Day 55; Wed June 20 2007

(Stud) We only had a 6 mile downhill hike today (1.5 of it off trail) to where we would meet the ferry to Vermillion Lakes Resort--our next resupply point. We said goodbye to Old Corpus before leaving. He happened to be tenting at the same trail junction as us last night and it was good to catch up with him. We'd last seem him back at Crabree Meadows just after we'd summited Mt Whitney. He had just resupplied at Muir Ranch where he was the only guest. "I rented a cabin, the staff made me dinner and breakfast, I sat in the hot springs...it was expensive but very nice." (To resupply at Muir Ranch you must mail yourself a food drop there, they bring it up to the ranch by pack pony and charge you $45 for the delivery service.)

We arrived at the ferry landing about an hr early. A JMT hiker named Graham from England arrived shortly after us and told us about a combined hiking and cycle touring trip he did in Scotland last summer. It sounded like a great adventure--a trip inspired by the book "Hamish's Mountain Walk", by Hamish Brown.

Vermillion Valley Resort is a remote, campy outpost on Edison Lake. There is a small general store & restaurant, a few hotel rooms, some platform tents, a couple of campers, some fishing boats and one yurt for rent. The free platform tent for hikers was full (it only sleeps 4) so we decided to stay in the yurt. A yurt is a small, free standing, round tent-like structure. This one is outfitted with a small fridge, microwave oven, campstove, bed, built-in table and a couple of chairs. It's quite cozy and appears to be brand new.

My mother-in-law sent us our food drop here. It was a 2 day resupply and she sent us enough food for 4-5 days (and then some) plus lots of thoughtful extras like disposible razors, towelettes, bandanas and sun screen. We took out what we needed for the next leg (plus today's snacks) and had the remainder mailed ahead to another resupply town. Thanks Mrs D!

Easy came in on the 5:30 ferry and the 3 of us had dinner together. We last saw him in Independence--and enjoy hanging out with him. His trail name fits him perfectly--although (as a New Yorker) he was disturbed to see on the TV that the Mets are 4 and (for?) 14 this month.