How glorious a greeting the sun gives the mountains!
15 July 2010
The sunrise over 1000 Island Lakes was spectacular. The peaks started out engulfed in hues of reds and orange, and then the lights slowly brightened to full sunlight. The surface of the lake was tranquil; not a wave rippled the water.
There were quite a few people camped along the perimeter of this pretty lake that I didn't notice last night.
"This is Ray's favorite part along the John Muir Trail" said Darlene. Ray is her husband. I could agree with that assessment, as I would have enjoyed spending a day at this aqualine lake.
Darlene once again wanted to get up and go as soon as possible. We got to talk to our temporary neighbor, a young man whose trailname was "Flashback." I had seen him come near our camp the night before, and he was up and out early like us. A PCTer, his goal was to hike 30 miles a day, going as fast and as long as possible. "I didn't send any resupplies; I am hoping to get enough food from the hiker barrels" he admitted. The hiker barrels were barrels at both the Muir Trail Ranch and Reds Meadow where hikers could discard unwanted food stuffs and gear for anyone else who may need it.
We were on the trail by 6:30am. The trail meandered up and around many alpine lakes, over rushing creeks and through forests. This was a very scenic section and one that wasn't too difficult to conquer the first few hours. Al, however, quickly was behind us from the start.
Thus both Darlene and I would speed forward only to wait for Al. This was the time we used to chat and get to know one another, although once on the trail she'd put her earbuds on and listen to her iPod play Sinatra or Grateful Dead (a rather strange combination!). I took that as a sign that she'd rather listen to music than talk with me.
I've learned that whereever there is water on the JMT, there are mosquitoes and today they were bad. I finally asked for some DEET, I couldn't handle the many bites all over me. Even Al and Darlene were getting bitten even though they were doused with the chemicals all day.
We stopped for lunch before noon, on a long and wide log next to a rushing creek. Once back on the trail, it was steep uphill for several miles. An endurance hiker ran up from behind me and was soon gone. Darlene was quickly ahead of me here as well, but I joined her at the top and waited with her for Al. "It took me nine Sinatra songs (to get up here)" she said, "Al shouldn't be that far behind!" Sinatra never sang long songs, though, and I should add, thankfully.
We stopped again at another small lake we realized later was Trinity Lake, the campsite for tonight. This wasn't a big lake at all, and a large equestrian group had claimed a large section of this camp already. One man sat on a large boulder near the lake and chatted on his cell phone. That prompted us both to check out own cell phones, but neither of us got service. The man who did get service bragged about his dependable Verizon line.
We had lost a lot of time today stopping and waiting for Al. I could tell Darlene was getting frustrated. "I bethcya Al's going to drop out tomorrow at Reds Meadow" she added. "We could have made it a few more miles today; it's all downhill from here!"
I liked Al, despite his slow pace. He was always so easy to talk to, and had interesting stories to tell about his job working for the BLM all over the Southwest. If Al was so slow on this trek, why did Darlene invite him? One can only go as fast as the slowest member on the team.
We ended up stopping in a nondescript, mosquito-infested hilltop and set up camp right off the road. A creek was nearby, but otherwise this was perhaps the ugliest campsite on the entire JMT. There was no vista here, just bugs.
Al finally walked into our little area over two hours later. He, too looked frusrated. "Didn't you guys wait for me?" he asked. We had, several times, but never long enough for him to catch up with us completely; the mosquitoes were just too bad everywhere.
I didn't mind the long waits as it gave me a chance to photograph plenty of flowers. One chipmunk came up to me from behind a long, sniffed my leg and waited a few seconds (as if expecting a hand-out) and then darted off again. But with Al at the site, it was all over with soon: Darlene had made him mac-n-cheese, some extra pudding, and soon they were both inside his tent for the night. There wasn't much else for him to do as sunlight was fading fast and the bugs were getting hungry.
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