- Today’s Miles: 11.2
- Ascent: N/A
- Descent: N/A
- Total Miles on Trip: 74.4
Yesterday, Coach Knight had mentioned a different route to get back on the JMT. Rather than heading out of Red’s Meadow, where we were picked up, we could take another trailhead called Duck Pass. We would hike for about 5 miles before linking backup to the JMT. This would have us skipping 10 miles on the JMT (with a net difference of 5 less miles counting Duck Pass). Also, Coach and Julie offered to hike out with us on Duck Pass. Kevin and I mull the offer over and decide it sounds good. Yes, taking an alternative route may not make it a traditional thru-hike. But who cares? It sounds fun and we are looking forward to hiking with company.
We are leave the condo at 7:45 A.M. and arrive at Duck Pass trailhead by 8:10 A.M. We begin with an ascent and I’m feeling good. Taking yesterday off seems to have served both Kevin and myself well as we hike with fresh legs.
During our hike, we pick Coach Knight’s brain about old water polo games, players, and memories. Kevin calls Coach Knight just “Coach” for short and it feels like the perfect name. I can’t help but draw similarities to having just read Coach Wooden and Me, in which Kareem writes about the profound impact Coach Wooden had on his life. As Coach Knight talks about the importance of building team chemistry, I get the feeling he sees much more to water polo than just winning games and championships. I bring up a time when I missed a morning shoot around with a game against our rivals that afternoon. We beat our rivals, but immediately after the game Coach Knight had me bear crawling around the pool for missing the practice. Now, he tells me he should have sat me out for that game, but adds with a laugh that his competitive side probably got the best of him.
The five miles flies by and before Kevin and I know it, we are saying goodbye to Coach Knight and Julie. It had been an awesome past 24 hours and Kevin and I depart in good spirits. We hike out to Purple lake where we stop for lunch. It turns out to be by far the best lunch I’ve eaten on trail, as I devour my thawed out burrito and chase it with large chunks of cheese. The cheese is still cold from being in the freezer up until this morning and the burrito has thawed out perfectly. Beautiful when things work out!
Since we’ve skipped 5 steep miles today by taking Duck Pass, I have the idea to change our itinerary. We are now going to try to catch the 4:45 ferry to Vermilion Valley Resort tomorrow, Saturday, rather than waiting until Sunday. We were going to head over Sunday morning and spend the day there but making it over on Saturday night and camping there seems to make more sense.
We continue our hike and are treated to stunning scenery. We climb high ridges that give open views of the giant domed shaped granite mountains. After a steep descent, we come across my favorite lake so far, Lake Virginia. The water is a turquoise blue and grassy meadows surround the lake. We stop here, and I dip into the cold clear water.
At 4:00 P.M., we arrive at a campsite right along a running river. We decide to call it a day here and set-up shop. After a mosquito free day, they are out in vengeance at our campsite. But whicha gonna do.
I feel waves of fatigue roll over me as I cook dinner. As we are now on Day 8 of the trip, I’ve noticed a pattern. In the mornings I feel great, by lunch I start to slow down but rejuvenate myself with a short nap, and then by evening I’m absolutely exhausted. I always think before I fall asleep that there’s no way I’ll wake up feeling rested the next morning. And yet, so far, I always do.
Eating an early dinner puts a bit more energy into me and I decide to do a bit of exploring in our surrounding area. Also, it’s only 6 o’clock and even I can’t justify going to bed that early. I walk down from our campsite and cross a stream to climb up some steep granite boulders. I’m rewarded for my efforts with a gorgeous and sunny view of the massive mountains that surround us. It’s mosquito free out here so I stay awhile, doing some writing and just looking out at my surroundings. After time passes, how much I don’t know, I walk back to our campsite to brush my teeth and call it quits for the day. Night world.
