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.