The Big Loop: Day 3 & 4

DAY 3

From The Big Loop

Frozen Lake Pass first thing. Started about 6am, 1/2 hour to the top, and 30min down to the "Frozen" Lake. I had a pretty easy time in both directions, even got to glissade for a short stretch. Met the Aussies, Marion and Lou, at the junction with the JMT. They appear to be royal old school bad asses, doing the High Route at 65 and 67. After chatting with them I humped up and over Mather Pass and covered this portion of the JMT that coincides with the HR in about 2:18. Very, very nice scenery here.

From The Big Loop

Cirque Pass looks like a long slog, hopefully mostly on slabs.

Not slabs. Well some, but mostly talus traversing. I ended up high and left when I finally saw the actual pass so I just kept moving horizontallyuntil I hit the final part of the pass. I was hit by a few raindrops but it never started raining seriously despite some nasty looking clouds. I waited under a boulder to see if it would blow over, but when nothing happened (storm-wise) I just decided to get going. Potluck Pass was hard to figure out by looking at it, but it turned out to be really easy, with a nice use trail almost all the way up. Palisade Basin was beautiful and I made it almost all the way to Knapsack Pass before deciding to camp below the pass.

From The Big Loop

I met two ladies doing frog survey work just at that time. They invited me to hangout in the evening and even directed me to an awesome bivy cave. So awesome it is too bad it is not going to rain tonight.

DAY 4

From The Big Loop

Nice night in the cave. Got going by 6:45. Knapsack Pass was note a joke, but fairly easy anyways. Dusy was pretty in the morning. I've felt low on energy today, might have to do with the rolled ankle from yesterday. Or it might be the long sections of dusty trails. Or it could just be one of these things that happens on Day 4 of a long distance hike. Good thing I move pretty fast on the trails cause the JMT would be unattractive otherwise. Many Many people and lots of sand.

From The Big Loop

Guh. Over Muir Pass. Felt long but it was only about 1:45 from lunch. Got ahead of myself again in map reading. Mostly wishful thinking I guess. At least the actual Lake Helen was much more impressive than the lake I mistook for it. After Muir Pass it was a long descent through Evolution Basin. Lots of BIG Lakes, each with its own character. Evolution Lake was the best, maybe the coolest alpine lake I have seen.

From The Big Loop

Met several cool folks today and caught wind of a group of three ahead of me on the High Route. I am camped in Darwin Bench, to which I stumbled at about 7:10pm. The ankle feels better, as does my right knee tendon (the stepping one), but my feet were unhappy. Tomorrow may be a late start. I learned that I need to switch the side my camera sits on, because it unbalances my pack enough to make one shoulder work more than the other. Timor and Doung (a geochem professor at USC) are camped nearby and they gave me a cup of tea!