- Today’s Miles: 14.1
- Ascent: 2,010 ft
- Descent: 4,093 ft
- Total Miles on Trip: 63.2
I exit my tent at 5:45 A.M. I slept hard last night and had a dream about calling a childhood friend fat and being uninvited to his wedding. Weird.
After a tiny bit of stretching, I pour cold water into my coffee and oatmeal. It’s not for now but for later. I like to hike on a light stomach first thing in the morning and sip coffee as we go. And then, as we take our first break around 9:00 A.M., I’ll have the oatmeal that’s been cold soaking.
Our planned mileage for today is low, 9.8 miles, as we are looking at camping at Johnston Lake. And then the next day we plan on hiking the 3.5 miles to Red’s Meadow where we will be picked up for the day. Our old high school water polo coach, Coach Knight, has a condo in Mammoth and has graciously offered to let us stay at his house for a night and do laundry, resupply, and all of the necessary things in the midst of a thru-hike. Kevin and I have been talking about the stay and are looking forward to getting to our destination. I think of how I have mentally broken up this hike into sections by resupply points- Red’s Meadow, Muir Trail Ranch, and then the long home stretch to Whitney. But Muir Trail Ranch and Whitney seem so far off that all of my focus has been getting to Red’s.
As I get ready to hike out, I slather on Sawyer Insect Repellent. The lotion has been an absolute lifesaver as it allows me to hike in running shorts and tshirt- a feeling I love. With my pack all ready to go, I make the final transition out of crocs and into my trail runners…. Only to realize my socks are somewhere at the bottom of my pack. Nooooooo. I bend down and rummage through my stuff to grab them. It feels like I’ve been bending over and grabbing things all morning but now, at last, I’m ready to roll.
To begin our hike, I take us on a wrong turn and we hike a few hundred yards in the opposite direction of the JMT. Kevin realizes the mistake and we backtrack. We laugh it off as it’s first thing in the morning and hiking sounds like great fun at the moment! As we hike up on the correct path, I think of the spectacular section of trail we just passed. Four Alpine Lakes in two miles, all unique in their own ways. I gaze down for a final look at Garnett Lake and carry on.
A few miles later, we come across our first rangers on the trip! There are two of them and we chat with them a bit before they ask to see our permits. I feel nervous as I hand over my permit. What if this whole trip was a mistake and we DEFINITELY should not be out here? But all is good and after a ten second look, the permit is handed back to me.
As Kevin and I talk to the rangers a bit more, one of them asks us where we plan to camp tonight. “Johnston Lake”, Kevin tells her.
The ranger pauses for a moment, as if she’s debating on letting us in on a secret. With hesitation, she lowers her voice and tells us “The mosquito activity out there is pretty bad. It’s a marshy lake at low altitude.”
After letting this information sink in, she adds “Minaret Falls is only another half mile or so from Johnston. And then, of course, you have Red’s Meadow which is another three miles. Could have a hot meal there. You boys are out hiking early.”
Kevin and I look at each other and digest this information. Our plans may be changing. As we depart from the rangers, we discuss possibilities. And it turns out the decision is obvious. We’re going to head to Red’s Meadow today and get there by dinner. It would give us a 14 mile day, which would be our longest on the trip so far. But the terrain leading to Red’s doesn’t look too step and plus we’ll be properly motivated by the prospect of buying a hot dinner at this mysterious restaurant.
We hike at a good pace and by the time it’s 12:30 P.M., we have already hiked 8.5 miles. We take a 15 minute break at a gushing creek, where we fill up our bottles and soak our aching feet in the cool water. We decide to do a few more miles and then stop for an official lunch. The prediction is we will be at Red’s Meadow by 4:00 this afternoon, and we decide on also having breakfast there tomorrow morning. I hope it doesn’t disappoint.
As we leave from our break, I switch out my trail runners. It’s pretty crazy to be carrying two pairs of shoes on the trail and an ultralight elitist might just drop dead on the spot if he or she saw this. But when I put on the new pair of shoes, it feels like a glove on my tired feet. I justify it with the fact I haven’t gotten any blisters yet and both shoes are very light. It’s unconventional no doubt about it, but Hike your own Hike right?
At 2:15 P.M., we stop for lunch at last. I’ve noticed a pattern in which I feel exhausted heading into lunch. However, after food, a cold dip (thank you for all the water Sierras!), and a short nap, I feel good as new. And sure enough this holds true today. By the time we get up to leave, although it’s only another 2.5 miles to Red’s, I feel like I could hike another 7. Maybe I’ll be singing a different tune in an hour, but right now I feel great.
As we approach Red’s, we start to see signs for the Resort and walk past a couple of groups of people. One kid asks, “Are you guys doing that really long hike?”
“No,” I reply. “We are hiking the John Muir Trail which is about 3 weeks. Not the PCT, which is from Canada to Mexico and a, uh, really long time,” I tell him. He nods as if he knows exactly what I’m talking about and continues on.
The next people we see are a man pushing a stroller with a very pregnant woman behind him. They look to be in their early 30’s, and when we are about 20 feet away, the guy calls out “How long have you guys been on trail?”
“6 days,” Kevin immediately replies. “What about you guys?”
“A half day. I’m not going very far with this,” the woman says with a chuckle pointing down to her belly. We chat a little more and she tells us the baby is a boy. At the end of our conversation, she tells us “wear protection”, and walks away laughing with her partner.
In the distance, we see the Red’s Meadow general store and restaurant. We’ve made it! As we approach the general store, we see two PCT hikers staring numbly into space. I ask them if there is a campground in the area and one nods and points in a general direction. After a short silence, he adds the campground is “back aways” and “not to leave our stuff out- there’s an aggressive bear in the area.” Hmm. Okay.
He’s correct about the camping being far and Kevin and I make what seems like an unnecessary long walk to the Red’s campground. After a 15 minute search, we find the backpacker specific campsites. We set-up our tent and then hike back to the general store and cafe area in search of modern luxuries.
At the general store, I buy a beer, a postcard, and a little hiker pin. Within 10 minutes, we hear more news about the “aggressive bear”. A man tells us that yesterday evening, with 10 people or so around, a bear strolled into the middle of the picnic area and started rifling through a girl’s pack. The man said they finally got the bear to leave by throwing a rock near its head. I’m grateful that our campsite has bear lockers and wonder if we will have a visitor at night.
As I sip my beer, I debate what food I want to order from the small restaurant. I land on a green salad, double cheeseburger lettuce wrapped, and a side of fruit. It’s a whopping $32 but I’m unfazed. As I wait for my food, I give my mom a call. She’s happy and surprised to hear from me, but the conversation is short as I hear my name called for the food order. Bye Mom! I did have a late and big lunch, and with a little disappointment, realize that I’m actually not THAT hungry. But of course, that doesn’t stop me from proceeding to devour all of my food and graciously accept Kevin’s offer to have the rest of his milkshake.
As we are ending our meal, two hikers sit down at our table and join us. They tell us they are PCT thru-hikers and introduce themselves as Jessica and Shenanigans. Shenanigans has thick blonde dreadlocks that run down his back. He’s a talker, and within five minutes he has told us why COVID-19 is a hoax and that the best way to protect your food from a bear when sleeping is to use it as a pillow. He then launches into a long story about a girl he is “pink blazing”- which we find out means when a person hikes fast to try to catch another hiker. And then, low and behold, a group of four hikers shows up and the girl he is pink blazing is one of them! Good luck Shenanigans.
After chatting a bit more, Kevin and I excuse ourselves and I take a shower while Kevin talks on the phone. When I get out of the shower, Kevin is still on the phone so I walk up to the group of PCTers and join them. It’s a group of seven people and they are all different; some older, some younger, some seem to have money, and others seem to be dirtbagging. But there’s clearly a bond between all of them- MAKE IT TO CANADA. Who will make it and who won’t, I wonder? I’m rooting for them.
I fire off a few texts with the little service I have and then Kevin and I head back to our campsite. Two games of Morels later and we are in our tent and it’s 9:15 P.M. I listen to my audiobook in my sleeping bag, feeling profoundly not tired. Will we have a nighttime visitor? We shall see.
