- Today’s Miles: 11.2
- Ascent: 1,178 ft
- Descent: 3,673 ft
- Total Miles on Trip: 116.0
Right before going to bed last night, I checked what mile we are at on the JMT. 100! Yes, we started at Tenaya Lake and have hiked Cloud’s Rest and Duck Pass, both off the JMT, but I’m going to celebrate anyways! Whoo-oo! 100 miles! I feel as if there should be some grand reflection on this arbitrary mileage marker but nothing comes to mind. It just feels nice knowing we still have another week out here.
It’s a somewhat sluggish start to the morning as getting warm proves to be a challenging feat. Despite wearing gloves, my hands quickly become frozen and doing simple things like boiling water and packing-up proves to be difficult. When we leave camp, we get a couple minutes in the sun but quickly dip down into a shaded valley. I make the mistake of trying to filter water in the valley and my hands are frozen all over again. I’m not able to grip my trekking poles and tuck them under my armpit. It occurs to me to try to put on more layers, but that thought is quickly followed by images of the endless zipping and unzipping that would require. The net final decision is no stopping, keep hiking.
Kevin and I arrive to a sunny section of the trail around 8:30 A.M. We sit on rocks that are bathing in the sun and once our hands have warmed up, eat breakfast. Warmth and food!
We pass by Sally Keyes Lake which really looks like two lakes, due to the gigantic rock granite that runs in the middle of the lake. Camping down there looks epic and I make a note to remember it if I come back out here. About a mile after passing Sally Keyes, I see A brown rectangular shape out of the corner of my eye. I venture a couple of hundred yards off trail and find a rustic but functional looking cabin. It’s a shock to see any type of man-made structure out here, as everything feels so remote and untouched. There are a number of locks and no trespassing signs posted on the door, and we read a sign that says “Snow-Survey Shelter”. The sign tells us how this shelter is essential to the safety of snow surveyors during the winter. A snow surveyor!? I think of how that sounds like an excellent chance to backcountry ski and get paid.
We reach the junction for Muir Trail Ranch around noon. It’s a mile off trail to get down to the Ranch where we will resupply. I wonder what exactly this place is in the middle of nowhere. It’s not accessible by car and resupplies are brought in by a pack mule. We get to a gate that says welcome to Muir Trail Ranch and states guidelines for social distancing. On come the masks and in we go.
We’re greeted by a friendly staff who checks our IDs and walks into a large shed where our resupply buckets are being held. We were asked to send our resupply in a 5 gallon plastic bucket (via USPS) so rodents or other animals don’t get into it. All is good and a couple of minutes later she hands us our buckets.
Before I unscrew the lid, I know I have too much food. The dinner and breakfast at Vermilion was not accounted for while figuring resupply. I probably currently already have a days and half worth of food on me. Also, Kevin and I both realize that there is no way we can fit this much food into our bear canisters. My bear canister can hold 6.5 days of food max and there is 9.5 days worth of food sent to us in our resupply. I hear a hiking group next to us run into the same problem as a guy loudly asks his group what he should do with his extra food. Bear hang, a man in the group replies. Kevin and I discuss a bear hang but if a bear were to get into our food, we would be in serious trouble. Ultimately, we decide to sleep with our food next to our head tonight. Not a great solution by any means but we figure it’s the surest way to protect our food.
Rummaging through the food and other items in the resupply takes a little over an hour. I give my extra food to a 59 year old PCT thru-hiker who introduces himself as Fish Egg. I imagine a gnarly story of him starving on the trail and having to revert to eating fish eggs. I’m completely wrong though and he tells me that it’s the traditional dish in his wife’s homeland of Barbados. We tell him how we will be heading to the hot springs in the afternoon and he tells us he might come by.
Kevin and I depart Muir Trail Ranch in search of the natural hot springs. Kevin visited these hot springs 11 years ago with his dad and remembers a deep river crossing to get there. We quickly reach the river and true to its reputation, the water moves swiftly and deeply. I stuff my pants in my pack and brave into the river first. The water comes up to the top of my thigh and I move slowly, leaning heavily on my trekking poles. 5 nervous minutes later and we are both across the river.
We come upon a meadow and Kevin scouts the area for where the springs are. He finds two different pools quickly and we beeline for the first one. Water bubbles up from the ground and the pool is maybe 10 feet wide in diameter. The water is somewhere between warm and hot and feels amazing. I sink my toes into the mud and let me body relax into the water.
Fish Egg joins us and we chat with him as we soak in the spring. We learn that he’s from Texas, worked in the energy sector and retired last year, and does one ironman every year. He fits the prototypical PCT hiker look as he is skinny, tan, and slightly dirty. He tells us he has been on trail for six weeks now and while it’s tough, it sure as hell beats working. By the time he is packing his stuff, over an hour has gone-by and I offer him my phone number when he comes up near Bear Valley on the PCT. As he leaves, he tells us talking to both Kevin and me “inspired him again” and got fuel in his jets. I don’t know what we said but we enjoyed his company and it seems vice-versa.
Kevin and I decide to hike a couple of more miles today to cut into our big day tomorrow. Reluctantly, we leave the hot springs and head back to the somewhat nerve wracking river crossing. As we hike back to the JMT, it’s clear that carrying 9.5 days worth of food is HEAVY. I weighed my pack on the scale at Muir Trail Ranch before departing and it weighed 40 pounds. For reference, when I started my trip with a 6.5 day food carry, my pack was 32 pounds. I feel every ounce in the difference between those two numbers. But really, I can’t complain. My pack is light compared to what Kevin is currently carrying, his weighing 46 pounds.
I find a little campsite next to a bridge with a gushing river to the side of us. Clouds loom overhead as we set-up the tent and right when we finish dinner, the sky drizzles rain. It lasts only 20 minutes or so and Kevin and I wait it out with a game of Morels. I beat him tonight and we guess that the score is 6-6 on the trip so far. We bet a beer on best overall record by the end of the trip. I wonder if we will hit the 20 game mark when it is all said and done….
