Red's Meadow to Campsite at Mile 917.25
Waking up in the condo was great. Getting out of bed at the condo was awful. I didn't want to leave the bed, but it was now 7:20 AM and I had to get in the shower.
Share Bear is already in the kitchen...she is an early riser...but no sign of Brad. I jump in the shower and the hot isn't too hot. Brad must be taking a shower upstairs at the same time. I quickly shower, just fast enough to be done by the time the hot water runs out.
I put on my uniform. That's what it feels like when I put on my hiking clothes. After two down days in Mammoth Lakes we are headed back on the trail. We all move slowly, eat breakfast slowly, pack our backpacks slowly. We want to get back to hiking, but at the same time we want to stay here, in this comfy condo, and enjoy another day eating out, relaxing on the couch, having a glass of wine. But, Canada calls so we much hike.
We left the condo at 9:00 AM. Tim drove us to the ski resort where we will take a bus back to Red's Meadow. At 9:36 AM we are out of the 4Runner and ready to go.
Share Bear is already in the kitchen...she is an early riser...but no sign of Brad. I jump in the shower and the hot isn't too hot. Brad must be taking a shower upstairs at the same time. I quickly shower, just fast enough to be done by the time the hot water runs out.
I put on my uniform. That's what it feels like when I put on my hiking clothes. After two down days in Mammoth Lakes we are headed back on the trail. We all move slowly, eat breakfast slowly, pack our backpacks slowly. We want to get back to hiking, but at the same time we want to stay here, in this comfy condo, and enjoy another day eating out, relaxing on the couch, having a glass of wine. But, Canada calls so we much hike.
We left the condo at 9:00 AM. Tim drove us to the ski resort where we will take a bus back to Red's Meadow. At 9:36 AM we are out of the 4Runner and ready to go.
Ready to take the bus and hike.
We arrived at Red's Meadow Resort where Brad and Share Bear decided they needed a milkshake before hiking. At 11:25 AM we were back on trail...well, sort of. We decided to take the Devil's Postpile Alternate. The PCT/JMT goes around Devil's Postpile, so we have to take the alternate to see it.
20 minutes later we entered Devil's Postpile National Monument.
20 minutes later we entered Devil's Postpile National Monument.
Devil's Postpile sign
This Devil's Postpile is really cool. It is a rock formation formed by lava 100,000 years ago and the polished by ice 30,000 years ago. At least that's what I remember reading on one of the signs. The cool part is that the rock formed into hexagons. Check it out:
We took the trail to the top of Devil's Postpile and got to see the hexagon shapes from above...I know...right!
Cool hexagon shapes on Devil's Postpile.
So fascinating
Self-portrait "Devil's Postpile National Monument"
Just after Devil's Postpile, the PCT/JMT trail went to the left. Then, at mile 909.02 the JMT and PCT split for the next 13.9 miles. As soon as we took the PCT direction we were greeted with a PCT sign. We were so excited. We haven't seen this sign for 150 miles!
PCT sign of the day.
Check out this beautiful bridge built over the middle fork of the San Joaquin River:
Great bridge.
At point the PCT followed the San Joaquin River for a while and then headed up for almost 2,000 feet. The good news is that we are back on the PCT where the grade of the trail is much more gradual than the JMT since it was built to allow for horses and other pack animals.
Just astray the bridge we decided to stop for lunch and a break and wound up staying there for almost 2 hours. After 2 days of not hiking, we have to ease our way back into it.
After lunch, the pleasant trail up took us through a beautiful pine forest:
Just astray the bridge we decided to stop for lunch and a break and wound up staying there for almost 2 hours. After 2 days of not hiking, we have to ease our way back into it.
After lunch, the pleasant trail up took us through a beautiful pine forest:
The beautiful PCT...we missed you!
Great view from the PCT.
These PCT signs are so great to see:
PCT sign of the day #2
We headed up some switchbacks and came across this sign stating that we are in the Ansel Adams Wilderness:
Self-portrait "Ansel Adams Wilderness"
Mountain views from the PCT.
Wow...the wildflowers up here are just amazing. I saw these flowers and had to take a picture.
Beautiful wildflowers
We were trying to make it to a campsite at mile 919.95. At this point we wouldn't make it to camp until 7:30 - 8:00 PM. Share Bear and Brad wasn't feeling it, so we started looking for a place to camp. Around 6:30 PM we came across a stream and found a spot a little bit up the trail from it.
We quickly setup camp and then quickly cooked and ate dinner before the mosquitos ate us for dinner. We were all in our tents by around 8:00 PM before sunset. It is nice to call it quits earlier than usual tonight. I woke up still tired, so I now have plenty of time to big and get plenty of sleep.
Tomorrow we need to hike at least 15 miles including climbing over one pass, so the extra sleep will be nice.
We quickly setup camp and then quickly cooked and ate dinner before the mosquitos ate us for dinner. We were all in our tents by around 8:00 PM before sunset. It is nice to call it quits earlier than usual tonight. I woke up still tired, so I now have plenty of time to big and get plenty of sleep.
Tomorrow we need to hike at least 15 miles including climbing over one pass, so the extra sleep will be nice.
Our close quarters for the night.
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