July 17, 2014
Day 2 would go down in my journal as one of the toughest days on the trail. We heard from many, many hikers that the first 3 days on the trail are the toughest and a lot of people quit the trail after just 3 days, when they reach Tuolumne Meadows. I thought they were full of it as I couldn't believe anyone would quit after just 3 days, I mean you've only just begun! Then we started day 2. And I didn't eat anything for breakfast because I wasn't hungry. Then we continued our upward trek, up, up, up 700 vertical feet of gain in the first couple miles: GOOD MORNING!! Whelp, that was the first and last day on trail that I did not eat breakfast. I was completely out of gas within the first mile! As we continued to gain elevation, I continued to slow down...and gulp for air...and then the bugs came...and then I was out of powers. We had to stop to eat something and take a break. I ate with my bug head net on <--- the bug head net would become one of my favorite accessories on trail!! Kept the bugs out of my ears, eyes, nose and mouth and kept me sane and from having to swat at bugs constantly. Hurray for the bug head net!
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| Those are sour patch kids I'm eating, breakfast of champions! |
As we were sittin on a rock eating our breakfast, a friendly gal came trotting by and asked if we were doing the JMT. We smiled real big and said "yep!". Then she said "can I see your permit?". Fudge. I got out our permit and she said "you came all the way here from Illouette Basin this morning?!". I tried to be vague and said that "no, we camped on "this" side of Illouette...", she asked if we stayed in Little Yosemite Valley (LYV) the night before and when we said no, she said OK, gave back the permit and wished us happy trails. I thought we were going to be in trouble as our permit had us camping south off the JMT in Illouette Basin for our first night...well, I thought that was dumb as it would've added another day to our trip, so we didn't stay there and instead camped at Clouds Rest. Really, it seems that as long as you do not stay at LYV no one really cares. LYV permits sell out instantly as a lot of people hike there, stay the night and then summit Half Dome the next morning. I thought for sure we were going to be in trouble! Great! Our second day on trail and we get....kicked off? I don't know what they would do but I was grateful the gal didn't really seem to care. Phew.
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| The view from the trail a few miles east of the Half Dome cutoff trail. The Sierras seriously never disappoint |
As we started up the switchbacks at Sunrise Creek I hit another wall. It was so HAWT! And dry! I stopped at every single corner of every single switchback to sip water and gulp oxygen. All the corners were shaded so I would hide in the shade for as long as it took to take 3 sips of water and 3 deep breaths, then carry on. This was my cadence all the way to the top of the 1000 ft gain of the switchbacks , about 2 hours! Daveed tanked it up the switchbacks with seemingly effortless pace, stopping patiently to wait for me every so often. And this was the day that the "shade" rule came into existence: I would only stop in the shade. If Daveed stopped in the sun, I would either stop before I got to him or walk past him until I found a shade patch :) He would tease me and call me a princess, until a day or 2 later when he adopted the same rule :) We became shade dwellers during the day and sun seekers in the early mornings once we got to higher elevations.
After the Sunrise switchbacks we were rewarded for our efforts with our first views of Echo Peaks and Cathedral Peak. We stopped to have lunch and enjoy the beautiful views. I couldn't get my boots off any faster. The sweat and heat had warped my feet into what looked like pale, wrinkly, anemic fish. I also had a small blister that started to form on the back of my heel, which would plague me the rest of the trip. It was easily dealt with by putting duct tape on the outside of my liner sock. I found that nothing would stick to my feet once they started sweating so I tried putting the tape on my liner sock and it worked beautifully. I was also able to reuse the tape; I would wear the same socks without washing for 2 days in a row. Which meant I used half as much duck tape and didn't need to carry as much with me. It also meant my feet were extra ripe smelling!!
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| Decent lunch spot |
With tired, aching feet we chugged on until we arrived at Sunrise High Sierra Camp. A lush, spongy meadow opened in front of us with great views of Cathedral Peak. An old chatty lady approached us and informed us that there were small campsites on the hillside, a spigot for water and a pit toilet. What??!! Really??!! Water and a pit toilet?! We HAD to stop and camp here. I was super tired and practically begged Daveed to stop here to camp. He agreed to explore the hillside to find the water and pit toilet, then we ate an early dinner around 4:00. Then I was really done. Our goal for the day was Upper Cathedral Lake, which was another 2 or 3 miles away and another 800 feet of gain. I was so full and sleepy after eating. Daveed agreed and we camped where we were for the night.
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| The meadow at Sunrise High Sierra Camp, with views of Cathedral and Echo Peaks |
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| "Laundry" |
We heard the dinner bell ring for the campers who were staying at the staffed and very expensive Sunrise High Sierra Camp. Imagine that! Dinner served to you. Wow! All supplies are packed in daily via pack mule trains, all garbage is packed out daily via pack mule trains. A strange concept to me. But I suppose as long as people continue to pay for it, they'll continue to do it. At any rate, I appreciated the water spigot and was very psyched on the pit toilet!
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| Pack mule train passing us on the trail |
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| Camp at Sunrise High Sierra Camp, elevation 9300 ft |
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