Daily Miles: 17
Total Miles: 164
We seem to wake up before our alarm these days. That seems to help us be ready to get up and get right into packing up. We’ve all gotten into a good morning routine, so we can be on the trail by 6:00 a.m.
It was nice and cool when we headed out this morning. Yesterday evening, we started the climb that would take us up to Muir Pass. So, this morning, we had nothing to do but climb. The grade of the trail was pretty good, and the trail followed a river for miles.
Within a few miles of starting, we began to see lots of tents. We’re not sure if these folks are hiking the John Muir Trail or if they came in via an access trail from Bishop to just hike a shorter section. But it was definitely full of tents.
We could also tell that there was a horse outfit camped in the area. We didn’t see the people, but we could see a horse through the trees.
In this same area, we started to hear some chipmunks chittering pretty loudly. We figured they were just playing around, but then we saw a bird fly down and grab something with its claws just thirty feet from us before flying off. We were surprised to see that in real life. The bird was not very big, and we didn’t get a good enough look to identify it.
The climb up to Muir Pass was about ten miles this morning. A lot of the climb was pretty moderate, with a patch of steeper trail in the middle. It was very scenic, and it felt like it was really varied. We started in the valley with tall pines and ended up in an entirely stone landscape.
Muir Pass is different from the other passes we have done previously on the trip. Typically, with a pass, you hike up to the ridge and then descend down the other side. Muir is different in that you are doing more of a “V.” You hike up a valley that is dominated by the Middle Fork of the Kings River. Once you get to Muir Pass, you just turn a little and go down another valley into Evolution Valley.
On our way up, we took a long break for snacking and so Mace could dry out his rain fly, which got wet from condensation overnight. As we sat there, there were tons of hikers who came by. Some were out for the JMT, but the bulk just had day packs on. We figured that maybe they had camped below and were just going to do a day hike up to the pass.
We got to the pass just after noon. It is one of the most iconic passes, with a stone shelter on top. Somehow, the shelter remains hidden from hikers in both directions until right before they arrive.
We had lunch at the pass and chatted with several hikers. One guy, Dan, we had met at the top of Mather Pass yesterday. Another guy, Derrick, had just retired from being a firefighter and had been planning this trip for the past year and a half. It reminded us of Mace, who hiked the Appalachian Trail after retiring from his local fire department. It was nice to chat with the other hikers.
After lunch, we headed down the trail. Basically, the rest of the day would be spent hiking downhill. The trail was pretty exposed and very rocky, which really made our feet tired.
The walk down Evolution Valley is quite striking, with the stone landscape broken up by alpine lakes. The trail seemed to have been rerouted since we were last here. Instead of going right along the shores of the lakes, a new trail has been created higher above the lakes. It is well engineered but heavily reliant on rocks in the trail.
On the way down, we could see that there was a large horse train coming down the trail behind us. We got off the trail a bit and did some laundry in a river while we watched the horses and cowboys go by. It looked like each horse was carrying two coolers. There were at least ten horses, so they must be setting up for a large group.
We took a mid-afternoon break under a rock, as that was the only option for shade. We started to see tiny trees as we went farther down the valley. We knew we had to keep hiking until we found trees big enough for us to hammock.
Near the end of our day, we came across a couple who were walking in the opposite direction. They were wearing matching outfits. When SweetPea complimented their matching outfits, they said they were on their honeymoon. What a great adventure to start a marriage.
We ended the day at our favorite campsite of the trip so far. We got in early enough that we had time to clean up and just hang out a bit before dinner. SweetPea even took the time to retie her braids, which were looking pretty frazzled.
Our campsite has a nice stone slope where we could sit and look out over the mountains. It was a great place to eat and hang out. A really nice way to end our already good day.
Ending Location: 37.174481,-118.707702
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