The morning started off with breakfast.   Papa Bear hung out with us before the 9AM ferry.   Turns out he has been zeroed at VVR for the last 5 days.   He just likes the place.   If we were staying he was going to do yet another day.    Soho insisted his package would arrive in time….turns out it didn’t.

I got a bit of Papa Bear’s story.   He has 2 kids and a bunch of grandkids.   Somewhere along the way, Papa Bear retired, bought and RV, loaded up his dirt bike, and began roaming the Earth.   Last year he and his RV was apparently parked in Thousand Oaks (my home town) in his niece’s driveway.    He pops on and off the grid for months at a time.   One of his kids asked when they should be worried about Grandpa.   Papa Bear told them to wait 1 month before getting concerned.   What a character.

While waiting for the mail run, I spent most of the day talking to various JMT’ers.   Met this retired physician named Larry who gave me the 411 on the Camino De Santiago.   It will be perfect for Alice. 

One of the JMT’ers is a dude named Zach.   He is hiking with a couple of his friends.   Zach is a consultant in the tech space with a focus on marketing and sales.   Really bright guy.   We had a long discussion about the state of media and how all the choice tend to reinforce individual biases.    Overlayed with that are orgs like facebook that splice in their own business agendas with content delivery.    It is a brave new world.   Hope the millenials come up with some new ideas.   20 more years of seeing cat pictures, myopic political arguments, and conspiracy theories will drive me to an early grave.

Zach offered to let Soho and me shake down his pack to save weight.   Zach was good natured about it, so it made it fun.  The big discovery was a brick of moleskin.    We suggested keeping one strip and big roll of duct tape.  Probably ID’d 2 or 3 pounds that could go.   Hopefully Zach will toss his boots soon and get some trail runners.    

I spent a little time updating my notes recent hiking days while watching the group dynamics of the young JMT folks on the picnic table next to me.   It was like watching PCT’ers after the first couple weeks.   Pretty soon trail names were getting thrown around.   One gal got the name Small Doses which was a stroke of genius, imho.  Another already had the name Luna which seemed to fit.   Zach got “Barn Mitzvah” after his cowboy themed bar mitzvah.   Not sure about that one, but it bugged him so it got a lot of play.   Mark, one of Zach’s friends got “Stubbs”.   Seemed to fit. 

Luna was hiking with a dude named Nathan from Austin who was full for randomness.   He decided to wash dishes that night for a free meal and was debating whether to stay for a couple weeks to work for some cash.   Fun times.   That night we played some game called Cards against Humanity.   It was fun, but honestly this group could not be offended by anything in the deck so it got a little dull at the end.  

Oh, back to Soho’s stupid resupply box.   Well I was in the store around 1:30 buying yet another snack.   The gal behind the counter takes a call from the guy driving the mail pickup van up the hill.   He ran out of gas.    The van has two tanks….apparently both empty.   This is the same dude that drove the ferry yesterday.  The owner winds up grabbing a 5 gallon can and takes off to save him.   The guy finally arrives at 3:55 with Soho’s package.   The ferry leaves at 4….assuming the driver still has his job.  I just shook my head….we are staying the night.

I crashed a little early tonight, but the fire pit was raging.   Someone was passing around a bottle of scotch…that is bad news.   I walked by their pit at midnight to hit the bathroom and they were still going strong.    

         

There is only one thing on my mind right now.   Cheeseburgers.   In order to acquire that Cheeseburger, I need to walk 12 miles, climb a 1k ridge, drop another 3.7k feet, and get on the last ferry by 4:45,  VVR is a popular spot for resupply.  I should also have a package waiting for me there.    

 

Kept running into creek crossings that require fording.   That burned 15 minutes to change shoes, go over, then put dry back on.   Last ones offered a dice roll on some sketchy rock/log hopping which turned out ok for me.   I think Soho fell in the drink on one of these. 

Then it was a 1k climb to something called Bear Ridge.   The views sucked and I was met by a constant stream of weary JMT hikers telling me there was no way I could make the ferry in time.   12 miles, give me a break.   I took a couple of 1 hour breaks along the way to burn the clock.   It was an easy hike.   

Soho has been hearing rumors that there has been a Papa Bear sighting at VVR.    We haven’t seen that guy since Burney Guest Ranch in Northern Cal.   We are both pretty excited to find him. 

On the other side, it was 3k of swtichbacks down.   Easy hiking, but I’m a little bummed knowing payback will come after this stop. 

There was a one mile side trip to the ferry pickup point.   Trail was all muddy and mushy.   Got to the site around 4 and found the place full of hikers.   19 to be exact.    Soho and I spent some time chatting with a couple of PCT’ers named Edgy and Monk.   They are Southing the Sierra section they had skipped earlier in the season. 

Sure enough, at 4:30, the ferry dude showed up.   We all loaded and were wisked to the land of Cheeseburgers, beer, and steaks.  

VVR opens a tab for each of us.   Everything there is ala carte, so the bill accumulates rapidly.    That evening I didn’t get my cheeseburger.   I had to settle for a 12oz steak.   Poor me.

A few hours after we arrived, Soho found Papa Bear.   After dinner a bunch of JMT hikers, Soho, Papa Bear, and I gathered around a big camp fire to swap stories.   I bought a 12 pack and distributed to all takers to loosen folks up.    It was a really fun night.   We all spent hours talking about the characters we had met on the trail.  Rickie Bobbie, Rise and Shine, Large Pizza, Bay Watch, Twigsy, Bam Bam, Joe Dirt, and all the rest.  I miss these gatherings.   For me they have always been the highlight of hike.

Soho’s resupply box is not here yet.   The VVR folks are going to do a mail run in the morning, then hopefully we will board the evening ferry and get a few miles in.    

Today we venture into the valley of Darwin.   All the features in this area are somehow named after Darwin’s work on Evolution theory.   The only concern about evolution is the creek by that name.   There are youtube videos of people swimming across this thing during high water years.  

Passed 3 JMTer campsite between 8 and 9.   They all pretty much looked like this. 

The evolution ford turned out to be ho hum.   Wide crossing, but the water was only slightly above the knees.  I could see how this crossing would be miserable if there was more water.   Next was a big drop below the meadow.   That slow flowing stream turned into this. 

Lot of Water Flowing Down

After dropping into the next valley, I found a couple photographing this rock.   They said it was THE John Muir rock.   Hmm.  Snapped a photo for posterity. 

The next climb began to Seldon pass.   Another 3k up to 10.9k.   I really wasn’t that into it today.   I just wanted it behind me.   Here are a couple pics on the way up.

I think there was a better view from the top, but I just wanted to get to camp today.   I was bounding along some dull trail then I turned the corner and saw this. 

There was a second, bigger lake right after it call Lake Marie.   I ran into a bunch of folks camping in the woods next to it.   Looked lame.   Fortunately the campsite we had picked out was slightly above it on a exposed rock/sand combo.   We were the Winners today. 

Today was a 20 miler with 3.5k elevation change.  Winning. 

 

 

Another day, another pass.   Only this one is named after the Big Cheese.   Mr Sierra Club himself, John Muir.  There is a rather famous stone hut at the top that Soho and I want a picture taken.    Today is going to be a long 10 mile gradual uphill slog to 12k feet.   The valley here is wide and flanked on both sides by 11k+ ridge line on both sides.       

There is water everywhere down here.   Unfortunately that also means the trail in many places has turned into a creek.   This is one example. 

The trail followed the Middle Fork of the King River.   This went on up to the head waters for the river.    Very pretty.   Lots of vegetation and wild life.   Saw 4 baby deer together with their mothers.   They make this little mewing sound…never heard that before.    I was watching the river as I hiked and saw a beaver or otter rock hopping around the river.   It looked fat and happy.

 

 I took a picture of my feet.   So there. 

Here is bambi with his/her Mom.   Center of the pic in the shadow.

While stomping through a mixture of mud, running streams on the trail, and crossing creeks, my mind began to wonder.   Where is all this water going?   How much of it winds up in the flush tanks of LA’s toilets?  20%?   Clear mountain spring water cascading down to the LA basin’s 10 million residents so they can flush their poo!  

I sat on a rock to noodle on this topic for a while.  

Up and up.   Slowly gaining altitude. 

The pass became semi visible at 11k.  

Above 11k there were snow fields everywhere.   I talked to a southbounder and he said he counted 18 that we had to cross.   Turns out that was about right.   Fortunately, none of them were really difficult.   The hard part was finding the trail again after a field or a snow melt stream.    I ran into a couple hiking Northbound here.   We wound up hiking together picking our way through the chaos.  

Then after a final climb straight up a snow bank, I made it to the top.

 Soho was up their with his shoes off picking at his feet, as usual.   I swear that is going to be the image I’ll forever have of Soho.   Sitting on a rock picking at his bare feet.

Anyway, we got our Muir Hut snap.

  

Here is a pic inside the hut.  Folks leave their little totems on the mantle for the season.   

We hung out there for a while.   Andrew showed up and was taking all sorts of photos with his heavy-assed camera.   I don’t know, seems like a waste of time.   There must be millions of high-res photos of the Sierras.   I’ll stick with my iphone taking pictures of my feet.

The running joke was that Soho seemed to look a lot like John Muir incarnate.   As folks came up the hill I’d ask them if they wanted a picture with John Muir.   They just looked at me like I was an idiot.   Screw them, I thought it was funny.

Soho took the lead going over the pass.  

The ground turned into a excellent soft trail with a slight downhill grade.   This is my favorite, so I started pouring on the coals.   I asked every person I’d meet if they had seen John Muir ahead of me.   Nobody get my jokes.   They just can’t operate at my level of sophistication.

I had the music blaring and was doing a 3+ mile/hr clip.   Somewhere along the way I passed Soho getting water and didn’t notice.  

Rolled into the campsite before 6.   

Soho turned up a few minutes later, then about an hour later the couple I ascended the slope with showed up.   He had a ukulele and sang a couple of songs after dinner.   It was a nice end to the day.   This is was my fav pass so far.   Big rivers on both sides, shear canyon walls, nice foot path.   Did 18 today.   The miles are improving.

 

This morning I got up a little early and packed the tent.   Soho and I sat on a log and had some breakfast.   The leader of our lux campers next door managed a “good morning” to us.   We were so blessed.   He was shouting to his crew to be ready by 7….they were still packing tents at 7:30 when I left.  

The morning started with our first ford.   River is about 40 feet wide,.  Both Soho and I have been carrying a set of old trail runners for this purpose.  I put mine on and jumped in.    Water was only 2 feet deep, but man was it cold.   When I got to the other side, I couldn’t feel my feet.    I pried my wet shoes off, switched to dry, and started walking.  Feet stayed numb for another 20 minutes, then eventually warmed up.

Today the skies were finally cloud free. 

Notice how the trees get scrawnier as I climb

The approach is a has me facing a giant bowl.   It acts like a sound reflector, I could hear hikers chatting on their way down.   These two were particularly loud.  Yapping about babies

Mather pass is known to be a intimidating because it is a 1,000 feet of loose scree.   The pass itself was not that hard to climb.  I did briefly get creeped out during the climb thinking about walking on this narrow path surrounded by loose rocks above and below.   Increasing the headphone volume seemed to solve that problem.   I cleared the 12k foot peak around 11:30.

The first bit of the decent was nasty.   The North facing slope still had blobs of snow on them and the pitch was super steep.   Had to do a couple rock scrambles to get below the snow covering the trail.  

I always try to keep the camera level on this pics so the pitches are accurately represented.    Looking at these now it doesn’t convey how it actually felt.   Dropping up to 2 feet per step on sometimes loose boulders at odd angles while wearing a 40 pound pack.    Just happy I’m not there anymore.

I ran into a guy named Michael who gave me a little info about the area.  Here is a little video around Palisade Lake.   The ridge line I incorrectly call “Paradise Ridge” is, I think, the Palisades.   On the other side of that ridge is the biggest glacier in California.    Below Mather Pass

Rest of the day continued to be a very long descent.   Somewhere along the way, I hooked up with Michael again and we hiked together for a bit.   He was trying to decide where the optimal place was to smoke a joint.   Apparently he visited his local reefer store in Nevada and told him his plans to hike for a week.   The guy there pulled up a database of different strains, recommending “Blue Dream”, “White Rhino”, and some other one he couldn’t remember.   Hmm….  When I was young you got whatever the dude had stuffed in his underwear.   Michael really wanted me to join him in his Blue Dream moment, but that seemed a good way to waste half the day.   I left Michael sitting on a rock enjoying the scenery.   He is probably still there. 

Passed the lower Palisade lake and started descending the “Golden Staircase”.  Believe me, it is anything but golden.

The staircase is a tight, steep spiral below the outlet of lower Palisade lake.   Thing is so tight that I could not find a good angle to take a picture.    Folks climbing up it seemed distinctly unhappy.

On the way down I ran into an older lady who kind of reminded me of Aunt B from the Andy Griffith show.   I had the impression she’d get winded just walking up a flight of stairs…yet here she was.   Then I got the story, apparently some kid saw her start climbing.   He ran over, dropped his pack, grabbed hers, and ran her it all the way up.   At least a 500 to 750 foot climb.    Now that is some trail magic.  

Rest of the hike was uneventful.  Greener and more water.   The descent eventually bottomed out at 8,000 feet.  

The last 5 miles or so were flat and easy.   A couple miles before the campsite I had an unexpected encounter with some Southbound PCT’ers.    First was this German lady in her 50’s.    She was cruising and didn’t want to talk.   Then I ran into a gal I vaguely remember named Mayo with some JMT gal who was hanging with her.   Mayo said the German gal was rushing ahead to get a campsite before it was claimed by the JMT hoard.   She mentioned another PCTer was pulling up the rear.  

I walked on for a few minutes then I ran into Flame.    We were both so surprised we just did a spontaneous hug.    Last time I saw her was up North hiking a week with her Dad.    Now here she is again.  Apparently yesterday she lost her hat, so she is running around with a piece of the trail map tapped to her head to make a hat/visor.   Flame is always in character, always a little screwed up.   Either out of water, ripped shoes, or in this case…..missing her hat.    

We said our goodbyes and I rolled into a campsite next to the middle fork of the Kern.  There was a JMT’er named Roland already setup.   Soho showed up a few minutes later.    We setup next to Roland…not sure if he wanted us there but he gets what he gets.    Had a good chat with him later in the evening.   He is some kind of painting director for Disney’s theme parks.   Helps setup new features in the park with his last assignment being in China for 2 years.    Now he’s working on the Star Wars thing in Disneyland.   Disney is milking that Star Wars thing to the limit.  

Soho, as usual, got all concerned about Roland’s fire.   I could care less.   We are in a river valley and the ground is so wet that my ground sheet was soaked the next morning.    

Did 16 miles today and cleared another pass.