered that the trail crews were in full effect clearing the PCT and JMT. (The Devil’s Postpile area is another where the JMT and PCT diverge for some miles.) But we still thought it prudent to allow for extra time here, and to not set ourselves up to tackle the whole region at one go.
We did have some blowdowns to negotiate, though we could see evidence of the trail crews’ work also. Much of the time we could stay on the trail and go over, under, or through. But there were a few instances where leaving the trail was unavoidable. Generally, you head for the root ball and can navigate that way, but there were also places where so many trees came down in one place from different directions that there was no clear “best” direction. Having two people saved a lot of time as we could split off and report findings on good routes through the trees.
It was a beautiful day of walking and we were ready to stop when we did. A few miles of blowdowns makes 10 miles feel like 15. Our friends the mosquitoes came back tonight, but we found a nice sandy camp amidst large rocks overlooking a fast flowing stream, donned our head-nets and got into tents as quickly as possible.
My feet are doing better. The past few days I have been sanitizing them in the morning. Then applying liquid New Skin. And finally covering the area with Duct Tape. In the evening, I sanitize again and lather on some ointment. The Duct tape stops further rubbing and I don’t even notice them during the day!
Stay tuned for Day 8 – our intrepid adventurers get a little bit turned around in Devil’s Postpile National Monument!
The rest of the hike along Lyell Canyon and up to Donohue Pass was really fantastic. (You will find in short order that I shall run out of adjectives – and none of them are good enough. Check out the pics.) We did run into patches of snow, some of which obscured the trail. But I can’t think of better place to have to stand around and look at the scenery in order to do a little trail-finding. The pass itself was probably the worst, route finding wise, but we got it sorted out. I should stress that this was very easy snow to walk on, the difficulty was simply with locating the trail.
Up on top we got our first taste of altitude hitting 9,680 feet. Our first 360 degree views. Our first clear look at some of the path ahead. Standing there and being able to see Mammoth was fun. We were not actually going to Mammoth, but I knew that Red’s Meadow and Devil’s Postpile were close to Mammoth. As a map guy {“Get your maps out Renfro(e)”} it was awesome to be able to look out into the wild and see where we would descend and turn and climb!
By the time we got down to Thousand Island Lakes, we were both ready to stop, but we could not figure out where to camp, so we moved on. (I imagine that we would have no trouble with this now, but we were still Sierra Newbies.) The first place we found was also our first “no camping area under restoration” site. I was tempted to camp there anyway, but after a small search, Jake found nice, legal camping and we were soon in our tents.
Looking at the maps before bed I realized we did TWO passes in one day! I had to look at the maps to find that out because one was the second JMT pass that it is difficult to even notice, Island Pass.
I am feeling good, grateful for my new-found warmth – but getting a little concerned about my feet and hoping that I can turn this whole “blistered heels” thing around.
Last night was the coldest so far and one of the coldest we would face on the whole trip, and it was the warmest I had been thus far. All the new gear worked splendidly and the feet-in-stuff-sack trick, Brilliant!
Despite that. It was still very cold outside when I awoke. As expected, my boots were frozen solid. There was frost all over my tent inside and out. I spent quite a while trying to light a fire with wet wood. My efforts succeeded in wasting all of my fire-starter (dryer lint) much of our “excess” paper, and I got a wicked nice burn on the tip of one finger.
But, the sun came out and started to work its magic. Jake and I had a quick discussion and both agreed to take a zero, get our gear dried out, and let Donahue Pass – our first real test a few miles ahead – thaw out for the day as well.
With that choice made, we spread our gear out on large flat rocks in the sun and enjoyed a lazy day in the beauty of Lyell Canyon. We did eat a little too much of our extra/emergency food and squandered some iPod power as well – but it was a lovely time.
Another cold night sleeping in almost all my clothes. I am beginning to think that something needs to be done. We are not even at 9,000 feet yet.
Jake and I liked Tuolumne, and the grill, enough that we decided to do another half-day. We would eat breakfast at the grill, then go through our gear and the “new” supplies from our box and collect the excess to leave in the hiker box. Jake was thinking about mailing some stuff home as well. By that time, the grill would be serving lunch and we could eat a little more and pack out more food for another night of “no-cook” town eatin’ out in the woods!
I was also very focused on searching the store for more layers. I needed another shirt of some sort and a winter hat to go over my balaclava at night. If I could buy a sleeping bag or down jacket off a hiker or store worker, I would do that too.
The nice folks at the grill let me leave my phone in there charging while we did chores. I was underwhelmed by the additional warm clothing selection at the store, and was “joking” with the cashier about buying his jacket and he said, “Why don’t you go down the street to the Mountaineering shop?” Turns out that the gas station we had seen has a decent outfitter inside!
One of the nice clerks helped me out and I got both an awesome long sleeve very lightweight (mass that is) fleece shirt and a new synthetic sleeping bag (rated 20 degrees) for less than $150.00! (Thanks Dad!) The sleeping bag I had with me was a synthetic rated at 20 degrees, but it is 16 years old, and because I did not know any better, I kept it inside a stuff sack all those years. I had washed and dried it to try and bring some of the warm and loft back – but my feeling and the best guess of the clerk was that the bag was probably rated between 50 and 60 degrees now.
We bought a combo pack – hat, gloves, and scarf, that came in a bag made of the same soft and warm material as all the items inside. Jake wanted a hat too, so we split it up. He took the hat and scarf and I used the bag they came in as my hat. We mailed my old sleeping bag the new gloves and a few other things back to PA and left a TON of stuff in the hiker box.
Feeling much better about life, we ate a little lunch, packed out more sandwiches for dinner and headed back out on the trail.
We met our first on-duty Ranger in Lyell Canyon as the temperature dropped and the clouds gathered and headed our way. The Ranger did ask if we had a permit, but did not ask to see it. He did not even ask us if we had bear canisters. I guess we seemed like honest folks. He had no real intel to share on the storm and we moved on.
The first mile or two of Lyell Canyon comprises meadows with the now familiar 1-3 foot muddy trench for a trail. Still bent on following the rules, Leave No Trace principles, and wanting to preserve the meadow – I slogged on through the middle of the muddy trench. The the first drops of sleet began to fall, and quickly turned into hail. Luckily, we were just clearing the 4 mile “no camping” zone and in a short time found a place to set-up and ride out the storm.
Just before bed, I took my gross mud covered shoes (I could not even see the laces anymore) to the river and cleaned them. I was almost positive they would freeze overnight regardless. So I chose clean and frozen over gross and frozen.
In other news – i am starting to get blisters on my heels!
I put on my standard sleep gear, plus my new fleece and hat, and i remembered another trick i read somewhere. I put my feet inside an empty stuff sack inside my sleeping bag. What a difference! It was like having foot mittens!
I slept in the same amount of gear as the previous evening and again I was very cold all through the night. But the sun warmed me soon enough and it was a nice half day into “town”. We got our box. Got food at the grill, and found the Backpacker’s Camp deserted. We could not even figure out how to pay as there was no honor box. I found some Rangers who said that the camp was closed but that we could stay there if we were respectful and used the privies in “town”.
I used the afternoon to rinse out all my clothes and gave myself a quick rinse too. We got a few beers from the store and played cards at the picnic table at our camp. We got a nice dinner from the grill, made a fire and enjoyed the evening.
We discovered that there was a Search and Rescue party camped nearby doing some training and because of that, one of the outhouses in the woods was unlocked, which was something of a relief for us!
I was starting to mellow out a bit, getting into the swing of the hike by the time we settled down in our tents for the night.
Last evening was a bit challenging for me because I was rather cold. I went to sleep wearing my long johns, Adventure Pants, socks, long sleeve Under Armor base-layer, clean hiking shirt, rain jacket, gloves, and balaclava – inside my sleeping bag, inside my tent with the rain fly on. And I was still cold. Not “OH MY GOD! We are all going to DIE!” cold, but still cold.
I woke early and tramped about camp trying to warm up while waiting on the sun.
Once the sun hit me, I felt better. Today it felt like the hike REALLY began. The difference between waking up in the woods to hike and waking up in a hotel room an hour and half away from the woods with a few hours of “town chores” left to do is immense.
The views changed dramatically just a quarter-mile or so out of our camp. Today we got our first real glimpse of the High Sierras and a little taste of ridge trail hiking. We conquered our first pass as well. It does not compare to the passes in the later part of the journey – in part because it is one of two passes on the JMT that do not really seem like passes, and that have no distinguishing marks to identify them as such – neither sign, marker, nor even a vista.
The mosquitoes began to make their presence known a mile or so prior to ascending Cathedral Pass, and they stayed with us for most of the day. Once you descend from Cathedral Pass, you see your first of the High Sierra meadows. I had read many guide books and trail journals, but they don’t really prepare you for the sight. Lush grasses, little streams, flowers and skeeters, in the middle of tall, snow-covered peaks!
This land is rather delicate and the trail becomes a trench, often more than 2 feet below the level of the meadow and filled with delicious shoe-stealing mud.
Slogging through the meadows in the mud with my many new bitey winged friends, I decided not to stop and check out the High Sierra Camp, but pushed on towards Cathedral Lakes.
We found a nice place to camp at Upper Cathedral lake, dried our boots and socks on rocks in the sun and ate while soaking in the view and reflecting on the day – trying to recognize where we were and what we were doing. I have heard stories from many a distance hiker, but it is hard to describe until you experience it – it is simply difficult to transition your brain out of “town mode” and into “woods mode”. I will return to this a few times over the tale and hopefully be able to paint some kind of picture.
Free Maps Online – Day 1 – Maps 18 and 17 – these are not perfect, nor the maps we used, but they are one of the better, free, online options.
We used Tom Harrison’s Map Pack.
We left our Yosemite Valley base camp (America’s Best Value Inn in Oakhurst CA) loaded with our gear and sandwiches from Von’s for dinner, and drove to Tuolumne Meadows to drop off a box of supplies. It turns out that this was an unnecessary trip as one can do a full resupply from Tuolumne easily. But we did not know that and i had made 9 tasty easy cook meals at home and wanted to enjoy them on the trail. With a resupply so close to the start of the trail (about 24 miles in) it was too tempting to leave ourselves a box there and only hike with 3 nights worth of food.
Along the way, we picked up a hiker, Eli, hitching to Tuolumne. We had time and space in the car and wanted to help as well as stock up some hitchhiking karma for later in the journey.
After dropping the box and exploring the store, we returned to Yosemite Valley, carefully moved all items with scent from the car to the bear box and began our journey in earnest at 1 PM.
The beginning of the hike is lovely, but less than a wilderness experience. The first few miles of the trail are paved and there are tons of day hikers from all over the world, with varying degrees of knowledge about trail etiquette. It is quite a steep haul from the valley to the top of Nevada Falls, and we were grateful to have as little food as we did.
This was the beginning of my quest to discover better water carrying practices for distance hiking. On day hikes, and overnight trips with my dog, i have usually carried 5 liters at a time – which is about 10 pounds. I knew i could not do that on this trip. I started with 3 liters, having noted the last point to re-supply by treated tap water, and the likely stream crossings.
At the top of Vernal Falls, i remembered something i read a long time ago and found a small pebble to suck on. Sucking on a small stone helps keep the saliva flowing in your mouth and makes me feel less of a need to drink – particularly on ascents. I did this every day for the rest of the trip, hiked with a rock in my mouth.
The crowds thinned out a good deal at the top of Nevada Falls and once we passed Little Yosemite Valley, we were mostly alone. We found a nice camp past the Cloud’s Rest Trail junction on the top of a hill and had some nice views.
There were loads of deer in the area. I saw at least 15 from our camp and heard more. 3 or four came within 5 feet of me and we stood looking at each other for a while before they moved on.
Sleep was quick in coming for us both. It had been a good day, the hike was truly begun, and we would not encounter crowds like that again – not even at Mt. Whitney.
Resumption/Fill In/Conclusion – missing details from the Colorado River up to the Bright Angel Trail Head.
Black Suspension Bridge
When you first hit the tunnel and emerge onto the black suspension bridge there is a swirl of emotion and sensation. Your body is thrilled because you are walking ON LEVEL GROUND!! And you know about the water spigot in 200 yards or so. You have accomplished ½ of your goal. And the views are really something. Not that they were not special on the way down. But these are views you don’t get anywhere else. You have to earn them – and it feels nice.
Looking West from the Black Suspension Bridge
There are some placards with information about the bridges and some ruins and a few other things. We did not spend time on these on this trip because we have a 3 night 4 day hike planned in September that gives us two nights at the Bright Angel Campground (close to these signs) and there will be plenty of time to explore more then.
We were both pleased with our planning, water/food consumption, and general handling of the descent. By the time we hit the spigot, we had both finished our Camelbak supply, and one of our gatorades. I had an untouched liter of gatorade, and Jake would have also had he not shared with those in need. I had one cliff bar on the descent. I am not sure, but I think Jake had one 7-layer burrito and one cookie.
After drinking a few liters each, wetting heads, washing hands and faces, wetting hats, and re-supplying to carry to 2 liters each, we decided to move on down a ways to a better spot to take a real break and eat some food.
The silver suspension bridge has a lot more sway and give than the black, and not all the panels seemed to be firmly attached, which made for a more thrilling crossing! The remaining 2 miles or so to River Resthouse were smooth sailing. There was some rise and fall, but all very gentle and at several points, the trail turned to sand and it was like walking on the beach for 50 yards at a stretch. I cannot over stress the degree of gratitude and joy our muscles shared with us for doing something other than walking straight downhill.
Near River Resthouse, we did a short rock hop to the Colorado River and I touched that sucker for the first time. We took off our shoes and socks and plunged our feet into the ice-cold water. While enjoying that sensation we each had a 7-layer burrito and a chocolate chip cookie from the Bell that Jake humped in for us to have this exact moment. The Bell has never tasted so good.
After drinking a liter each and having a rest, we got back into hike mode and ascended. This ascent trail was also lovely, and different from other sites I had seen so far. Different color rocks, different formations and a different kind of path followed by the trail. About a mile or so in, the trail got steep quickly. The trail was still nice – even from side to side, not many obstacles on the trail itself – but it was much steeper than we had been prepared for. I learned later that this is called “The Devil’s Corkscrew” – both for the look of the switchbacks and because this area traps heat better than other areas and can often reach 130 in the summer. We both felt a huge change in temperature and started to feel adverse effects. My head was throbbing in a way that I know is related to the initial signs of heat exhaustion and dehydration. We were going as slowly as we could, stopping often and sipping on our meager 1 liter each.
It is only 3.2 miles from the River Resthouse to the spigot at Indian Garden – but it was a tough there for a while. We could both tell when we cleared the corkscrew (not that we knew that name at the time). We probably had at least 1.5 miles left, but the heat broke, the trail smoothed out a bit and we both felt better and stronger.
Looking back, we both had the same three thoughts. 1) Had we decided to eat at Indian Garden instead of at the River, we would have filled up to at least 3 liters each if not more, and with how awesome our bodies felt, had we not stopped at the river, we would have plowed through that ascent and been at Indian Garden in no time at all and feeling fine probably with extra water. 2) Had we filled to max water capacity (me 5, Jake 4-5 liters) at the spigot between the bridges and still had our break at the river, we would have had ample water for that ascent and felt fine the whole way. 3) Option 1 is no good unless there is some overarching reason for such behavior. We are not marathoners, we are there to enjoy the moments and soak it in. From all we have both learned about the Canyon, wherever it is physically possible without overburdening to do so, one should probably fill to max capacity for one’s own safety and to be able to help the multitudes of underprepared folks one meets out there.
We hit Indian Garden and made it to the benches at the spigot at the absolute last possible moment one could do that without turning on a headlamp. I stayed there for 15-20 minutes. In that time I drank three liters of water and filled my Camelbak to 2 liters for the next section. I ate my second of 4 Cliff Bars. I was not really hungry, but it had been a long day and there were about 5 miles of ascent ahead of me and I was looking at someone temporarily crippled by lack of intake – I wasn’t taking chances.
I drank almost a liter over the next 1.5 or so miles to Three Mile Resthouse and drank a half liter there, filled back up to 2 liters, and repeated that pattern over the next two legs of the ascent. At the 1.5 Mile Resthouse, I ate one more Cliff bar.
When we reached the top, my legs were sore, but overall I felt good. Jake drank less at Indian Garden, and less on the ascent. I don’t know if he ate anything from the River to the Rim. It is a grueling day – no question. But I think that maintaining fluids and some body fuel makes a big difference on that final ascent, and in how you feel later.
Bottom line – this was a fantastic trip! I am so thrilled to have done it for so many reasons. I got to see things I had only imagined. I conquered a few internal fears and added to the well of good experiences to draw upon in hard times. I re-learned how much hiking (like any other pursuit) is at least 90% a mental game. And I gained some good mental fodder for the upcoming backpacking trip into the Canyon. Having done the 17 mile trip that we did, I know I can hump my full pack the 7 or 8 miles from the Rim to the campground.
Exercise is good. Getting back out into nature is good. And who would have known – talking to strangers ain’t that bad either.
Hope y’all enjoyed it. I may or may not have time to write anything else between now and departing for California and the John Muir Trail. But I will get back to you when I can.
