“Keep close to Nature's heart...and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.” --John Muir It's resupply day!!! Which is very exciting and yet dreadful... |
Since our last resupply day took up so much time, we were determined to get up and out of camp early so that we could be at Muir Trail Ranch as close to the 8am opening. We were out of camp at 7:45am but ran into the Aussies and also Greg & Peter from Washington. It was great to see them since we hadn't seen them in a few days.
We got to MTR around 8:20am. We rang the bell and was told to walk on in!
If you ever get the opportunity to stay over here, do it! They were booked for the week
with a private party so we did not have that option.
Pat has worked here for years and is in charge of all the buckets.
It was amazing to see all the buckets & we enjoyed talking to her.
We weighed our packs when we came in--it would appear this is the same picture
but it actually is my pack weight vs Jason's pack weight. I have more clothes
and my water...he has the tent-he carries his water on a separate hip belt.
We were the first ones there and had the tables to ourselves. We knew the Aussies left two full fuel canisters there so we were quick to snatch those up! Man that looks like a LOT of food for our canisters. All the buckets lined up behind the table are the 'hiker buckets'. If you have extra stuff you donate if, if you find stuff you want, you take it. We found a couple of Gu packs, some M&M's and the best was Jolly Ranchers & Werthers. That is something I will always pack next time--some sort of hard candy that you can pop in your mouth when you are heading up a big pass.
This was our treat while resupplying.
I had sample bear cans that I made out of a poster board so I knew exactly how to pack the bear can with the food. I'd say I did pretty good! Jason was unaware of the treats I put in this resupply--he LOVES donuts so I had to throw a few of those in. We also had snickers which we kept all the way until dessert on our last night on top of Mt. Whitney. I had picked up some Chip's Ahoy cookies the last time I donated blood so I threw those in too. We traded a donut for a cookie later on.
Mr. John Ladd is one of the moderators of the Yahoo JMT board and active on the facebook page. He was one of many that helped me during my planning. It was just amazing how nice people were with all of my questions. He was hiking Northbound while we were going Southbound. I had expected to see him yesterday so I was bummed out that I missed the Man in the Kilt. Needless to say, I was very surprised to see him walk in while we were doing our resupply. And to show you how nice he is--our Piezo lighter broke on our Jetboil stove so we had to light it manually. He had a back up that he offered to us--which would mean if his broke, he wouldn't have the back up. We had become very use to lighting our with the lighter so we thanked him but declined.
They have a store at Muir Trail Ranch. We were going to cave and pay for the internet--Jason still had NO idea how the Packers did for their first two games. The internet was down so it would be a few more days of waiting. The only thing I needed to buy was a lighter--I think we had two but since that was how we were lighting the stove, I wanted a back up. I also did a couple of post cards and a JMT sticker for my car.
LOVE seeing the Mile Mile & a Half poster with everyone signatures. I wouldn't see the movie until October but definitely check it out if you are doing a hike on the JMT.
And the dreadful part of resupply day. Jason's pack came in about 45 pounds...and then I put mine on.
I can't believe it...45 pounds too. I am carrying some more of the food and I have more clothes
but he has the tent...I almost snuck even more into his pack. He has no idea but at this point
he has all of the first aid stuff & the batteries...and we had a LOT of batteries.
We were very excited to meet up with the Siblings again!! It had been a few days and they were taking a rest day on Saturday so we knew that we would not be seeing them after that. This ended up being the last time we saw them on the trail.
We were back on the trail a little after 10am. I was surprised at the amount of people that had come in since we had been there. You really feel like you are all by yourself on the trail but when you see this, you realize how many people really are just as crazy as us!!!
One of the only metal Pacific Coast Trail markers we saw
Leaving the John Muir Wilderness...we would not be back in this until the last day.
Jason enjoying the view from the Steel Footbridge crossing Piute Creek.
We are now in Kings Canyon National Park. Guess we have to leave our pets,
weapons and wheeled vehicles in the John Muir Wilderness.
All I can say is WOW...
One of many bridges in the area
It was very sad to see how many people felt the need to deface the signs along the trail.
Most of it was trail directions & not graffiti but still. We were crossing another bridge when
we saw the Aussies!!! So we decided to take the packs off & take a break with them.
We learned that we would pretty much be on the same schedule from here on out.
Look at that sky...doesn't look very promising.
The Creek was really amazing to follow thru here!
Even in a low water year, Evolution Creek is one place that you will get your feet wet. In fact, if water level is high, they don't want you crossing here! Jason was surveying the crossing--we decided to just take our shoes off and go barefoot vs getting our Clown Shoes out. Across the creek is the 'Fasters'...Aaron & Kelsey. We hadn't met them yet but would flip-flop with them until the end also. They got engaged on the trail and were doing the whole trail without resupplying!!
The sky didn't look promising and it turned out to be a pretty awful storm. We passed Peter & Greg hunkered down in the trees. We got out our rain coats & pack covers and continued hiking. There were a few times that the lightening and thunder booms were too close for comfort but we kept on going. One of the few good things about hiking in a storm--you forget how heavy your pack is from resupplying!
We stopped by to check out the Ranger Station at McClure Meadow. The Ranger was out on patrol but there was a note from someone nearby that was very ill. She would end up getting air-lifted out the next day.
We had planned on stopping to camp in McClure Meadow. We really couldn't find a good spot so we hiked to the end and found this spot right before the trail starting climbing again. Always good to call it a day and start the day with a climb! We were praying the rain was done for the day!
While we filtering water from this creek, we realized that our camp was
basically on the trail and there was a better spot just a few feet away.
So for the first time on the hike, we packed up and moved the tent over.
It all worked out because Aaron & Kelsey came into camp late and took the original spot.
It was great to hang out and visit with them before dinner.
I had another surprise for Jason. I had shipped some Vodka and Starbucks Orange Via
packets in the resupply so we each were able to have a cocktail with dinner!!
I think this is the view of The Hermit and it cleared up enough to
have a great Moon! Lights out at 9:10pm
Miles Hiked Today: 13.7 Total Miles Hiked: 156.3 Total JMT Miles Hiked: 120.2
Elevation: 7880 up to around 10,000.
It was all uphill but we didn't even notice due to the storm!
It was all uphill but we didn't even notice due to the storm!
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