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The Month of Muir Trail - Part 3

This is the section of the Muir Trail from Tuolumne through Vermillion Valley Resort - the first week of our re-start.

Day 1 - Tuolumne Meadows

Our last blog ended at exactly the same time this one started. After Andrew's parents left us at Yosemite Lodge to catch the hiker shuttle in a few hours, we took care of some business. For Cindy, that meant making frequent trips to the bathroom because of her upset stomach as well as calling her advisor for grad school and trying to get grad school loans straightened out. We ate breakfast and got on Diane’s bus to take us up to Tuolumne Meadows to restart the hike. She talked about flora and fauna while we watched all but the last 15 minutes of Bolt due to an ITunes issue, and then got depressed by The Reader, which comes into play later.

We got to the backcountry office of Tuolumne Meadows, which did us the huge and rare favor of holding an extra bag for us. We had researched lockers in the valley that we were planning to use, only to find out that they had been removed due to construction a few weeks before the trip. Since we were going to be in CA for almost a week after we finished the trail, we had some extra stuff that we didn’t want to carry 200 miles; given the construction debacle, the rangers helped us out. As we were completing the last run through of what we would carry the next month, Andrew wanted to throw out our delicious home-made beef jerky because he thought it might be what made Cindy sick. Luckily, he met a few hikers experienced in food dehydrating on his way to the garbage can who told him it looked and smelled fine. We repaid those same hikers with some of said jerky when we came across them a few days later at Reds Meadows.

Despite Cindy’s rumbly tummy, we ate our last non-dehydrated food for a few days at Tuolumne Meadows Grill. We sent a bounce box with some soap and a cell phone charger (Cindy’s luxury item) to our hotel in Bishop where we already had friendly hotel managers and another resupply package waiting. Luckily, we were scheduled to hike the flattest eight miles of the trail through Tuolumne Meadows that day, so we started out gingerly, hoping not to aggravate the chafing or the tummy.

During the hike, we took pictures of the beautiful streams with mountains in the background. Lyell Canyon is absolutely gorgeous. We met a ranger who warned us about an upcoming storm, which we already heard quite a bit about. We made camp near the river a bit away from a horse camp. Horse camps are gross, so luckily we found some sites away from the piles of poop.

Day 2 - Thousand Island Lake and River Trail

The second day of this section, we saw one of Yosemite’s few remaining glaciers and climbed over Donahue Pass. At the top of Donahue Pass, we met “Boots,” a JMT/PCT (Pacific Crest Trail, like 3000 miles) hiker who took pictures of everyone’s boots and said he was going to post them online (I checked but didn’t see them). We also met Jim from Harrisburg, PA, an Appalachian Trail thru-hiker who was hiking the JMT. Jim shared ways to get ideas about where to hike with Cindy’s dad this fall, who used to backpack and is interested in getting into it again now that he has a daughter who camps all over the place. We hiked down from Donahue Pass, over Island Pass (a little blip) and by the beautiful Thousand Island Lake. Ansel Adams took a famous picture of this lake, but it was hard to enjoy due to the high winds.

Along the way, we met a group of guys who saved a hiker’s life. This hiker needed a medical evacuation because he was having complications from a recent pancreatic surgery, and they helped get a helicopter to fly him out. As a result, they were worried about getting to their destination and not feeling so great. The wind blowing and temperature dropping made it evident that we were going to get a storm, which only heightened everyone’s intensity. These guys advised us to take the River Trail, which would get us to the same place but was below timberline (and therefore safer).

While having a pow-wow huddled in a knoll at Thousand Island Lake, we decided to pass on Garnet Lake where we planned to camp and drop off the JMT onto another trail that would take us to Reds Meadows, our destination the next day. We came across a father and son who were camped illegally (almost on the trail in a popular area) and had to move their site. Thousand Island Lake is beautiful and there are strict restrictions against camping near the lake. We found a beautiful legal site near a tumbling river and steep embankment, which Andrew scaled to get water. We rushed to set up camp before the precipitation, and we were happy we followed the other hikers’ great advice.

Day 3 - Reds Meadows

Luckily, the snow didn’t accumulate much during the night although we woke up to snow falling in the morning. It snowed all the way down to near Red’s Meadows. Red’s Meadows is essentially a back country resort, as you have to take a shuttle for about an hour from developed Mammoth ski area to get there. We hoped to have a package waiting there that we had sent with the driver of the shuttle a few weeks before. While we were hiking, we me a guy in a Grinnell t-shirt who happened to be a diver and the partner of the friend Alicia had just visited last week. After we figured out who he was, we knew he was doing research in biology for Humboldt University without him even needing to share it due to our conversations with Alicia. It’s a small world after all…

We breezed through Devil’s Postpile National Monument while trying not to get lost as we were on a tight schedule if we wanted to get orders in for the dinner special we heard about at Red’s. Luckily, it was meatloaf so we didn’t miss anything. Even though we had only been on the trail for two nights at this point, we were excited to see new food again. We got our resupply and sorted gear on the big logs between the store and the restaurant. There we met Erin, a girl from Boston who worked in the White Mountain huts, when she announced to the crowd she had room in her laundry load if anyone wanted in on it. We bartered a few Alaskan Ambers for some laundry, and sat down to drink them with her in the restaurant.

Here the saga of Andrew’s hiking hat began. Robert, a Scottish guy, had also put his laundry in with Erin. We chilled out and ate in the restaurant while the laundry was going, but he grew impatient and put the entire load on high in the drier without telling anyone. Andrew’s hat basically melted and shriveled, making it basically unusable. Andrew ate two burgers while the group at our table grew and we met English Nick and Mark from Maryland who was carrying a fifty-plus pound pack that would come back to haunt him for the rest of the trip. The five of us shared paths and crossed paths repeatedly for the next week or so.

After dinner, we located the free hot showers fed from spring water, which were not as scalding as rumored. Some people told us that they were unusable because they were so hot, but we enjoyed it. We camped at the backpackers’ area, which was a little tent city. It was basically impossible to walk without almost stepping on a tent or being hit by clothes hanging off tree branches or rope. We saw the guys who gave us jerky advice back at Tuolumne and had a good laugh about how glad we were that we didn’t throw out the jerky; they were happy too because we repaid them for the advice with some of our delicious meat. Mauricio, our Polish-American friend from near Half Dome, saved us a place to camp near him.

Day 4 - Reds Meadows to Purple Lake

By now, we developed a little posse of hikers who were traveling at about the same speed and camping in the same places. We were the last of the group to leave as it was a cold morning and the frost wet all of our gear. A rare moment of cell phone reception allowed calls to the families and Cindy’s secret call to a jewelry store in Bishop… more on that later. She covered up by saying she was trying to call Nicole to see if we could meet up during her trip out to LA.

As we left Red’s, Andrew carried a very full pack up a fire-ravaged ridgeline. Here we met Patrick and Sam, who have a very interesting story and provided much entertainment to our crew. Patrick attempted the JMT once or twice before but had to abort due to blisters and other issues. He was gearing up for another try this summer when his recently unemployed friend Sam came to visit. Sam had NEVER, I repeat, NEVER backpacked before. Somehow, Sam agreed to go with Patrick and got geared up shortly before they left. This explains the photo of Sam in his “camp shoes,” a flip flop and a red woman’s slipper that didn’t fit. Those were better than walking around camp in boots though. Between the physical challenge with no preparation and breaking in unfamiliar gear, Sam had his hands full and his feet blistered. Poor guy, but he eventually made it and had a lot of fun with the rest of us along the way.

It was hot going up the burn area so we didn’t do the side hike up Red Cone. We did take a long break at Deer Creek where English Nick had set up camp. He had a guidebook by a woman named Elizabeth Wenk, who became a figure of ridicule on the trip. She did not recommend hiking long days or camping above tree line, two things that most JMT hikers did relatively regularly. Despite Nick’s sale’s job, we moved on from Deer Creek to camp at Purple Lake.

We hiked for a while with another hiker with an issue around this part of the trip too. A former ranger, older gentleman, had too much food and was having trouble keeping up with his itinerary. He buried a few days of food! While we enjoyed talking about life and the world with him, we were shocked about the food because we were hoping for better “leave no trace” ethics from a former ranger. We don’t even remember his name, but it’s an example of meeting characters on the JMT. It’s a little awkward as a girl when an older gentleman starts hiking with you because it’s hard to politely say that you’d like to stop for a bathroom break; the enjoyable company usually made it worth it though. Andrew had some great conversations about politics with him, and his past as a Vietnam helicopter pilot. There were so many people we talked with about philosophy and connected with on a deep level without even knowing their names…

Even without the side hike, we got in to camp just before sunset and set up camp at a pretty spot with a view near a brook. We camped near Merv, an eccentric JMT veteran who carried his urine in a water bottle to spread around his tent to ward off bears. We can’t make this stuff up. We later found out that he advised JMT newbees to sleep with extra food in their laundry bag under their head. Are you kidding? Like a bear couldn’t smell through your clothes or put a paw through your face? Given our timing, we didn’t have time to look around for our group even though we knew that most of the people we met at Red’s were camped somewhere on the lake.

Day 5 - Purple Lake to Silver Pass

The next day, we met Erica and Melissa who we met and saw again later. They were doing a section of the JMT at about 5 miles per day and carrying a ton of food. When I passed them as they lounged by Purple Lake, we struck up a conversation and they asked whether I was solo or with a group. I responded that I was with my fiance, and they thought I said “Beyonce.” For the rest of the trip, they called Andrew “P-Diddy” and me “Beyonce.” Despite Cindy having another stomach ache (you would think she would have learned with the first episode of drinking too much milk before hiking), we had lunch with Jim (from Donahue Pass) and English Nick at Virginia Lake, which was beautiful.

We descended into Tully Hole, which was covered in moss and mosquitoes. Jim and Nick camped in the mosquito-infested area upon Alan Castle’s suggestion, and they showed off their light-weight tents and argued over whose was better. Hands down however, we had the best piece of gear. Our rented Bearikade bear canister was the envy of many on the trail due to its large size and low weight. The climb up to Squaw Lake where Patrick and Sam invited us to camp with them was a bit challenging, but a romantic dinner there watching the sunset was worth every step. This and Palisades Lake were the best sunsets we saw on the trip. We decided to climb Silver Pass in the dark, which was pushing it for Cindy. She was quite exhausted when we set up camp in an area that was a dried out tarn.

Day 6 - Silver Pass to Vermillion Valley Resort

We didn’t camp there long, as we got up early enough to hike around 9 miles before 9 am! We decided it would be nice to make the early ferry to our next destination, Vermillion Valley Resort. VVR is a backcountry resort only accessible by a long drive on a difficult dirt road. Many hikers stop there along the JMT or PCT, as it’s a pretty short detour (maybe 1.5 miles plus a $10 ferry ride) for a very hiker-friendly place. The owner, Jim, gives great advice about the local trails, and offers the ferry because they all stink (literally for some of them as they are pack animal trails). Our acquaintances who took the trails around Edison Lake to save money truly regretted it, claiming it was by far the worst stretch of trail on their entire JMT hike. Again following the advice of other hikers, we avoided the lake trails and took the ferry both times. It was well-worth the run to get there, as we had a great day…

The boat was piloted in by Jim, another employee nicknamed “Muscles” and one of their many Labrador retrievers. When we got in, we enjoyed a cold one (or ones) with Meredith and David who were living out in Arizona. Meredith was involved in environmental science and did work cleaning up after GE in Schenectady. Again, “It’s a Small World” was playing in the background as we hung out drinking ABA's before noon. We had already put in a full day of hiking at that point.

Getting in early meant we had breakfast, pie and a room before anyone else from our “cohort” got off the ferry in the afternoon. We even ate another person’s left-overs in the dining area, which did not seem weird after living off little food for almost a week now. Olive, one of the VVR waitresses, and Andrew began joking right away as she dubbed him “Mr. Giggles.” One highlight of the day was going through the hiker barrels, which Jim keeps so that hikers can discard extra food and supplies that other hikers may need. I threw out some perishables (ew) but scored the find of the trip with Leuko tape. One day before VVR, we stopped to eat dinner by a stream and met a doctor who had quite an interesting array of gear, including a solar panel for battery charging and a front pack that he said balanced his load to improve his hiking. He sort of looked like the terminator of hiking. He told us he swore by this certain kind of medical tape for blisters, and sure enough, we found the end of a roll in the hiker barrel.

Possibly even better than the Leuko tape, however, was the chocolate-flavored condom. We postulated various theories about who brought that up to VVR. Was it a woman who was looking for a way to get some extra chocolate taste without a lot of extra weight on her back? Was it a dude trying to get some play by offering the allure of chocolate in his tent? We collected our goodies from the hiker barrel and took a nap before dinner. Cindy helped fold napkins in exchange for a free beverage; there were a lot of offers for bartering and the napkin job was really easy. This dinner the first night was relatively tame as we were all tired, but it did involve Andrew giving Nick the chocolate condom.

Day 7 - “Zero Day” at VVR

And on the 7th day, Andrew and Cindy rested. Yes, we did not hike a mile. Not a half a mile. Not a side hike. Ok, enough Dr. Seuss sounding sentences. We did laundry, showered, ate, hung out and played horse shoes with Pat, Sam and some staff members. Mauricio, who we met at Half Dome, came to get his resupply; in talking with him, we found out that he is an Iraq veteran who may have to go on another tour when he gets back. Wow, that was a shock back to reality.

Cindy did the napkins again and Erin, the girl from Boston we had been hiking with, volunteered to do dinner dishes in exchange for a free dinner. She toiled for about 5 hours in exchange for a $15 dinner… and we poked fun at her for not thinking this through more the whole time. There is a great video of our rowdy group at dinner the second night, where highlights included Nick trying and failing to eat a whole pie himself. That night, guests and staff all gathered around the campfire once the generator for the restaurant and store went out.

The campfire was one of the highlights of the trip. Long story short (cause it was kinda a “you had to be there moment”), this group of Irish guys had gotten lost in the woods for two days because they dropped off the trail for weather concerns and ended up following a ranger’s direction to take a trail that hadn’t been maintained. They said they were finding animal skulls and climbing over downed trees every few feet, and their beleaguered body language confirmed their story. So this one Irish guy fell asleep at the campfire while we sang to English Nick and a tall, long-haired staff member playing the guitar. When the Irish guy woke up, we told him that it was his turn to sing, to which he replied with a string of expletives. He proceeded to tell a string of vulgar and sexual stories to which the high school Boy Scouts listened wide-eyed while his 19 year old son covered his face and repeated in his brogue, “Shut it, Dad, just shut it. Don’t give him any more absinthe.” Erin and Muscles got “lost” in the woods for a while, also adding to the amusement. After many interesting stories involving saunas, snow mashers and Scottish humor, we retired to the yurt. Yurts are round wooden frame dwellings with canvas coverings and this one had a view of the lake. Beautiful!

Day 8 - VVR to Marie Lake

“It’s so hard… to say goodbye… to VVR.” We rushed to have breakfast and get on the early ferry out, as we were worried we would never leave if we stayed longer than planned. The hike up Bear Ridge to Marie Lake was brutal for Cindy, and even though she wasn’t carrying a heavy supply of food like Andrew was. Andrew had been dreading this segment with a full pack for most of the trip, and he was behind Cindy for most of the day while she was hiking with Erin. By dusk, Cindy and Erin finally reached the lake and were worried he hadn’t caught up. The girls pitched our tents next to Mark, and Andrew caught up shortly. We got signals from headlamps across the lake, which we found out in the morning was Erika, Melissa and English Nick. We missed out on some drink and cheese that the food girls shared, but enjoyed a leisurely morning in camp along the lake edge with a gorgeous view.

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