- Today’s Miles: 12.4
- Ascent: 1,899 ft
- Descent: 3,682 ft
- Total Miles on Trip: 86.8
Last night was the best night of sleep I’ve gotten on trail. The minute my head hit my stuff sack filled with clothes, aka my pillow, I was lights out. I ended up sleeping for nine and a half hours total, but that pales in comparison to Kevin. Last night, when I arrived back at camp at 7 P.M., I found Kevin already asleep in the tent. I ask him about his long night of sleep this morning and he tells me, “I thought maybe I’d get up in the middle of the night and not be able to go back to sleep. But nah. I slept a solid 11 hours.”
We make excellent time in breaking down camp and as we sling our packs over our shoulders, I take a glance at my watch. 42 minutes! Not too shabby for a complete breakdown of camp and having our packs on our back. Our fast start comes at a good time too. We’re planning on hiking 12.5 miles today to catch the 4:45 P.M. ferry, which will take us over Edison Lake to Vermilion Valley Resort. We’re going to be camping at Vermillion Valley Resort, and it goes without saying that we will be utilizing the restaurant, general store, and everything else that comes with civilization. We have a good climb in store for us this morning over Silver Pass, which Kevin remembers being “harder than it looks on paper”.
We begin hiking and as per usual during the morning, I feel great. We go for a little under 2 hours before stopping for breakfast. We both pull out our cold soaked oatmeal and scarf it down. The oatmeal tastes so good that ignoring the mosquitos is almost possible.
We’re at the top of Silver Pass by 9:15 A.M. We pass by several small Alpine Lakes on our way up. Looking down, the lakes are a turquoise blue, a color that makes me think of the Caribbean Sea. We take our time at the summit of Silver Pass, eating snacks and looking down at the small bodies of water.
Four more miles later and we stop for lunch at a pretty creek that is flowing cheerfully. I take a moment to refill my bottle in the cold creek. Filtering has been a breeze this trip, as I have a 50 ounce Smart Water bottle with a Sawyer Filter attached to the top. I’ve been putting my water bottle directly in the creek, filling, and then drinking through the Sawyer Filter that screws on to the top of the water bottle (kind of like a straw). It’s great because I never have to carry too much water as refilling is so easy with all of the snowmelt.
As I pack up from lunch, Kevin points to a crumbled pile of plastic and asks me “Are those your sunglasses?” They are indeed. A lens has popped out and the frame is split in half. I curse in my head and then follow that with a hopeful wish that Vermilion Valley Resort has glasses for sale and I don’t have to go the next two weeks without eye protection.
In our next few miles, we see by far the most amount of hikers we’ve seen all trip. On three separate occasions, we stop and chat with different couples thru-hiking the PCT. They are all eerily similar to one another in the fact they all look to be late-20’s to mid-30s, tan, and carry smallish packs. Kevin and I talk about what a thru-hike would do to a relationship. I ask Kevin what he thinks the divorce rate for couples that have successfully thru-hiked the PCT together is. If you can make it through hiking four straight months together, what can’t you make it through?
The last couple we talk to has just come from Vermilion Valley Resort. We ask what to expect. Good food? Free camping? Showers? Yes, yes, and yes are the responses. In the midst of the conversation, the man’s eyes light up. “You guys are in for a treat! Tonight is…. BBQ night. My wife and I were bummed to have missed it!”
Kevin and I greet this news enthusiastically as we depart. Another mile or so later and we are at the junction that leads off the JMT and to where the ferry for Vermillion picks-up. Although it’s only a 1.7 mile hike off the trail to the ferry spot, it feels abnormally long as Kevin and I walk the overgrown trail. At last, we arrive at a sign that reads Ferry with arrows pointing. We get to what I assume is our destination at 2:00 and prepare to wait for the 4:45 pick-up. With time to kill, we relook at the itinerary as we are a day early in arriving to Vermilion. Also, the second to last day in our itinerary is funky, as there’s only 7 miles planned that day. We decide with these two factors we can finish a day earlier than we thought and Kevin calls his parents to see if they can pick us up with our new date (Thanks Kevin’s parents for saying yes!)
As Kevin places the call, I walk down to Edison Lake where I see broken glass and a little trash. I’m off-put by both and wonder if I’ve been spoiled by all of the isolated Alpine Lakes we have seen on the trail so far. As I’m sitting there feeling bored and slightly irritated, a boat pulls up to the shore. There’s a skinny man with a very white and long beard driving the boat and a family that looks like it’s being transported on it. The ferry? I ask him if this is the ferry (although he’s in a small boat) to Vermilion Resort and he replies yes. “Could we get a ride over if you’re heading back?” I ask him in a hopeful voice.
“Don’t see why not,” he replies. “Got anyone else?” I tell him one other person and he’s just “right over there”, as I point to a vague to a cluster of trees. He nods his head and I break off into a run to grab Kevin. Score!
Bam! Bam! It’s a choppy ride over to the other side of the lake as the boat bounces on top of the water. We chat up the boat driver through the clear white plastic sheet that separates us. He tells us that he has hiked the John Muir Trail a total of four times. I ask him if he’s going to do it this summer and he tells me, “Maybe. But not anytime soon. Got to work around here for the summer. But maybe in the Fall when things slow down.”
When we arrive to other side of Edison Lake, we walk 15 minutes on a sandy shore to where the Vermilion Valley general store is. We arrive and a man with glasses asks us if we are thru-hikers. “Yes sir,” I reply with a proud nod.
“First beer is free then,” he tells us and then gives us the rundown on free camping, showers, laundry, and the restaurant. I tune out the last half of what he is saying and my eyes wonder over to the fridge where the beer is kept. Hmm, what to grab? Kevin and I both end up grabbing a Sierra Nevada IPA and take our beers outside to the picnic table, where we cheers and watch people come in and out.
Kevin and I set-up our tent and play a game of Morels to kill time before dinner. Dinner is upon us at last and I get the triple plate- tri-tip, ribs, and chicken. As we are halfway through our meal, our slightly flustered waiter announces that the restaurant is looking for someone to wash dishes and in exchange will comp the dinner. As our meal winds down, I think why not? It’s 6:15 and I don’t exactly have big plans for the rest of the night. I tell our waiter I’m in and scarf down the last of the meal.
I have no experience working in restaurants or kitchens but the gig turns out to be a pretty mellow one. I work through the backed-up dishes, learning that they need to be ran through the 2 minute dishwasher twice, not once. After things seem under control, I relax and chat a little with the cook in the kitchen. The cook is tall and skinny and looks to be about my age. He’s soft spoken as I tell him how good the BBQ was (not lying!) and try to call him chef, but he laughs me off and tells me he’s not a chef, just a dude who has worked in a lot of restaurants. We talk about the PCT and I learn he was also planning on hiking it this summer before the pandemic hit.
After about only an hour of work, the cook tells me I’m good to go and do I want anything on my way out? Pie, yes? And some more BBQ? Well… I’m not going to pass that up. I cut myself a slice of large berry pie and the cook grabs some ribs from the oven and throws them on a plate for me. I bring both the pie and ribs back to the campsite and sit down with Kevin and share them. Second dinner is just as good as first, maybe a little better with the pie.
When I climb in the tent at 9:15, a car parks and faces its headlights directly on our tent. It stays there for a good ten minutes and our tent is completely lit up. There’s also a group of big PCTers drinking and talking about 50 yards away from our site. A generator adds to the noise as it rumbles right down the road. But it doesn’t matter. I have been sleeping fantastically the past week on the trail and after the car and its headlights drive away, tonight ends up being no different.
