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Although the night was dry, the dew is heavy and the soil beneath us is pretty damp too, so when we get up we find our tents are all pretty damp. I am unusually late in rising (6:15), and things kind of go slowly from there. I do get to try the OvaEasy egg crystals this morning, sharing some with Matt, and we are pleased to find that they work as well as the reviews had suggested; my special order delivered to Fresno was worthwhile. Between regular camp chores and drying stuff out, we are slow to get going.
Our first chore on the trail is crossing Bear Creek. The water didn't go down last night, so we have to wade. For Megan and me this is no big deal, but Matt's shoe-gooed boots would not likely survive inundation, so when I cross, I carry the end of my second length of parachute cord; once across, I then tie my sandals to the cord and fling them back to Matt. While he reels them in and puts them on, Megan and the llamas come across. As we wait for Matt, our side of the crossing gets busy. Megan and the llamas head up the hill a bit to get away from the bugs while I wait for Matt. Once he is across, I head up to Megan but ask her to wait while I repair my various attempts at blister care. As I am doing that, Matt comes along and then heads up the trail, as before to try to get ahead enough that we won't have to wait long for him on the other side.
Eventually I finish patching my feet up, and about 11:30 we resume our journey. There are several side trails as we rise, and I begin to get a bit concerned that maybe Matt took one. But we meet a fellow who tells us that Matt is not far ahead; a little below Marie Lake we find him and pass him. A bit farther along we have a rather lengthy discussion with a couple about the llamas. (Matt, it turns out, had an interesting answer to the question some folks posed: where did you get the llamas? Matt: Oh, we just found them wandering by the trail.) Once we disengage from that, we find ourselves along Marie Lake. Views across the lake to the Mono Divide are great but very hazy; maybe this is smoke again from the fires across the state. Looking about, I think I can see places where we could camp well off the trail (originally this was to be our camp for the night), but because tomorrow will be a busy day, we are better off continuing to Sally Keyes Lakes.
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| An uncommon llama encounter for other hikers, and a common hiker encounter for us... |
Selden Pass is just at the top of a few more switchbacks. Megan goes to tie the llamas up near the trail, but I ask her to move them farther off as I think I hear a stock party coming up the trail (turns out there is no stock party; I have no idea what I heard). Megan and I break out our lunches and sit atop boulders with views back to the north. The view south is more tightly framed and only reveals a part of the south wall of the South Fork of the San Joaquin's canyon. The best views are back on the trail a little bit, but some other folks are sitting there. One fellow seems to be meditating in a sheltered spot below my boulder. Matt comes chugging up the trail and then perches on a rock near Megan. All his climbing is done; we'll still have over 20,000' of uphill to conquer before we are done.
Lunch out of the way, we descend the switchbacks past Heart Lake and on to upper Sally Keyes Lake. Near the upper end is a granite knob with a fine view, and although the site is littered with large tree branches, this looks like a nice campsite, so we tie up the llamas. Before unpacking, though, Megan and I go down farther to where our guidebook suggests there are campsites. Several groups are already in these camps, but they are in the trees (bugs!) and there is no grass nearby, so we go back to our first site and unpack. Nowhere do we see the kinds of vistas that were at Marie Lake--that would be the better camp for watching sunset.
Soon Megan and Matt's tents are up. I go down to the lake to fill the water filter. Since we are in camp fairly early in the day, I decide to try doing laundry. Before I can get that started, Megan is ready to jump into the lake, as usual, so I tape her plunge into the cold water. Filling my big yellow bucket, I take it and the smaller washbasin and some soap to a spot away from the lake and then try cleaning up. While my shirts are icky, the socks are spectacularly dirty. Multiple refills are needed before the washbasin water isn't totally murky with soil from the socks. Using the parachute cord, I rig up a clothesline with the wrinkle that I then run the line back over itself, twisting it around the first part in a helix, so now I can hang clothes and pin them between the two strands. Unfortunately I realize I have put this up in a spot that is shaded, but that is too bad. In addition to my stuff, I wash one of Megan's shirts.
As I go up and down to deal with the llamas, I come to realize that there used to be a trail of use into this site, a trail now covered, like part of the site, in a bunch of tree branches. I realize that this is a site the Forest Service would prefer not to be used--although we are well above the water, we are probably not an airline 100' from the water. Oh well, too late now, and because we are up high, it isn't like we are damaging sensitive plants by the water. Meantime, Matt tries his hand at fishing, since he brought his pole. He didn't bring most of the rest of what he'd need to eat a fish, so the one he catches goes back in the lake.
The sun goes behind a ridgeline opposite us fairly early and the temperatures start to cool down. I decide to have part of one of my FD meals--Italian Pepper Steak. Much tastier than many other FD meals I have had. Matt decides to use his stove, which requires more effort than our little stove, but his has a windbreak. Before retiring, I check on the laundry: still wet. Rats; with any kind of dew it will probably mean I will pack wet laundry tomorrow.
Day 9. 3.7 to Selden Pass, 1.4 to camp at upper Sally Keyes Lake; 9570 Bear Creek crossing, 10900 Selden Pass, 10200 Sallie Keyes camp
5.1 miles, 630' net elevation gain, 1330' total elevation gain
Total to this point: 73.5 miles traveled, 14,730' total elevation gain.
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