JMT Day 18- Sapphire Lake to Bishop Pass Trail Junction

August 2, 2014

Leaving Sapphire Lake this morning was sad! It's so beautiful! Thankfully we were greeted with more beautiful views! Talk about my happy place!!

Beautiful Sapphire Lake in the morning light

Headed to Muir Pass!

Woot!

Happy Place

Here is a short video of a 360 degree view of where all the above pictures were taken: Happy Place.
http://youtu.be/ZEoa-rP39oo

We climbed up to beautiful Wanda Lake, which is one of the most beautiful lakeside walks so far. The pictures do not capture the deep blue/green color of it. Then we went straight up Muir Pass (11,991 ft). The climb was steep but was over soon enough. We got to see the Muir Hut! It was much nicer than I thought it would be. Pictures and descriptions from older books said it was drafty and creepy. It's been repaired since them. There's a new small glass window and a door with a latch. Nice to get out of the cold wind for a few minutes. I can see why the hut was built, the pass is very exposed on both sides, I would not want to get caught in a storm up here!

Wanda Lake

Headed up Muir Pass (the low point in the saddle in the middle of the frame)

Looking back down Muir Pass at Wanda Lake

Muir Hut is in sight!

Looking north from the top of Muir Pass, back towards Evolution Basin

Muir Hut! 

Muir Pass, elevation 11,991 ft

Lover of The Range of Light

Looking south from the top of the pass

The views from the top of the pass were great!! It was cool to see north into Evolution Basin where we came from, it almost looked like a moonscape of nothing but rocks and a small blue lake or two. The views to the south were incredible. The landscape just keeps getting more and more mountainous! We had a snack break at Muir Hut and watched Daveed chase Merle around in the talus. We were all feeling the altitude a little and then Daveed sprints off to chase Merle and darn near caught him! I wish I would have gotten a video of it! I told Daveed he is the only person I know who would voluntarily sprint up a talus fields to try and catch a marmot at 12,000 feet! Haha! After Daveed caught his breath, we continued on down the south side of the pass and it was down, down, down all day. Feet and knees hurt, as expected.

Headed down the south side of the pass

Tiphane and Jackie Ray crushing the downhill, that's them on the far left already way ahead of us! :)

I love this picture. Humans are so small compared to the wide, wondrous world

I took this video from the same spot I took the above picture of Daveed:

http://youtu.be/xfUTI7Rv2EU

Break time, with a view!

Waterfall/cascade right next to the trail

Merle beat us down the pass somehow! That's him under that boulder, he popped out to say hello just as Daveed was about to pass

Merle

Thousands of tadpoles in Medium Lake!

Here is a short video of the thousands of tadpoles we saw in Medium Lake. The pictures and this video are only of a small section of the shoreline, there were thousands and thousands more all along the lake!

http://youtu.be/Co5BsN4mS-s

We crushed the uphill to the pass but the downhill killed us. We spent the rest of the day descending into LeConte Canyon, which was very pretty but I already miss Evolution Basin! It's my favorite  location so far! We stopped for lunch at a gorgeous spot overlooking the middle fork of the Kings River and a small lake. There was also a pretty cascading waterfall coming off the Black Divide mountains that we could see from where we sat.

Lunch view

After lunch I reluctantly put my boots back on and we continued down, deeper into the canyon. We came across the "whale" rock, which I had seen pictures of from other JMTers blogs.

Loved this cascade

Whale!

Took forever to get to camp! We hauled ass the last 2 miles because there was thunder overhead and light rain had started to fall on us. I wanted to get the tent set up before the storm hit, but it never came. There was light rain for a mile or two but by the time we got to camp- nothing. Phew! Tiphane and Jackie Ray said it didn't rain at all in camp. I was glad to see them when we reached camp, I was so tired! I plopped down to rest my feet while Daveed climbed the boulder next to our tent several times :) Again, his energy, strength and ability to do ANYTHING after hiking all day astounds me. He climbed. I sat and took pictures :)

Tomorrow is the Golden Staircase but a Ranger said they're expecting a big lightning storm in the afternoon so we'll see...planning on an early start so we can get up and over it before the storm.

Camp at Bishop Pass Trail junction , elevation 8759 ft

JMT Day 17- Goddard Canyon to Sapphire Lake

August 1, 2014

Right out of the gate we climbed up and out of the canyon to Evolution Valley- up, up! The switchbacks were bordered by a waterfall that fed into the San Joaquin river and we got a nice view of it about halfway up along with several pretty cascades.

Pretty cascades in the morning light

Here's a link to a short video of the waterfall:

http://youtu.be/uYbvEvYd_B8


When we got to the top of the switchbacks we arrived at Evolution Creek, which was our first, and it would turn out to be our only, shoes-off creek crossing. The water was cold and felt good on our achy feet! Tiphane and Jackie Ray were just getting to the other side when we arrived. Here's a short video of Daveed crossing the shallow creek.

http://youtu.be/WdMtyZXtTA8

We stopped for lunch in McClure Meadow, which was so pretty! Really nice views of all of the surrounding mountains and the calm and meandering Evolution Creek that went all through Evolution Valley. It was like a scene from Hobbiton, lush greenery, peaceful and quiet. We filtered water from the shore where there was a tiny little whirlpool. I tried to take pictures of it but the water was so clear and calm there was no contrast to show up in the picture!

McClure Meadow

This is the creek side place I saw the little whirlpools

Then it was up, up, up again on hot and dry switchbacks to Evolution Basin. Wow! What a wonderful sight! So pretty! I stopped so many times to take pictures and just drink in the scenery. Evolution Lake was drop dead gorgeous! We got an awesome look at Darwin's Bench on the northeast side of Evolution Lake. Evolution Basin is every bit as gorgeous as we had heard! We're in big mountain country now with peaks and passes at 12,000+ ft.

Going up!

Hi mom!

That's Darwin's Bench in the upper left, soon we'll be walking at the base of it!

First view of Evolution Basin. Merp.

As we were hiking along Evolution Lake, we passed two guys with a climbing rope. Daveed just had to ask what they were up to! They had just completed the Evolution Traverse. It's basically a ridge walk from one end of the basin to the other. It's mostly 3rd and 4th class with some technical 5th class. Took the guys 2 or 3 days to complete, not including a day to hike in and a day to hike out. Daveed looked at me with an expression of "we should do this for our next adventure!!!".

Darwin's Bench and Evolution lake

Daveed leads the way!

Evolution Lake

More Evolution Lake

We continued on and crossed the inlet to Evolution Lake on the biggest most sturdiest rocks ever! The crossing was so fun and so picturesque!

Daveed crossing the inlet to Evolution Lake

We camped at Sapphire Lake, which is surrounded by beautiful mountains. Prettiest campsite yet! We're right along the lake with awesome views all around! Tiphane and Jackie got a sweet spot that had some shelter from the wind. We're above tree line here so there is nothing but rocks. No tree cover and no soil. Just gravel. Makes doing bathroom business a bit tricky! We had fun making dinner with Tiphane and Jackie, hiding from the wind in their sheltered camp spot.

Sapphire Lake

Making dinner in the wind shelter at Tiphane and Jackie Ray's camp

The Clan! Daveed stood the tripod on top of Jackie Ray and Tiphane's tent and it was somehow not crooked!

We had great views of the alpineglow on Darwin's Bench from our tent and the mountain directly across from Sapphire Lake.

Alpineglow on Darwin's Bench

Seriously. From the tent!!

My feet killed today for some reason. There was no downhill today so I don't know what gives. My knees hurt too :( I dragged the last 3 miles to camp, the scenery was the only thing that kept me going. I took my boots off at camp and couldn't bend my toes for about 5 minutes, they were extremely painful and sensitive. My big toes and the balls of my feet are still numb and I'm kind of concerned...


It was cold and windy along the lake, which made for drying laundry faster! I hadn't washed my shirt in a few days and the smell was starting to make me gag! Daveed carried a giant rock to rig up my clothesline, I don't know how he does stuff like that after hiking all day! He always amazes me with his strength! I can hardly walk across camp to make dinner and he's lifting and carrying giant rocks! The clear skies and wind will make for a cold night and a cold morning. Early start tomorrow for Muir Pass and to account for many breaks as we descend 4000 feet after the pass...woof.

Camp at Sapphire Lake, elevation 10,979

JMT Day 16- Sallie Keyes Lakes to Muir Trail Ranch to Goddard Canyon

July 31, 2014

We heard loud and scary coyotes last night! Woke me up from a dead sleep and scared the ever livin out of me! The coyotes, or whatever they are, sounded unlike anything else I've heard. Glad nothing came of the commotion!

Daveed and I woke extra early to be on trail by 7:00, we needed to hike our longest mileage today, 13.5 miles. It wasn't too far to Muir Trail Ranch (MTR), we cruised the 6 miles there and we arrived there around 10:00. We enjoyed a cool, shady morning of hiking down, down, down to MTR. The downhill was painful toward the end, especially the very steep section just before arriving at the ranch. The switchbacks down were exposed so we enjoyed scenic, wide views of the valley and surrounding mountains all morning.

Beautiful views down into the valley

Gorgeous and exposed

We enjoyed a morning filled with mostly shade, headed down the switchbacks to Muir Trail Ranch

We got our resupply buckets, sorted, packed and headed out. MTR is not hiker friendly and they treat hikers as an inconvenience. They would not let us use their bathrooms. I was super pissed about it since I had to pee the whole time we were there. I considered peeing in plain sight right in the field by the resupply house and store, just out of spite. But I didn't. If I did the JMT again, I would not resupply at MTR. They are the most expensive resupply and they are rude. I get that they are a horse ranch not a hiker hangout. But we all paid to have our resupplies shipped and then pack mule trained to your location. And we all follow your rules of using your labels etc. If you don't like hikers, stop offering the service. Oh wait. You make boat loads of money off of it. Continue.

If I do the JMT again, I will resupply at VVR and then again at Independence with the Mt Williamson Motel and skip MTR. The only good thing about MTR was the newborn foal we got to see. He was only a couple days old and all legs! Other than that, MTR can kiss my ass.

We headed out of MTR with our heavy packs weighing us down, loaded up with 8 days of food...the up hill out of the ranch was tough! We got rained on and hailed on off and on all day. We stopped at a random spot on the trail to eat lunch under a big sequoia tree, it shaded us from the sun and sheltered us from the rain- which we experienced both several times during the 30 minutes or so we sat under the tree!

We hiked next to the San Joaquin River the last 3 or 4 miles to camp. Very scenic and rocky, reminded us again of scenes from Lord of the Rings.

Here's a short video of the San Joaquin River Valley I took under the shelter of a small overhanging roof/boulder pile next to the trail:

http://youtu.be/1qeH9A4XPoA

We hiked the most miles today, 13.5. Daveed and I both felt better today than the "VVR Day" we all struggled with. I was glad to get to camp though and get my boots off and get off my feet. We found a very nice secluded spot with no one else around. Tiphane and Jackie Ray were about 200 yards down the trail and across the river. Turns out their camp spot was a bit noisy with a few younger dudes that were having a good time that night.

Tomorrow we will be in Evolution Basin!! I can't wait! Everyone says it's so beautiful!

Camp at Goddard Canyon Trail Junction, elevation 8486 ft