Day 50; Fri June 15 2007

(Dr Bug) We scrambled and left the Court House Motel in Independence at 6:30am. Nuts, another thru-hiker, had rented a car and was going to give us a ride to the trail. We were also riding with Wounded Face. A thru-hiker of Hungarian origin with a truely negative attitude about the trail. He announced he would leave him hike in Toulollome.

On the trail at 8:30 and hiking the 4.7 miles back to Kersearge Pass. It was a warm morning, but after a full zero day we were energized and made that streach swiftly. It was another 9.6 miles to Glenn Pass. We had heard from other hikers that the north side of Glenn had the most snow, so we were anxious about the upcoming 12000 ft pass. The approach to Glenn was gourgeous. Pristine alpine lakes surrounded by the now familiar huge rock mountains reaching to the sky. The climb was long and virtually snowless.

After ooohing and ahhhhing over the view from the top we started down the snowy north side. There were two dicy spots. One was crossing a steep snow field; if you slipped it would be a long slide down. The other was an extended descent by bolder hopping because the trail was hidden under snow for a very long stretch. There was too much loose gravel and we slid more that we wanted. No one got hurt so there another sucessful High Sierras pass assent.

We stopped at 3 by a crystal lake and finally ate lunch. Then it was a short hike to a series of lakes called Raes lakes. They are very famous because of their beauty. We made a tactical mistake and got off the trail to check out the camping areas at the second lake. It was enchanting. We found a Hiker Jan there who we haddn't seen in weeks. We were very tired (Susan was up until 2am the night before getting town chores done). That was it, we were camping there that night. STUD tried her hand at fishing with the drop line, but she didn't get any nibbles. I was asleep by 7pm. We only hiked 11 miles today. Feeling guilty about that, but it still a great day.