Monday, September 16th, 2013. Lake at 12,250 to Crabtree Meadow

“How glorious a greeting the sun gives the mountains” --John Muir What an absolute awful night of sleep, it is gonna be a LONG day.

 One last picture so we never forget this night!  We were in bed early and we got good sleep for the first few hours.  Then the wind started.  The wind whipped the tent all night long.  It wasn't cold but just loud.  It would calm down for a while and then start back up.  Jason later told me he was worried about the tent poles but there were no issues at all.  

We did do something we had not done before--got up and got out of camp ASAP.  We were on the trail at 7:30am to climb up and over Forester Pass.  We would stop for breakfast on the other side. 

Looking up the trail to Forester Pass and back at Lake 12,250.  No wonder it doesn't have a name.  We called it Wind Lake...or Lake from Hell.  But it did make the hike up and over Forester Pass quicker as I was trying to get warm. 

We made it to the pass.  We were entering Sequioia National Park 

and leaving Kings Canyon National Park.  

We made it to the highest point on the trail so far...

Forester Pass, elevation 13,200 feet  

Hope the trail isn't this way!! 

Nope--there it is.  The trail has been absolutely amazing, 

some of the best trails we have ever hiked on! 

Down off of Forester Pass--look at that trail, hard to get lost!

Of course, unless you are a glove. 

We finally stopped for breakfast and a break.  We were very happy to run into the Fasters again...and then who should be coming up behind them but the Aussies!  I do believe it was the last time we would chat with the Aussies.  We thought we would see them on top of Mt. Whitney but they did a long push and made it a day before us!  The ROCKED it.  

After months of planning, hard to believe we are 16.1 miles away! 

The trail in this section 

We were wondering if any of these were Mt. Whitney 

Stopping for a break and to dip our feet in the creek

Still having fun after 

17 days on the trail, 

17 days of sleeping in a tent, 

17 days since a real shower.   

We debated going to Crabtree Meadow for Camp or to push on further.  

We decided to call it a day and head to camp.  We needed a relaxful night and a good night of sleep after last night.  There was a new Ranger Station there.  We talked to the Ranger who also encouraged us to just camp up on top of Mt. Whitney tomorrow, so that was going to be our plan! 

It was a very early night: lights out at 7:30pm!! 

Miles Hiked Today:  14.9   Total Miles Hiked:  241    Total JMT Miles Hiked: 200.9

Elevation: 12,500 up to 13,100 down to 10,890 up to 11.415 down to 10,400, up to 10,900 finally back down to camp around 10.700.