Days 11-13

Day 11 – June 17

We woke up just before the mosquitos around 6:30 and packed up camp quickly, eating a Builders bar for breakfast number one, and began the climb to Selden Pass by fording a freezing river of snow melt, aka Bear Creek. We climbed leisurely, but at a quick pace, the 4.1 miles up to Selden- which was absolutely beautiful.  The other side was beautiful as well, so we stopped to make more coffee and cook breakfast number two of oatmeal. Adding strawberry jam, however, turned out to be a huge disappointment (or maybe not so huge- I still ate every bite.) As we were packing up to get back on the trail, we met our friends from Quito, Ecuador that we hung out with on our rest day at VVR. We hiked with them on and off throughout the day and traversed the sandy, dry switchbacks and descent for about 6 miles when we finally made it to Piute Creek to refill water, make camp, and even plunge all the way under in the frigid creek, with our friends Maria and George (we don’t actually know George’s name yet- all we hear Maria call him is amorcito.) We went to bed early after a long 13.5 mile day and some spicy taco beef couscous.

Day 12 – June 18

We started off climbing, and 13.5 miles later, we were still climbing. We are currently camping in the wind tunnel that is Sapphire Lake, just a few miles shy of Muir Pass, which we will tackle in the morning. Although today was very difficult, it was also one of the most beautiful days we’ve seen- from the rushing San Joachin River and birdies chirping early in the morning, to countless stream crossings and peaceful little meadows, the views around us made a tough hike well worth it.

The marmots are a little skittish, but keep trying to come befriend us whenever we have snacks around. We are very sore and Surgeon Sauvageau drained a massive blister from Em’s pinky toe, but we are overall still happy and healthy. It’s hard to believe that we have exactly one week to go before we will be strolling (or crawling) into Whitney Portal. Time flies when you’re with your best friend.

Day 13 – June 19

Well, we did it again. We hiked 4.4 miles past our intended campsite, landing us at 16.3 miles for the day- a pretty impressive feat considering we were only at 9 miles around 3:15 after an hour long lunch.  We decided to use our downhill momentum to make tomorrow’s climb over Mather Pass a bit easier and sooner in the day. We were originally supposed to hit the peak of the pass around 4pm.

Today was arguably the most gorgeous day yet. We climbed 4 miles in the morning to Muir Pass. On the North side, you look down at beautiful Wanda Lake and can see various peaks reflected in the water. The South side of the pass was dotted with lakes, whose outlets flooded the trail, but not too bad- just enough for fun rock hopping. A few lakes at the top of the pass were still frozen over with snow on top. We saw every kind of rock on the way down as well, which is unusual for the predominantly granite Sierras. We saw countless waterfalls today as well, and a few more mule deer- still no bears, but we are not mad about that. (John claims that both our mothers must be praying against them.)

We climbed down to the bottom of LeConte Canyon and about a mile back up in elevation toward Mather, where we set up camp beside a large creek at an elevation where fires are still permitted. The no-fire zone for Kings Canyon is 10,000 feet, and we are still in the 8s currently. We just finished dinner- tonight we had delicious pesto orzo with chicken Emily made and dehydrated for us. It was the closest thing to a fresh meal I think we have had yet. Now it’s time to wash up in the stream, put out the fire, and hide the bear vaults away from our camp so that we can make out 8:30 bedtime.

Till next time,
John and Em