This morning was cold and damp, we're camped at the edge of a meadow near a stream so we expected this. On the trail at 7:45 we hiked downhill beside the stream until we came to a lovely lush meadow where the stream met the meadow runoff. It held numerous 6" fish that darted into the shadows of the overhanging grasses.
The meadow in the morning light was beautiful and we stopped to see if we could see any other wildlife.
After crossing the water the trail came to a gate where we pulled the top bar off to step through, replacing it to keep horses or other range animals from going beyond.
We then switchbacked up a rocky hillside gaining 500' elev. and began noticing day hikers coming toward us, singly, two or three at a time then, finally we put the story together. They were on a horse packing trip. They hiked the miles between campsite and the horses, mules and packers followed with all their gear and food. Quite a nice way to go. They were on their way to hike up Mt Whitney and the packers would follow to make camp at Guitar Lake for them. In 45 minutes the packers passed us leading 10 pannier laden mules. The trail became very sandy and littered with rocks churned by many hooves, difficult to walk in.
We descended to Rock Creek, 9500' elevation, where there were campsites and a bear box to stow food in known bear territory. We filled our water bottles, took off our packs and rested. Eventually we both did some rinsing of laundry, we even rinsed out our pants as the dried salt was irritating our legs. The laundry dried in the sun but we got our shirts wet to keep us cool while hiking, it was getting pretty warm and the next miles were waterless. We had 5 1/2 miles of uphill trail to our campsite.
The forest became open and dry, filled with big old Bristlecone pine standing alone or in tight groups of 3 or 4 trees sharing a root system.
We climbed 1500' up to a plateau near the Siberian Pinnacles (what a great name). Our camp spot was off the trail looking toward the headwaters of Rock Creek. The wind was up in the evening, the sky was deep blue and there were a few puffy clouds. This was our last night on the trail together. The idea of completing the trail almost too much to think about.
The air became chilled as the sun set lower, our tents beckoned and by 6:30 we were tucked in, reading, journaling and ready for bed.
Tomorrow is our last trail day.
8/10/15 Monday. 11 1/2 miles then 2 more down Mulkey Pass to the car at Horseshoe Meadows.
It was a gorgeous clear night and I saw a long shooting star when I woke up. The Perseides are supposed to be happening about now, maybe I saw some of those shooting stars last night.
We began hiking at 7:42 across a relatively flat sandy hilltop.
Winding up and down we began meeting other hikers passing us going north. We have no water for about 3 1/2 miles. Some places it was so sandy it was like backpacking on the beach in deep sand, I had a hard time getting a push off of my toes to make much headway.
Around noon Chicken Spring appeared, a cirque lake that was showing the effects of the drought, no water flowing in the outlet. We had to walk to the lake & filter water, some looked very green but we found some clear enough that I could filter it.
There were groups of campers there. One group of 8 were all wearing shocking pink t-shirts.
Hiking further we saw the cut off for Cottonwood Pass which led to Horseshoe Meadow. We wandered over to look down into the meadow. 5 more miles and we'd be finished and walking there.
Peggy's water from Chicken Spring tasted awful so she poured it out and got water at a tiny trickle of a spring she found past Cottonwood Pass. This last few miles noodled around until at last we were descending through some switchbacks and sidelining a hill, then we were striding up to a clearing with signs on a tree. I felt like I recognized this...
We looked at each other like kids at Christmas, tears in our eyes we gave a 'Whoop' grabbed each other in a hug and jumped up and down. All at the same time!
Then the packs came off and we did photos for awhile until we decided we'd better finish this at the car. We had stashed Peggy's car when we first arrived July 21st at the parking lot below. The trail from Mulkey Pass down the mountain was a better trail this year than last. We made it down and were walking across Horseshoe Meadow to find the campground where the car was. This time we knew what direction to walk and choosing our own path through the forest we arrived at the car in about an hour. Packs off, gear stowed Peggy got her key out, we'd both carried a key to her car the entire trip, just in case. How very weird to be driving!
We drove 45 minutes down the steep, winding road to the valley floor and eventually made it into Lone Pine. I had called ahead to reserve a room and we slid into our room at the Dow Villa, an old hotel with old time charm. Showered, with real clothes on, we went to celebrate with a lovely dinner (no sitting on rocks huddled over ziplock bags!) then we found a laundromat and did our hiking clothes because there was a small section we were hiking above Lake Tahoe that we'd missed when we caught a ride to Soda Springs last year. By the time 9pm rolled around I was so tired I felt comatose, Peggy & I slung our clean clothes over our arms and ran for the hotel!
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