Wednesday, September 11th, 2013. End of McClure Meadow to Pete Meadow

“The world is big and I want to have a good look at it before it gets dark.” -- John Muir Another day...another storm.  And I missed Monster Rock which is right on the trail.

The morning looked promising...and we were on the trail around 9:20 am.  From here on out we did not have any place that we had to be.  Our resupplies were done and it was Mt. Whitney or bust!  It would be dividing up the miles to get us there.  We wanted to be on top of Whitney for Sunrise so the goal was to get as close as possible that last night.  

We were hiking into Evolution Lake area.  We met up with Peter and Greg again

 and hiked with them until break.

Still looking good and clean!! 

We met up with Aaron & Kelsey and decided to break earlier than usual.  Once 

everyone continued on, we decided to play a game of cribbage and enjoy the scenery.  

More views of the Evolution area 

Just out rock hopping today! 

 
 

Hiking up to Muir Pass 

The Muir Hut on top of Muir Pass and looking back

 towards Wanda Lake and Lake McDermand

The Muir Hut on top of Muir Pass 

The sign next to the door and the plaque on the fireplace: Muir Hut.  This building was constructed in 1930 by the Sierra Club in cooperation with the Sierra National Forest & dedicated to the memory of John Muir.  The Muir Hut is intended as a temporary shelter for hikers caught in storms on this exposed section of trail.  

This was a new wood door this year...and very neat brickwork on the ceiling. 

 Due to the storm, we couldn't get a picture at the Pass so we went inside the Muir Hut.

Guess they knew what they were doing when it was constructed since we were caught in a Hail Storm!

This is also our highest elevation on the trail at 11,980 feet, 

We met up with The Aussie's again...

Views of the Lakes from the Hike down from Muir Pass to Big Pete Meadow.  One of these is Helen Lake which along with Wanda Lake before the pass is named after John Muir's daughters. 

It was another day of raingear and storms so not many pictures.  

The trail follows the Middle Fork of the Kings River.  

We found a nice campsite about halfway in between Big Pete Meadow & Little Pete Meadow.  

I got into camp and realized that I missed Monster Rock.  Guess I'll have to come back some day.  

It was a very early night--lights out at 8:10pm.

Miles Hiked Today:  14.7   Total Miles Hiked:  171    Total JMT Miles Hiked: 134.7

Elevation: 10,000 up to around 11,980 back down to camp around 9000.