Yesterday after lunch we came back to our room and saw 2 young men packing their bear canisters at the picnic table in the heat. It was the 2 guys who were traveling with their dad, we'd seen them off and on through our trip and dad was suffering blisters from his waterproof boots. The boys got him settled to rest his feet at Charlotte Lake just on the other side of Glenn Pass where we took off trail to go out to Kersarge Pass. The boys came out to resupply since they are going slower than planned and a man they met told them they could have his resupply box if they could get here, he was going faster than planned and didn't need it. We chatted awhile and encouraged them. The food they were given was really nice quality stuff so they should enjoy that part! They were going back up after they were done, hurrying to get back to their dad. Nice guys, Jacob, Danny and dad, Frank.
We had breakfast this morning and were bound for the trailhead by 8 am with one other hiker It is 5 miles to the pass from the parking lot, we started at 8:35. We've decided to hike over to the Kersarge lakes and spend the day there taking this first day slower and doing something we wanted to do, spend the afternoon at these beautiful lakes. On the way up the switchbacks we ran into a guy we'd hiked with last year for a day, John, from Pennsylvania!! What a pleasant surprise! Catching up on news and taking a picture we said our goodbyes, his friend had twisted his ankle and needed to get off it. That was sure fun to see him! We went over the pass around 1:00 and made our way down to the lakes, tomorrow we'll take the trail to a lower lake & hook up with the JMT again.
The lakes are beautiful, tucked at the bottom of the Kersarge Pinacles, they're deep blue. We hiked to the back side of one and found a good camp on a flat spot in the boulders. By 2 we were all set up, reading books or poking around by the lake shore. There are a nice handful of folks here but all spread out. We had a group of 3 guys in our site wanting a place to land but I told them there were great places in the rocks just over there! They did indeed find a nice spot, farther away from us. The views were awesome and we're glad to have decided on a short day after the 5 mile climb. The packs got weighed at the Motel, I almost didn't weigh mine because it just makes it harder. But I finally did, it's 32.34# with everything loaded in it. Eat up tonight, carrying it all is no fun!
8/5/15 Wednesday. 5 miles
I had a headache last night although the temperature was fine and I was comfortable my sleep was fitful. By 8 we were hiking cutting cross country to find the trail below the lakes. Passing Bullfrog Lake we met up again with the JMT. From our views down the canyon where we are hiking we can see a long glacial valley and a good sized stream running it's length. We think Forrester Pass is at it's end standing at 13,200' our highest pass on the trail. We were correct, Bubbs Creek runs down from the peaks and as we hike today we'll cross it.
On our way we met Jacob, Danny and Frank. Peggy stopped to give a tip to Frank about running duct tape from the inside sole of each shoe up the back of the heel and over the back of the shoe. This should allow the heel to slide more readily and may ease blister pain. We left them setting up camp early by Bubbs Creek. Neither of us feel energetic today, so 5 miles will be just fine to let us camp 3 miles from the summit, not too high that we're on exposed rock but high enough to get us up and over in the morning. We found a camp spot overlooking the valley and can see where Bubbs Creek begins flowing from peaks above us. After setting up camp we found a tiny trickle of water and set about filtering 2 liters each. I sat looking over the valley eating lunch and a fat marmot joined me munching tender grasses not far away. While Peggy rested I went exploring ending way up above our camp on the granite ledges looking down on our tiny tent site. I carefully worked my way back down to the camp which is at 11,200' elevation. I've enjoyed sitting here looking over the valley and watching for wildlife. The wind is up in the evening with high overcast. Tomorrow we climb 2,000' in 3 miles.
8/6/15 Thursday 10 miles.
This morning we watched 2 large bucks grazing below our camp, one with 2 forks on each side and the other had 4 points on one side, 3 on the other. They were big deer.
Hiking by 7:45 it was pretty chilly out but clear skies prevailed. We had just over 3 miles to the pass so we moved up to the next rocky ledge around the corner and we were above tree line. I'm glad we camped where we did, this would have been cold camping last night. We moved up and up the rock ledges and were joined by more and more people. The pass can't be seen from below, you have to get above some of the bluffs in front of it.
One was a beautiful stack of rocks named Gregory's Monument. From below it looks like a peak but we went around it and it looks like a jigsaw puzzle of stacked rocks in a huge rounded turret.
Behind it is a patch of snow sticking to the mountainside melting in a stream off the cliff.
Up this high are more sky pilot flowers, stunning blue colors in the white rock crevices and yellow alpine gold, another high altitude flower. Stopping to look around and catch my breath there are small aqua blue lakes here and there. Our final resting spot was by a big lake at the foot of the peak.
We had a snack at this lake and while resting we looked up and saw 2 F18 fighters escorting a big passenger plane, we were thinking Air Force One?? Going to LA to campaign? Who else gets a fighter jet escort?
From this lake we are 1,000' from the pass and we began to switchback up the steep mountainside to the top.
There were not many places to rest up there, it was exhilarating to me to stand and look around, the views were wonderful and wide. I looked down from the very top & here's what I saw.
Peggy had been there before and knew the path down could be sketchy so she started down before me. I stayed a few minutes longer and began my descent. A very tight 2 or 3 turns, very steep and rocky so stepping carefully using both hands, I eased my way down. I could look down a split in the rock chimney and see Peggy crossing over an open ledge, hugging the wall because it was a quick slide down hundreds or more feet, just dust and rock.... In early spring this is notorious for being a snow ledge where one slip means goodbye. There were others making their way up this path who had to pass us as we went down. 
The lady in red is taking her friend's picture as he stands in the right corner at a switchback. Just over the lady's head is a tiny figure in blue, that's Peggy just having passed the chute on her way down the mountain. I'm not that far behind her but it's a steep trail down.
The plain where we will be walking once down Forrester Pass.
You might think it was boring but it was very beautiful, each rock has a story.
The hike down through the glacial plain was wonderful, looking all around I could see evidence of glaciers scraping their way across the landscape. We saw a coyote loping across the plain with a rodent in it's mouth. We figured it was a mom coyote, pretty skinny, taking food to the den. We passed other hikers going down to camp in the Tyndell Creek valley below. One I chatted with and when I mentioned where I lived he told me his sister used to live there. Turns out I know her! The hiking world is a small world. We decided to take a quick break by a small stream past Tyndell Creek and past the trail to Shepherd Pass, there we met Jacob, Danny and Frank who were looking for a camping place. Frank told Peggy he'd done what she suggested with duct tape and had his most comfortable hiking day of the whole trip. Good news!
We began climbing up to a plateau which we both fell in love with, this is the Bighorn Plateau, wide open views, sparsely treed with old Bristlecone Pine. Clouds were gathering over the mountains but we hoped it would stay clear so we could enjoy this beauty awhile. We decided to forego camping where we'd planned and we found an off trail site nestled in the pines overlooking the valley. We were excited to be camped in this gorgeous place. Now we just needed to find water. After tents were put up we walked about 200 yards to a dry meadowy area. We searched for sign of water and finally decided to walk uphill to a greener spot where there was a dry creeklet, looking uphill a wee bit we found a nice little pool of water, clear and cold. Perfect!
A bit of hail and rain but that's all. We sat in our tents with everything zipped up but I had my head stuck out the zipper because it was too pretty not to look out! Pretty soon we both were doing that. By 4:30 the clouds lifted and light was playing over the peaks. The remote Kaweah Range are across from us, they are very difficult to get into. Large clouds are building just over the far mountains and it's dinner time if we can break away from the wonder of the day to eat. How blessed we are to be here now, in health to hike and be able to do what we've been able to do. Dinner then to bed at 6:45, reading journaling & planning for tomorrow.
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