From our campsite in LeConte Canyon, it was 7 mile uphill hike to Muir Pass; an elevation gain of 3,250 ft. Muir Pass has a reputation for having the appearance of a lot of false summits, so I tried to memorize landmarks on the map so I wouldn't get let down every time it looked like we were near the top of the pass.
The trail up to the pass was beautiful and the now heavily melting snow was turning the trail into a stream in places. In one arewa, the trail was now part of the adjacent lake. Trail side creeks and streams were gushing. I kept wondering how much electricty could be generated if the force of this water was harnessed. Even smaller creek crossings--where we were rock hopping to avoid fording--were intimdating with the large volume of water. I am often getting a steadying hand from Dwight who deftly crosses streams on narrow and slippery logs and unsteady rocks with complete deftness.
For the first time going up a pass we were workimg well as a team. Snow patches were still covering much of the trail on the south side of the pass but if I lost the trial Dwight managed to find it and visa versa. In some cases we followed footsteps across snow fields and in other cases we made our own path or bouldered around them. Going over passes continues to be exhausting even though we feel we should be in better shape by now. We attribute it to both the elevation and the physicality of the process--and that you must do this totally mentally engaged. I figure with all the bouldering, we were only on actual trail about 50% of the time on the south side of the pass.
We stopped a few 10ths from the summit to eat lunch--which seemed like a good decision when we arrived at the top to find a scanky marmot hanging around for handouts. Muir Hut sits at the top of the pass--a small, stone octigon shaped building built in 1930 by the Sierra Club. It's almost behive shape reminded me of a french boree (sp?). Very cool.
On the north side of the pass some movement caught my eye--a snow grouse. White with brown flecks, it was easily camoflouged among the granite boulders. It's nearby partner was brown in color and nervously clucking when we came by--even though they didn't bother to fly away. I love that about grouse--instead of flying away, they simply seem to move a few feet into a slightly more camoflauged location.
In late afternoon we pased by McClure Meadow. I commented to Dwight how beautiful it was--with the lush grass and meadering creek--only to realize he was being so eaten up by mosquitos so he wasn't paying any attention. That's when we finally pulled out the deet. We both hate using the heavy duty bug spray, especially when you might get it on your drinking tube, etc, but the mosquitos we kept hearing about have finally made their appearance.
"ate in the day we did our first big ford at Evolution Creek. With the low snow this year it wasn't bad at all. About knee high for me. I went across in my socks and Dwight went barefoot moving cautiously across the river rock. The water is so clear you can still easily see the bottom even in the faster moving water.
We camped about 1/2 mile shy of the San Joaquin river crossing having hiked about 19.5 miles today.
No comments:
Post a Comment