Beautiful morning on Silver Pass Lake, very calm with gorgeous reflections of the mountains!
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| Daveed headed down to the lake to get water before heading out |
We had a nice breakfast with good company and hot beverages. Then is was down, down, down. Through several meadows with lots of pretty flowers. I followed Jackie Sue's lead and took a bunch of flower pictures and this is the one and only picture that mostly turned out, my camera skillz are pathetic:
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| I didn't even look at the screen when I took this picture, I was too tired to bend down with my pack on to get the upward angle, so I just pointed the camera "up" and ironically, it mostly turned out and I wasn't even really trying! |
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| Here's one that didn't turn out so good...I could never get the macro setting on the camera to cooperate with me! These purples were one of my favorite flowers on the JMT. My other favorite flowers will be featured in an equally bad photo when we get to Heart Lake in about a week :) |
After what seemed like a long time, we stopped at a creek to take a break, and after consulting the map, found out we'd only gone 4 miles! Woof. Today was a rough day for all of us for some reason. I think it was probably the hardest day on trail for me, tougher than day 2. Only about 11 miles but all downhill.
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| Down into the valley we go! |
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| Down, down, down |
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| This cascade was SO pretty. I stood and stared at it for a long time, it's too bad it's so hard to see in the pic! |
When we reached the cut off trail to VVR we thought WOOHOO!! Only 5 miles to go! It was the longest 5 miles of my life. And it turns out it's more like 7 miles. We walked next to the almost completely dry Lake Thomas Edison- dry because of the several year drought that's been such a problem in California. The lake is man made and the dam has been open to supply water to the cities to the west, like San Francisco, San Diego and even Los Angeles.
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| The dry lake bed of Lake Edison |
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| Still cheesin even though my feet and knees were killin me. The giant calf looks pretty strong in this pic! |
We trudged: feet, knees, legs super tired and sore. Then we got to another trail sign that said 1.5 miles to go. Still felt like the longest mile ever. So tired. Feet hurt. Knees hurt so so bad. Finally, we walked the final gravel road stretch- passing the two 80lb pack girls who saw the look on my face and said "it's only 200 yards that way!"- and made it to VVR- thank goodness! I immediately took my boots off letting our a little cry when I took my first steps in my crocks, my poor feet! Then went straight into the store to find out what the food situation was. The café opened at 5:00 and it was 4:30. We found a spot to set up our tent and then were first in line at the café :)
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| Vermillion Valley Resort, aka Disneyland for Hikers |
Arriving at VVR was hiker heaven. Super nice people. Free beer/beverage upon arrival. Amazing food in the café- fancy! Super tasty and so fancy for a little backwoods place! Fanciest salad I've ever had! Felt so much better once we arrived: dinner, hard cider, pie, showers, laundry. Felt SOOO much better! Feet and knees still hurt and I was walking very stiffly with a slight limp, but so glad to be sitting down!
Amelia was at VVR!! What the heck?! We said goodbye to her at Red's Meadow when her and Carly headed out a day ahead of us. Unfortunately Amelia is leaving the trail due to mega blisters on her feet...12-13 of them :( Her sister is coming to pick her up tonight/tomorrow. And unfortunately Jackie Sue is also leaving the trail :( She hurt her ankle real bad and can't even walk! :( A nice hiker that we'd been leapfrogging with since Red's Meadow (I think his name was Jerome) carried Jackie Sue's pack for her the rest of the way to VVR :( I feel terrible for her, it's so sad. And Daveed is complaining that his foot hurts...a day of injuries unfortunately. Hopefully Daveed's foot will feel better in the morning.
After we all ate dinner, it was fire time. There is a big fire pit where everyone hung out for the rest of the night. There were a couple of crusty older guys telling us all what to do or what not to do-- all unsolicited advice. I felt bad for the Jackies as they were both struggling with the reality that Jackie Sue had to leave the trail and Jackie Ray wanted to continue on and finish. The old guys were pretty insensitive about it all. I got sick of listening to their bullshit and went to bed.
I forgot to take a picture of our campsite, elevation 7902 ft
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