The adventure begins. 20 miles down the Keiser pass...a one lane "road" from Huntington Lake down to Mono Hot Springs "resort". A Sierra storm is brewing over the mountains. We survive the pot holes and oncoming traffic.
We gather at the store for the only cell phone reception and charging
These are my backpacking friends...Janet, Randy and Mary from Cambria and Vikki and Jim from Colorado. We have been doing a 6 day backpack together every year for 11 years. I missed a couple of them and at age 73 I am the oldest.
We finally found our favorite hot tub...lil Eden. We have fond memories of this beautiful soak from a previous trip in 2015
Nature is ever changing and this time we had to climb down a rope on slippery mud to get there.
To acclimate to the altitude we dis a couple of good day hikes. Jim provided a cool beer at the end
More hot pools to explore
And a lake to find
A swim for Janet and Vikki
First night at the JMT repack station
Across beautiful meadows filled with wild flowers
We are now on the John Muir trail which goes from Yosemite to Mount Whitney. We are also on the Pacific Crest trail which goes from Mexico to Canada. At the pack station hikers from all over the world pick up their buckets that they mail to restock. There are also buckets with free stuff in them. Its a great place to talk to people. ....and new to us this time....charge your phone. Gone are the old maps...now we navigate by phone.
its nice to relax in our first camp
The next day off to evolution Valley.
Janet and jim had packed into there as kids with their parents . Janet found us the shortest way in...only 19 mile hike.
The rivers were high with rain and snow melt
Nice and cool for a foot soak
Plenty of rest as we climb up in the high altitude
The trail goes on and on
We had heard that the bridge over the san Joaquin river was washed out.
There was much conversation among the hikers as to how and where to cross.
We sent Jim...our youngest member at 65...to test the waters without a pack
He said that it was a much stronger current that it looked.
Even after seeing this PCT thru hiker cautiously make her way across, we decided to be sensible and find somewhere else to camp. We would have had to cross it twice to access the evolution valley....although a crew was building a temporary bridge that would open on a few days. This gal from Florida was doing the whole PCT solo and she said it was slippery and scary.
We back tracked to a nice spot along the river
Janet filled a bucket of water from the river for us to have an easy supply of water to filter
The next day we packed to Piute creek where we set camp for 2 days. we explored, rested and day hiked. We have joined to younger generation sharing photos from our phones.
A truly beautiful place to camp
and absorb the nature
Randy and I find time for a few games of Casino.
We use our bear canisters for a table
I enjoy pumping water from the river
And all too soon its time to hike the 9 miles back to Florence lake
We spot the lake and wait for the ferry to take us back into civilization
some cars have to be wrapped in the parking areas to prevent varmits from chewing on their environmentally friendly wiring
Back to mono hot springs for a hot shower, delicious meal and a night in a tent cabin
And on a very sad note. After dinner as Janet and Randy sat catching up on emails Janets received a shocking phone call telling her that her partner of 10 years and our friend Joel had just passed away from a sudden heart attack while riding his bike on the ranch in Cambria. Randy walked a sobbing Janet back to our tent cabin where we spent a restless and sad night before heading home the next morning. Rest in Peace Joel. We had many great times together.
Janet and Joel in 2014
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