The Big Loop: Day 7 & 8

Day 7

From The Big Loop

Met Chris and Jannine from Tahoe at Laurel Lake. They seemed very cool, making up thier own High route for 7 days out of Pine Creek. The descent down Mills Creek and Second Recess was nice in the shade. A bit rough, but it is cross country. I did do a fair amount of bushwacking, but it can be avoided, I think. The trail up laurel creek was nasty, exposed, overgrown with manzanita, steep, rocky and dusty when it was not rocky. Laurel Creek Canyon and the Lake were quite nice, lots of cool boulders around the lake. Very clear day.

From The Big Loop

Ran out of water up Red Finch Pass and decided to stick it out until the other side of Silver Divide hoping the north facing bowl would still be melting off. This did pay off. Made it to Cotton Lake for lunch, lots of nice super-polished slabs around.

Songs in my head so far: Ballroom Blitz (could be the worst video I have ever seen, even making allowances for how long ago it was made), The Humans are Dead, Hot in Herre, Frere Jacques, and my cadence getting mixed up with Thumb War declarations.

From The Big Loop

On and off the John Muir Trail again. After lunch I wandered down to Lake Issac Walton, which was very nice, then I negotiated some slabs and gullies to reach the trail through "Horse Heaven." A short while late I hit "Tully Hole" and the JMT. I started walking on it at 5:30pm and got off right at 7:48pm. It was good time to walk that section of the trail because the temps were good and the setting sun was pretty. Red's Meadow tomorrow. (I am camped just off the trail before Duck Lake)

DAY 8

From The Big Loop

Well now, that was a section of the High Route I will never need to repeat. Mammoth Crest was nice, there were some cool views, and the Deer Lakes and Duck Lake are worth seeing. However, the crappy sandy walking, sun exposure and the long descent to Red's Meadow are not thing I'll remember as fondly as I will the rest of the High Route. I failed to make it to breakfast at Red's Meadow. I rolled in at about 11am. I did get a double cheeseburger and a salad. The burger was almost big enough to justify the price. There were menu items with country gravy, so I was not disappointed to miss breakfast by mere minutes. I ate, got my resupply (crap, the pack is heavy again), and mostly hung around shooting the shit with Jamie from NYC. Cool guy, a recent cancer survivor walking off his convalescence. I must be getting hairy in the face, no one thinks it is surprising that I am 29. red's was a zoo with high school and younger kids. But nonetheless, after making the requisite phone calls, I stayed until 5pm before marching down the trail in order tog et back off the JMT before camping. Mo way I would pay to camp down in that pit. I am camped at a pretty random spot tonight right around 9000' just after some switchbacks on the Beck Lakes Trail. Hopefully, this will be warmer than the other night recently.

Age of Aquarius - who knows why?

looks like 2-3 days to Tuolumne and ice cream!