8/23/14 11 miles.
Once again we woke to frost on our tents. Breakfasting in the sun we tried to lay out our wet tent flys to dry before packing them up. We're both exhausted from the steep trail yesterday. The JMT (John Muir Trail) usually follows the PCT except when it dips down beside many of the lakes set in gorgeous granite bowls. To access the lakes the trail drops down off the peaks then back up again to descend into other lake basins. We chose to go this route because of the scenery but it does have a price....exhaustion! But I wouldn't want to miss this for the world!
Leaving Emerald Lake we ascended to Ruby Lake pictured here, the peaks reflected in the mirrored surface.
Then we descended quite a way to Garnet Lake whose islands reminded me of a smaller version of Thousand Island Lake from yesterday. Banner Peak is in the background.
I took this photo of the lake through the log bridge across the lake outlet where we stopped to filter water and have a snack. We resumed the trail and followed it up above the left side of the lake.
Once we reached the top we descended through this rocky slope to the meadow below which was dry this year. Down, down through forested mountains I caught views through the trees of soaring peaks and small glaciers shining white against them. A four point buck startled and ran down the trail from us, Peggy saw him as he looked back over his shoulder at us. These gentians and black eyed susan grew lushly by the trail where rain had recently watered them.
Finally we arrived at Shadow Lake where we'd planned a lunch stop with extended rest time. The sun was warm but it was breezy by the lake. There were more people on the JMT than we usually see on the PCT, I need to get used to the crowds. After our noon rest we needed to do more miles, that would put us into position for getting to Red's Meadow tomorrow. As we left Shadow Lake the trail immediately started switchbacks up the steep sides of the lake. Many times Peggy and I could talk to each other as she passed just above me on the next switchback. It took a good 40 minutes to climb the 700 feet up! Just a short descent and we were passing Rosalie Lake, wonderfully blue in the sun. A young man was fishing for trout having just caught and released one.
After climbing out of Rosalie's basin we passed shallow Gladys Lake just off trail in the trees.
No one was around and we both wanted to stop to camp here but we also wanted to arrive at Red's Meadow around noon tomorrow so had to do a few more miles hoping for a descent campsite near what the map portrayed as marshy Trinity Lakes.
Around 4:30 we found a nice campsite off the trail behind a small hill near one of the lakes. We had access to the water and nice big boulders to sit on. The lakes were surrounded by grass but not too marshy. We took a stab at cleaning ourselves up for our trip "outside" to meet Robin tomorrow in Mammoth. We had clothing drying on the warm boulders or tree branches. It didn't work very well, we are still dirty! It will be 13 days tomorrow that we've not had a shower or clean clothes although we've rinsed socks & shirts etc. but no real laundry done. We have a phrase for that...Hiker Trash!
8/24/14. 7 miles or so.
Even though we slept in it was still quite cold this morning. There was frost on the tents again so we draped tent flys over rocks and trees to dry in the morning sun. This close to civilization there are lots of people on the trail as we near Red's Meadow & The Devil's Postpile.
There were actually crowds of people walking on the trail and through the trees we heard voices by the river.
We bypassed where the JMT meets the PCT and followed a side trail to the Monument which is a must see sight.
After stashing our backpacks we took a trail to the top of the hill to see the basalt rocks in their honeycomb formation. This was an astounding sight. once formed this was covered by a glacier. As it moved it scraped over the rocks scoring them with rocks it dragged and polishing them with fine sand. the scoring & polishing is visible in the photo. These basalt cliffs, set aside to be a monument, were saved because one man took it upon himself to see that they were protected. It's an amazing formation and a popular place to visit as the crowds indicated!
Once we climbed down from the top we walked by the cliff, fallen basalt piece lay in a jumbled pile at the cliff base.
In their hexagonal shape they were being used as seating and curbs around the monument.
Walking out of the monument I could still see evidence through the trees of the basalt cliffs, the rocks piled like books one upon the other.
There had been a fire near the side trail to the resort so we were routed to road walk the final mile or so into Red's.
This sign announced Red's Meadow and the end of our 2014 PCT trail.
After lunching at the small resort cafe we caught the YART bus down to Mammoth Ski Area, caught another bus to the town of Mammoth and caught a small city bus to the Visitor Center where Robin met us. He'd driven 10 hours from Medford to pick us up and thought he had a few more hours he could manage to drive. We ended up spending the night in Lone Pine, the gateway to Mt Whitney. Leaving the next morning we drove Peggy home then made our own way home to Oregon.
Mt Whitney is the tallest mountain on the left in the background, (r-l) Peggy, Robin & I (ahhh, shower, clean clothes, good food, bed...need I say more? We are happy girls!)
No, I didn't quite finish the trail. I ran out of energy so we decided that we will leave the very best for last and hike the High Sierras ( something like 175.5 miles) next year sometime in July-August. The PCT shares trail with the JMT for much of it's length, (we'd just hiked 35.5 miles of the JMT from Tuolumne Meadows to Red's Meadow) so when I hike the remaining miles next year, I will have completed the 2,660 mile PCT.
Stay tuned for Peggy, my daughter Carrie (I hope!) and I in 2015!
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