We managed to get close to 10 hours of sleep last night. We both read when we got in our hammocks and were asleep well before dark. We got on the trail about a quarter after seven. It was quite chilly, so we started the day with our hats, gloves and rain jackets. Today was a very mellow day with no pass and low miles…we were just positioning ourselves for our final day tomorrow.
The morning scenery was great. We were in desert like terrain with some scattered Juniper trees here and there. Good views of mountains a few miles away in the excellent morning light. Temperatures were cool and the sun felt warm in just the right way.
We have done a good job of planning our food for this last stretch and will likely finish the trail with no food left in our bear canisters.
We got to our campsite around 1:30, while the other guys continued for another mile or so to Guitar Lake. There were so many people on the trail headed in that direction, we’re sure Guitar Lake looks like a tent city. After we dropped our packs, Beardoh walked up the trail a bit to see if there were any good hammocking sites further up the trail. He decided that our original site was best, so we set up our hammocks.
We are camped just south of Timberline Lake, about 15 feet from the creek that feeds it. Since we had so much time to kill, we sat down on a rock and listened to an episode of “This American Life” Sweetpea had saved to her iPod. It was a nice way to pass some time.
It started to cool off quite a bit and shortly after we finished eating dinner, we felt the first raindrops. We both put up our tarps, with Sweepea’s looking droopy since her two trees are a bit too close together. Then we sat under Brian’s tarp eating the extra food from his stash. It started to hail and thunder as we sat there. We really hope that it stops soon and that Mt Whitney will not be icy tomorrow. Today was such a beautiful day, that we are hoping tomorrow will be just like today. Hopefully the guys at Guitar Lake are doing good, as they are very exposed.
Daily Miles: 10
Total Miles: 223.4
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