Monday, June 17, 2013

Day 62, June 17 - Halfway Done with California

Middle Fork Kings River Mile 833 to Aspen Meadow Mile 854

For our two month anniversary, the trail was good to me today! 21 miles with a pass also! Today was the last big one, and we made it to the top of Muir by noon and then booked the last 18 miles of the day. It finally feels like we're close to Mammoth, and right now we're only 50 miles away.

Muir Pass was fun - lots of meadows and waterfalls and snowfields on the long climb up - it felt like such a journey to get to the top, including plenty of trail finding and slow moving. We had heard that the descent down the other side could be tough with lots of postholing in snow, but it wasn't too bad, and we got a chance to admire the vistas instead. Brett found Sierra Nevada Yellow Legged Frogs in a lake on the way down, and was excited about seeing them at that elevation. We had a late lunch which powered us on 3 miles farther than we needed to make up for yesterday's shorter day.

We're entering lower ground than the 10,000 feet we've been frolicking in for the past week, so the air is getting more air! Brett is bummed that this section is coming to an end, and I must admit that the views aren't QUITE as jaw-dropping. Funny though, we've still got half of our time in the Sierra to look forward to! We'll be in Yosemite and Tahoe soon enough, and that feels like the Bay's backyard - we've practically hiked home! We passed the 1/2 way point of California today, it's really crazy how the miles really do start to just fly by. 400 miles ago seems like yesterday.

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