Rather than clutter up this page with lots of stuff about calories per ounce and how much space a pound of M&M's takes, there is a separate one that gives all the details of our preparations.  Maybe it will be useful if you are thinking of hiking the JMT (and there are others on the web that I found very useful).  There are links to lots of pictures we took along the way in the diary.  Some of the links may seem pretty obscure, but I didn't want to rewrite the diary to match the pictures.  If you want to just check them out (I tried to cut out as many as I could, but there are still 170! - a travelog not an art museum), there is a page of thumbnails - but since it alone is almost half a megabyte, there is also a page of just captions and links.  They are arranged in chronological order.  The pictures themselves are all between 15 and 80Kbytes.

We started out in Yosemite Valley with a group of 4 - my daughter Catherine (22), my older son Dean (19 and in good shape), my younger son Thomas (just turned 13) and I (46 and leading a pretty sedentary life).  Originally my wife and younger daughter (Mary) were to hike with us from the Valley to Tuolumne Meadows, but my daughter had caught a stomach flu from her Grandmother, so they hiked down Lyell Canyon with us for a day, instead.  I had a little notepad, and Catherine decided to start keeping a diary on our second day.  At the same time Thomas decided to try to remember to take a picture of all of our campsites, which you'll find in the pictures.

    Today was the first day on the John Muir Trail.  Originally Mary and Mum were going to come with us for the first few days, but then Mary got some sort of stomach flu, so they'll meet us later on.  We got a late start, unfortunately - we had to get ourselves organized and then drive from Tuolumne Meadows where we stayed last night down to Yosemite Valley.  We didn't finally get started until 1:30pm, or so.
    Today's hike was only 4.5 miles, but it felt like more.   We picked up the Muir Trail at Happy Isles, and followed it up past Vernal and Nevada Falls and into Little Yosemite Valley.  It started out too warm, but for most of the rest it rained.  However, the rain was great - it cooled things off, but it was light enough that we didn't need ponchos.  It was pretty strenuous; we gained 2,000 feet in the first 3 miles, or so.  But we did fine, and it wasn't nearly as bad as Mum's account led us to believe.
    The scenery was really striking and spectacular - nothing in New Jersey even comes close.  We had a late lunch overlooking Nevada Falls, which was great especially since the clouds were beginning to break.
    Then we got to Little Yosemite Valley by around 6:00, and relaxed and ate beef stroganoff for dinner, and now I'm going to bed.

    Today we woke up in Little Yosemite Valley and the first adventure of the day was the discovery that we hadn't brought the brown sugar for our oatmeal.  Dean, Daddy, and Thomas made a lot of faces while eating their breakfast (I was happy because we brought an extra bag of Cream of Wheat instead of the sugar!).  We got started off around 9:00am, and the first order of business was to climb out of the valley.  At first we saw a lot of people because we were sharing the trail with the Half Dome trail, but after we turned off there was hardly anyone.  We gained 1,000 ft pretty quickly, which was about 1/3 of today's elevation - there was no down today, just up, up, up.  It threatened to thunderstorm all day in the distance, and we were worried we might get caught, but we never did.  We passed by a few overlooks where we got great views of Half Dome, Mt. Clark and lots of other stuff.  We also saw a lot of wild flowers along the trail.  At the place where we ate around 11:00 there was a bush that looked and smelled like honeysuckle, but there was no honey.  We hiked until about 2:30pm, going 6 1/2 miles, or so, and set up camp.
    Then we all crashed for several hours; I think we're all feeling the altitude a bit (and maybe Nanoo's stomach virus).  We had dinner on the other side of the trail where there were fewer mosquitoes, but nothing does much good.  After dinner we walked down the trail 1/2 mile, or so, to see the sunset, which was really cool.

     Well, in my own personal opinion, this was the best day of the trip so far, and I think there is some general agreement.  I think we're all finally getting used to the altitude, so the going was easier, and it was generally not as hard a hike as the last 2 days.  Also, we've ended up with a truly stellar campsite on the edge of Cathedral Lake with great views of the mountains all around.  We started out this morning (amidst a gazillion mosquitoes) around 9:00, and walked along Sunrise Creek a little further.  The 1,000 feet that we soon had to climb were comparatively OK (even though I woke up still fighting Nanoo's stomach flu).  At the top was a rocky outcropping with some great panoramic views where we stopped to have some food and lounge around on the rocks like lizards.  From there it was an easy walk down to Long Meadow.  The Meadow was startlingly green, and there were lots of flowers, especially as we gained elevation again.  Halfway down the meadow was the Sunrise High Sierra Camp, which we spent some time at (they had porcelain!).  That was near the halfway point - when we left the meadow there were 4 miles until Cathedral Lake.  We went up, and then down to Cathedral Pass, which is sort of strange - the place hardly deserves to be called a pass.  As we went along we got some great views of Cathedral Peak and Echo Mountain.  I had been looking forward to this day since I saw a picture of the lake and peak in one of Daddy's trail books, and the campsite we ended up at has the view that was used in the photo.  Hanging out at the camp was one of the best parts.  We were all still feeling pretty good as far as tiredness goes, so we sat at the edge of the lake (where there was a breeze and fewer mosquitoes).  Dean took himself for a long walk to Budd Lake, which took him near the peak and along the ridge and made him late for dinner (and very tired).  The best part was the sunset, when we walked out to the lake to watch Echo Mountain turn orange and reflect the alpenglow into the lake.

    Well, as these things go, today was a fairly restful day of actual hiking - which is good because we needed all of our energy for our adventures.
    The first adventure was the bear that decided to visit us last night.  His first appearance was around midnight, and he came right by the tent.  Everyone saw him but me, but we scared him off by yelling and shining flashlights in his eyes.  He came back an hour later - just as we were all finally getting back to sleep.  Afterwards Daddy went out to check on our stuff and discovered that the bear had slobbered all over our salt and pepper, made off with our scoop (which we later found), ripped open the first aid kit, tried to eat the cold compress (which scattered little pellets all over the place which we had to clean up one by one the next morning), and finally put 4 holes in Dean's water bottle.  It could have been worse, but it was still annoying.
    But, I haven't finished the account of the night's adventures.  OK, so when we went to bed there wasn't a cloud in the sky, but just before dawn it decided to drizzle.  It drizzled just long enough for us to rush out to put flies on our tents and cover our backpacks before it stopped.  After that we had just another couple hours to try to get some sleep before Daddy woke us all up at 7:30.  Considering, I think it was a really good thing that we had an easy walk.
    We didn't get started until 10:00, but the hiking was almost all level or downhill as we went to Tuolumne Meadows.  It was about 6 miles and we got back to the campsite by 1:00 - in time to get some real food down at the Grill!  Mum and Mary found us there - they had hiked out to meet us but we just missed each other.  The rest of the day we were getting stuff ready for the next leg of the trip, which will be 6 days.  It was nice to have the family all together again, and we roasted marshmallows and other stuff.  Our last adventure was when the zipper on the blue tent broke off and we had to sew it back on.  All in all though, it has been a great day.

    Well, We are now at Lyell Fork, and I think we're all pretty tired.  Today was our first 10-mile day and we were all pretty pooped by the end.  We got up really early and went to the Tuolumne Grill for the last normal meal before Vermilion.  Then we started walking and just kept going.  Actually, the hiking was easy; there was almost no elevation gain at all until the very end.  The scenery was really pretty; we walked down Lyell Canyon, which had a beautiful clean stream and a meadow for miles and miles.  The last part of the day was a climb up Lyell Fork and ended us part way up for Donohue Pass tomorrow morning.  Mum and Mary were still with us, which made the day more fun, especially since Mum convinced Daddy and Dean to build a fire at the campsite tonight, which was excellent since it kept us all warm.  Our site is great; it has lots of space and a view down the valley.

    Well, I think that this was probably one of the hardest days so far - certainly it was the longest.  We left camp and Mary and Mum around 9:00 and went up Donohue Pass.  It was really pretty on the other side; we had lunch around 12:00 at the top.  The only mishaps were the 2 streams I sort-of fell into at the meadow at the beginning (under Mt. Lyell).  Then we started down from the pass, and it went down for what seemed like forever (especially since my knee hurt so we went pretty slowly).  At the bottom we crossed some more streams, and Thomas and I tried our luck at the log crossing and did just fine.  Then we started going back up, this time to Island Pass, which was one of the most beautiful places we've been so far.  The views out to Banner Peak and Mt. Ritter were especially fine, and towards the end of the pass we could see 1000 Island Lake.  Then we climbed down to the lake, and camped, all tired since it was after 6:30.  And now it is very, very cold.

      Well, today has actually been a generally good day.  We started out at 1000 Island Lake around 8:45, and we made pretty good time - we got to our current campsite at Johnston Lake by 5:45, or so.  The most scenic part of the day was when we climbed up to Emerald, Ruby, and down to Garnet Lakes.  These were some of the prettiest little lakes that we've seen so far, with cliff walls and bright blue water.   Garnet Lake, which was actually as big as 1000 Island Lake, also had some great views of Mt. Ritter and Banner Peak.  From there the day got complicated: we climbed out of the lake basin (past the Minarets), then descended to Shadow Lake, then ascended back up to Rosalie, then over Gladys Pass (which hardly deserved the name) and then down, down, down.  In all we climbed about 1,500 feet and lost about 2,700 feet in 11 miles.
(Ed. note: We camped near Johnston Lake - about a billion mosquitoes.  We got into the tents early to escape them.)

    Today Daddy got us all up early because we've got a long day ahead of us (Ed. note: really to beat the bugs!).  We were on the trail by 7:30, which is the earliest we've ever managed, and from there it was a couple miles downhill through the woods to Devil's Post Pile.  However, by the time we got down there my knee was hurting so much that I said I couldn't really go on.  So, from the ranger station we called Mum at Tuolumne Meadows and she said she would come get me at Reds Meadow.  (Ed. note: The Park Service rangers were extremely helpful - we got to Devil's Post Pile before the office opened, but we found the ranger at his house and he came over to get us the phone number for the Tuolumne Meadows campground.  Then to get the message to my wife in the campground the Tuolumne ranger rode her bike out to my wife's campsite.  Thank you!).  So we all hung out at Reds Meadow for a while and went and got some real food at the café, which made us all very happy - we are so sick and tired of gorp!
    The coolest thing though was the waitress at the cafe - she had been to Belize too and we talked awhile and she brought us some Marie Sharp's habenero sauce!  That made Dean and I very happy. (Ed. note: Catherine and Dean had been to Belize just a month before the Muir Trail trip, and they came back putting Marie Sharp's on all of their food).

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    Now we have a new diarist.  After we left Catherine at the Reds Meadow cafe (by the way, she took the bus but we walked the mile or 2, past Devil's Post Pile from the ranger station to the cafe) we set out on the trail around 11:30 or 11:45.  The first few miles were up, up, up.  Without Catherine's bad knee in the lead (now Thomas is leading) we hiked pretty fast.  It was the first time I'd sweated enough to need a bandana since the first day or two.  I kept wondering whether going faster was worth it, but we had a long way to go.   It helped to have had a good meal!  We went up about 1,000 feet and near the top had good views back at Mt. Ritter, Banner Peak, the Minarets, etc.  Going up the next 500 feet and we got a good view of the Red Cone we'd just gone up.  It is volcanic and there was lots of pumice.  We got to Deer Creek (the original day's goal) at about 3:20pm and decided to have some gorp and figure out what to do.  We'd already hiked about 9 miles, with about 700 feet down and 1500 up, but we decided to push on about 5 more miles (and another 1100 feet up) to the outlet of Duck Lake.  We wanted to make sure that we would be in position to catch the afternoon ferry on Edison Lake in a couple of days to give us a layover day at the Vermilion Valley resort.  We left Deer Creek at 3:55, and went along above Fish Creek Valley, getting to the Duck Lake outlet by about 6:30 - 6:45pm, and made camp near the stream - pretty open, cold, and with a good breeze.  We were tired and a bit sore, but not totally exhausted - 14 miles and 2500 feet elevation gain ending at 10,000 feet - not bad for our group.
    We wore everything we had to keep warm and put the flies on the tents to cut out the wind.  We got into our sleeping bags by 8:30, just to stay warm.  Through the last stretch of the hike we had great views across Fish Creek Valley and up to where Silver Pass comes day after tomorrow.  From here we should make Squaw Lake OK tomorrow, then over Silver Pass and out to catch the ferry to Vermilion.

    We got up at about 6:30 and tried to get an early start, but the sun was blocked by a mountain so it was cold.  We were trying to take things down and make breakfast with gloves and mittens.  Also, there was frost on the inside of Thomas's and my tent fly, on the sleeping bags, etc.  We tried putting them out to dry, but without the sun, no luck.  So, about 8:30 we finally packed things away damp and set off.  The immediate problem was crossing the stream.  What looked like the standard crossing used a couple logs, which were still icy from frost.  So we had to search around and found some stepping-stones which didn't need us to get our feet very wet - it didn't go over the boots!  Then we went up immediately.  We passed 2 very pretty lakes, Purple and Virginia (where we had brunch), then had to lose all of our hard-won elevation to get down to Tully Hole.  We met a group of 5 who had come from Edison Lake (over a few days) and they were the first people we'd seen since leaving Reds Meadow.  There was a nice big bridge over Fish Creek, at 9100 ft, and then we went up (and up) to get to Squaw Lake at about 10500 ft.  Near the bottom the mosquitoes were the worst since Johnston Lake.  As we got closer we could see the mountains around Silver Pass.  Just before reaching the lake we passed a couple who started at Tuolumne and are also doing the JMT.  We got to Squaw Lake at about 4:15, with bright sun and not a cloud in the sky.  We found a good campsite and put everything out to dry - it looked like a cheap laundry.  So, we just lay around in the sun for a while, then eventually set up the now-dry tents, then lay around a bit more.  The lake is very pretty - mountains on 3 sides and a view of lots of mountains down the valley on the 4th (western) side.  Around 5:30 or 6, Kathy, another JMTer passed by.  She is also planning to finish on Aug. 5, but at Kennedy Meadows. She planned to hike down Edison Lake rather than take the boat, so she needed to get over Silver Pass today - should see her in Vermilion tomorrow.  A little later, Keith - doing the California part of the PCT this year, passed through.  He enjoyed Vermilion Valley Resort - a bit expensive but he said we could get a steak special - 12 oz sirloin, baked potato, beans, and garlic bread for $14 or $15 - no more than a decent restaurant in most places. He said that the boat in the morning was cold, and he wasn't able to get on the trail until about 10 am.  He headed on down to camp at Tully Hole.  Dean tried fishing around 6pm - still bright sun so maybe too early.  He caught 3 small ones.
    We enjoyed eating Catherine's dinner portion of rice and beef.  Dean caught a few more small fish during and after dinner.  We are up high enough and the valley faces mostly west that the sun didn't set until 8:30 or later.  Then the wind died down, mosquitoes came out, so we got into the tents.

    We decided to get up early (6 am) and be efficient about breakfast so that we'll be sure not to miss the Edison Lake ferry.  From our original plans I'd thought we'd need to go down 3,800 ft. from Silver Pass, but it was really only 2,800 ft.  We were hiking by 7:30 and cruised to the top of Silver Pass (10880 ft. - about 600 ft. and 1.7 miles from our camp).  In the morning it was very clear and we could see back down Fish Creek Valley to Mt. Ritter and Banner Peak.  There are a bunch of pretty little lakes up around the pass.  A mile or 2 below the pass we stopped for a break and Kathy, the JMTer from yesterday passed by.  She'd been camped just a few minutes above and had slept in.  We leap-frogged with her a couple more times through the day.  We followed down by Silver Pass Creek for quite a while.  It went down over some great big smooth rocks - giant water slides, but a little too steep in some places.  We met a group of guys (~5) who were going north - they had started around Onion Valley.  A while later we met a couple coming up - he said that you could get lots of fish from the creeks around here.  We had brunch at about 11, and got to the dock on Edison Lake at about 1:30 - in plenty of time, I guess, for the 4:45 ferry.
    So, we have a lazy afternoon of lying on the rocks and waiting for the ferry.  Dean is fishing in the lake - he's hooked a few, but since he flattened the hook barbs to make it better for the fish when he throws them back, they've gotten off.  Thomas is making sand castles on the 10 ft. wide beach.  There are a half a dozen other people who've come down the lake in outboards to fish and catch some rays.
    Mom, Catherine and Mary came out on the ferry (pontoon boat) to meet us.  We took showers, ate steak, and were happy.

    We rested!
We all went to the Mono Hot Springs and got our backs sunburned (not too badly).  Dean communed with the algae and the algae gods.  We spent most of the afternoon getting food ready and doing laundry.  We decided that that rather than going up the 53 switchbacks on the JMT to Bear Ridge, we'd take the Bear Creek Trail. Several groups have told us that the switchbacks were no fun - some folks we'd met at the top of Donohue Pass, and a couple at Vermilion going North on the JMT - they said that it was their least favorite part of the trip so far.  Elliot and Elisa (the couple we'd met just before Squaw Lake) also took a rest day at Vermilion.  Kathy didn't plan too - she was sold on the Bear Creek route, but then took the 4:30 ferry out to hike up Bear Ridge.  A group of ~6 from Yorkshire, England arrived for just the night - they must come out at Whitney by Aug. 1 to get the plane back home.  Another group of 3 Englishmen and 2 from the US (the 2 groups joined on the trail) arrived and was going to lay over.  They're going about 15 miles/day so we should see them again.
    We packed the packs and weighed them - they're heavy!  Mine about 62 lbs, Dean's about 58 lbs. and Thomas at about 40 lbs.
    We a late dinner - more steak, and were happy.

     We got up at about 7 and finished packing the packs.  We transferred some food around - some of Thomas's and mine to Dean (I had been figuring on giving Dean about 5 more pounds, but miscalculated and it was 10 or more - we had to readjust at lunch).  We had big breakfasts and Mom dropped us off at the Bear Creek Cutoff trailhead at about 10:45.  We had to go up about 500 ft, then down 600 in 3.3 miles to get over the ridge to Bear Creek.  We were they by about 12:15.  Bear Creek is very pretty - rapids and cascades, then big pools.  After a few miles the trail leaves the creek and climbs steeply.  It was hot, the packs were heavy, and we got pretty tired.  We ate some lunch at about 2:15 (when I took back some of the food I'd put in Dean's pack that morning).  The extra weight didn't seem to be bothering me too much - maybe my legs are used to me weighing 185?  On the way up we went through some wet areas, and saw some flowers that must be a kind of orchid - yellow with red spots and hanging down - very pretty.  We finally got to the JMT at about 4:50, and were about 1.5 miles from where we'd planned to camp.  Thomas is pretty tired, and his sunburn hurts, but we decide to hike another 30-40 minutes and maybe get out of the mosquitoes.  I thought that we were near our planned camp (later I realized we were a half mile short, but so what) and we camped on Bear Creek.  Millions of mosquitoes - the worst since Johnston Lake.  Thomas killed (and had the dead bodies to prove it) 106 of them.  Dean fished in Bear Creek - he caught "millions".  He lost count!  He could catch a bunch in every pool.  Some were probably big enough to eat, but we hadn't made any plans to cook fish that night (and there were too many mosquitoes to stay out), so he threw them back.  We had beef stroganoff, and then had to put up a bear bag since the food wouldn't all fit in the bear containers - what a pain.  We plan to get up early in the morning to beat the bugs - we'll see.

    We got up a little after 6 and beat most of the mosquitoes.  The bear bag took extra time, but we were on the trail a little after 8.  Everything went along fine until we had to cross Bear Creek a little before 10.  Thomas was trying one route without Tevas, and his foot slipped and he fell into the water, on his back.  It wasn't deep, but he had to take off his hip belt to get up, and when he got to shore both his binoculars and his camera (which were hooked on his hip belt) were gone.  We all put on our Tevas and started looking for them.  Dean found the bino's a few feet downstream pretty quickly, but we looked and looked for the camera.  No luck.  We searched for about 1/2 hour, until our feet were numb.  Thomas was very upset.  It was his first 35 mm camera and he had only gotten it for his birthday a couple days before the trip.  It was a little Fuji zoom, and Thomas had figured out how to work all of the different features.  He was very proud of that camera.  We were also now down to one camera, and it was an Advantix, so it couldn't use Thomas's film.  We'd have to limit ourselves to 10 pictures a day for the rest of the trip.
    There had been lots of mosquitoes while the trail was near the creek, but after we gave up the search and walked on, we gained a little elevation and were rid of them, so we had some lunch.  A couple groups going north passed through.  One was a father, a son about Thomas's age and 2 younger daughters (the youngest only 8 or 10!)  had come from near Whitney and were going to Reds Meadow.  Both groups said that they had seen a bear around Sally Keyes Lakes - a couple miles from where we planned to camp at Sengor Creek.  The father also said that the fishing at Rae Lakes was great - you get a fish on every cast!  He also said that there were no bear boxes north of Woods Creek, but that then we'd find them every few miles.  By then we should be able to fit every into our bear containers.  One group also told us that we should watch out around Le Conte ranger station - that there was a problem bear there.  There was a little creek running through the meadow we ate next to, and when we went to get water we could see about 10 5-7 inch fish right there.  A little ways onward we met a couple guys who need to get to Vermilion today (out of food), and we told them about the Bear Creek Trail - hope they made it.  They had camped at Sengor Creek last night and said that there were lots of bugs, but no bears.  They said that there were lots of bugs in Evolution Meadow and until we get over Muir Pass.  We are thinking about staying at Wanda Lake, and they had stayed there.  They said that they couldn't find the sites listed in the PCT hiker book, so just found some flat spots.
    Eventually we trudged over Selden Pass - tired and sore from all the weight.  Both Dean's (especially) and my packs keep riding down on our butts and hurting - it pinches a nerve or something and one of my legs will start getting numb.  Marie Lake, on the way up, and Heart Lake coming down were very pretty.  A little farther down we passed the Sally Keyes Lakes - very pretty with nice campsites and not many bugs.  Tempting, but we need to go a few more miles.  There is a cabin up there, and it is shown on the topo map, but there is nothing to say whose it is.  They have a nice spot, whoever they are.  We finally got to Senger Creek a little after 5.  It was only 10 miles and less than 2,000 ft, but the heavy packs made us all pretty tired.  It stayed light until 8:30 and we got the bear bag hung.  It seems that there is one other party camped back across the creek.  Let's hope no bears stop by.

We got up at 6 to beat the mosquitoes again.  Dealing with the bear bag slows things down, of course, but we were on the trail by just after 8.  Three guys passed us fairly early on, and they are also headed to Evolution Meadow.  We had to descend to about 7,900 ft (near the Muir Trail Ranch) and the sun was bright and hot.  About 11 am we got to the bridge over Piute Creek, and had lunch.  A guy and 2 teenagers stopped and had lunch too.  They are headed up Goddard Canyon and over Hell-For-Sure Pass.  I guess they had checked it our once before, and the trail up this side is pretty clear, but the other side is kind of sketchy.  After about and hour we set off up the South Fork of the San Jauquin River.  It was hot - the sun beating down on us and the rocks with manzanita around.  We did pass a wet area with more of the orchid-like flowers.  A girl from Boston passed us - she's also doing the JMT, but about 15 miles/day.  We got to the bridge over the river to go up to Evolution Valley and stopped to pump water.  The Evolution Valley ranger passed by and said that there was a good campsite at Sapphire Lake, but not much at Wanda.  The guys going up Hell-For-Sure Pass stopped for a rest, too.
    We had to climb about 800 feet of hot switchbacks, but got up, forded Evolution Creek, and had some more lunch at about 4.  A couple from Colorado coming down stopped.  They were headed to Muir Ranch for resupply, but he'd hurt his knee a few days ago.  She was about Thomas's size, but was having to carry about 50 lbs.  They'd run out of ibuprofen, and we gave him some Tylenol.  Last night they stayed on top of Muir Pass (there's a shelter, and a couple places for tents) - no bugs and a beautiful sunset.  They also hadn't come over Whitney, but had camped at Crabtree Meadows.  Then they'd day-hiked Whitney - starting at about 4:30am and summitting at about 9:30am, to beat the storms.  We'll have to get up early the morning we do Whitney, since we'll have our full packs.
    At the meadow we met some guys about my age (Gordon, Steve and Gordon's brother whose name I didn't catch) who were having their stuff taken by mule.  They were drinking Laugavulin - this may not be a bad way to go!  They'd backpacked through here a couple of years ago, but figured that the mules were the way to go.  Next time they plan to bring a cook!  We couldn't find the campsite we planned to get to (probably it's across the creek), but found a place.  We fooled around until the sun went down (Dean caught a bunch of fish) and then had to eat by flashlight.   We finally got everything packed up but saw that there are clouds moving in.  We put on the tent flies and covered the packs.  If it does rain our biggest problem is that we pitched the tents in a hollow (it was nice and flat) and we'll end up in a big puddle.  If anything, the barometer is rising, so I don't know what it all means.  It is quite warm - barely need the sleeping bag.  It's 10:50 and I'm tired.
    PS. It didn't rain.  It cleared up, though there are still some high wispy clouds in the early morning.  The barometer seems steady.  Also, we haven't had many mosquitoes, unlike what we've heard, but then we are up a bit beyond the meadow.

    There were still high clouds when we got up, but no rain.  We were pretty slow getting going, and weren't hiking until 8:30.  By about 9:15 we got to McClure Meadow.  It is really beautiful - a pretty meadow and meandering stream with high rocky peaks all around.  We tried to find the ranger, to get his reading on the weather, but he was out on patrol.  If I could get up in the morning to the view a few feet from the front of his cabin, I'd never be on patrol!  We went on to Colby Meadow, also very pretty, and then started the climb up to Evolution Basin.  We stopped for lunch and the pack mules came through - that group will be camping at Evolution Lake.  Soon the guys who had hired the mules came by, and Gordon has a barometer watch.  He said that it had dropped about 100 mbar yesterday, and then came back up some last night - he figured it might mean some showers, but not a major storm.
    Evolution Lake is at the end of Evolution Basin, and really spectacular - big cliffs all around.  There we met 3 guys doing the JMT, but having some trouble - one (Carl) had been having some stomach trouble, another (Larry - who works at REI) had a bad sore spot on one heel.  They may have to bail out over Bishop Pass.  We gave Larry some Molefoam and a hunk from Dean's foam seat to help with the heel.  I hope it works - Larry really wants to finish the JMT.  We decided to push on to Wanda Lake, and maybe stay at the top of the pass.
    We passed Sapphire Lake, and stopped to talk with Bob, a guy we'd met earlier.  He had a good spot at the end of the lake, sheltered by some boulders.  As we were talking, a group of 5 or 6 came down from the pass with a couple llamas.  The people seemed to be carrying pretty full packs - I wonder how much the llamas can carry?  We also met a group of 3 people, and one had left a camera up by the shelter at the top of the pass.  They figure that they'll hike back up tomorrow, but hope it won't be in vain.  If we see it up there first, we'll send word down that it's worth the effort.
    The scenery is beautiful.  It gets starker and starker - just boulders and a little grass by Wanda Lake.  The book we used a lot in planning the hike had a picture of "Laughing Rock" somewhere in Evolution Basin.  A couple times I'd thought I'd seen it, but I figured the chances were about zero - the book is 20 years old.  Then, a couple hundred yards before we got to Wanda Lake, there was Laughing Rock!
    We got to Wanda Lake at about 4:30, and we decided to eat a bit.  It was pretty windy and I was worried a bit about the weather.  There are a few small sheltered places just as you get to the lake, but we were also thinking of going up to the top of the pass.  A guy and his son came down from the top of the pass.  They said that they'd met a bunch of people who were planning to go over the pass and stay at Helen Lake.  Soon the rest of their group arrived and they decided to stay here at Wanda.  We were kind of tired (the packs are still pretty heavy) and with all of the people it sounds like have gone up the pass, it may be crowded, so we decided to camp at Wanda, also.  We're all packed in pretty tightly.
    The sun went down at about 6:45, but there are no trees and so much granite that it isn't dark.  The sunset was really beautiful, especially on the high clouds.  Also, for the first time in a long time, there are no mosquitoes!  The other group camped here are a father and son and a couple and son.  One of the boys will be a freshman at Penn next year, and we filled him in about backpacking in the East (they're from around Napa).  The boys were in Scouts, and part of their Troop went to Philmont and had lots of fun - Thomas was interested.  After the sun set the full moon came up and it is sort of like after a snowstorm.  With all of the granite reflecting the moonlight you can walk around without a flashlight.  It's eerie now - looks like a scene from the moon.  Nearly all of the clouds are gone (at 10pm), but the consensus is that we're in for some rain in the next day or so.  The barometer is holding steady.  We'll have to see.  Thomas is sleeping with whatever food wouldn't fit in the bear containers to keep the marmots at bay, though I haven't seen many here.  Apparently the ones at the top of the pass are really brazen!
    One of the fathers said that he saw a camera on a rock up by the shelter on the Pass.  It sounds like the one the people were looking for.  He said that there was an English guy up at the top, and he'd assumed that it belonged to the Englishman.

     About 4:30am there were some low clouds, but the sky was clear by 6:30am.  However, it clouded up quite a bit by afternoon.  The guess is that the thunderstorms start tomorrow.  The hike up to Muir Pass wasn't bad, but it was a long rocky trail down.  On the way up we met a guy who had stayed at the top - with 6 others!  (Glad we didn't add our 3 to the crowd)  This guy is doing the PCT with his 13-year-old grandson (actually the grandson has "only" been hiking with him for the last month).  They had stayed inside the shelter, and he said that with 4 people in there it got too hot!  We spent quite a while talking to a 40-ish guy at the top of the pass who had stayed there (outside).  He is a geologist.  Unfortunately, nobody remembers seeing a camera.
    On the way down we met a guy with a couple of horses who needed to pick up someone who'd hurt and ankle.  Later, as we were eating a bit they passed by and I think it was Steve (one of the group who had come up with the pack horses) with the bad ankle.  Also, Larry (from REI) and his two hiking partners, Carl and Alex came by.  Larry's foot seems to be feeling a better. The views at the Pass and as we came down Le Conte Canyon were great, but it was a lot of downhill - steep and rocky.  We got to Le Conte Ranger station at about 4pm and rested and had a bit to eat.  Larry, Carl and Alex, along with Bob, all assembled there and decided to camp at a nice spot nearby.  We decided to push on 2.5 miles to Grouse Meadows.  We got there at about 6pm, and it was windy and buggy.  Dean and Thomas went off to fish, and a couple (Darren and Melanie) stopped by.  They recently got married - Darren just finished college and plans to be a Park Ranger while Melanie teaches 1st grade.  Their families are all teachers.  They've been on the PCT for about a month and plan to go a long as the weather holds.  They had heard about the switchbacks on Bear Ridge and were interested in the Bear Creek Trail, so we checked it out on the maps.  They had lots of good stories about hiking, and some funny ones about the extremes some people went to cut out weight, and some of the crazy foods (like corn pasta, cold oatmeal, and powdered milk, for breakfast lunch and dinner!).  Darren and Melanie had made pudding for lunch - filter some water and make the pudding in a ziplock bag, then put it in the stream to cool.  Darren said that he'd just figured it out, and they were averaging about 25 (23?) miles a day.  Of course, it had been a bit slower going since they'd hit the mountains.  They were planning on doing a pass a day.  Melanie said that she had her pack weight down to about 45 lbs., including food.  She said that she'd done the JMT some years ago with a 65-pound pack, and that 20 pounds was a big difference.
   After they left we made dinner (and Dean went neck-deep in the freezing river to rescue his lure!).  We managed to get just about everything into the bear containers.  A group of guys with 12 pack animals went by as we made dinner.  They had planned to go to Deer Meadow, but it is getting dark, and the leader said that they had gone over 20 miles and people and animals were tired.  I hear bell tinkling, so they let the animals out around here.  A deer is grazing in the meadow right by our site, and is sneezing occasionally.
    I forgot to add that we met 4 women as we come down Muir Pass who are "fast packing" the JMT.  They want to do it in 6 days.  They started at 1am on Sunday in Whitney Portal.  Darren and Melanie said that they had seen them and that they were doing 40-mile days!  I guess that they have husbands and friends who meet them in the evening, with camp all set up and dinner.  Still, they have to carry water and lunch.  They'd gone over 3 passes on the day before we met them!  Good luck!

    The guys had gone to fetch the mules, so at 6am they came through yelling at the mules and bells tinkling.  We got going pretty early (about 7:45) so that we can beat the weather and to make sure we find a place to camp at the upper Palisade Lake.  We moved along pretty well and got to the base of the "Golden Staircase" at about 10am.  But then it is about 1500 ft. up switchbacks, with no water and a hot sun.  We finally got to the lower lake at about 12, and got lots of water and ate some lunch.  Then we set out for the campsite, a couple of miles farther.  We got there at about 1:45pm and there was a tent (4-man Ridgeway, all flat, but with the poles in the sleeves and rocks to hold it down and keep it from blowing!?)  We figured that someone must be day hiking out from here, and we found another reasonably sheltered spot.  The tents don't really fit in well, but we got them up.  The clouds were looking pretty nasty, so we got everything ready for rain.  At about 3 or 3:15. Larry, Carl, and Alex arrived.  They searched all around, but finally decided that they'd have to camp near the "ghost" tent.  Dean went down to the lake and caught a good-sized fish that we hope to eat for dinner.  But, about 4:30 the weather started looking worse, so we got into the tents.  There was no thunder, but it rained a bit.  Hopefully it will clear up enough to cook the fish.
    It cleared up!  We went up to where Larry, Carl and Alex were camped and had a fire ring, and Dean made a fire and filleted and cooked his fish.  It was good.  We also had some Thai Couscous in tortillas - also good.  For a while the clouds looked threatening, but then dissipated.  In talking I found out that Larry was a physics major and had worked at Hughes in El Segundo.  Alex had started out in Civil Engineering, but is switching to forestry.  We had a good time sitting around and talking as the fire died out.  The sunset on the clouds was very pretty, and some sun snuck through to light up the peaks.  It got dark at about 9pm, so we all adjourned to the tents.  The other guys are planning on going about a mile farther tomorrow than we're planning, and then 15 miles the next day to Rae Lakes, so that they'll be a day ahead of us.  They're running low on food, and need to come out.  It's too bad - they've been good company along the trail for the last few days.

    We got up this morning at 6am, and there weren't any clouds in the sky.  We got started hiking at about 7:45.  Larry, Alex and Carl had left a little earlier.  The first thing we had to do was get over Mather Pass - about 2 mi. and 1300 ft.  It was pretty tiring, but we got to the top by about 9:15.  Larry and Alex were still loitering around the Pass, so we took each other’s pictures and agreed to send copies.  They started down, and a couple minutes later we did.  Clouds were already appearing, but the views from the Pass were spectacular.  We could not quite see Pinchot Pass, but we could see to the area where we'll camp tonight.  We came down a big broad valley above tree line (Upper Basin) and had some lunch just after crossing the river (the South Fork of the Kings River, where it was about 3 steps across) at about 10:45.  We then had to follow the river down to the bottom of the canyon, cross it, and go back up the other side.  The crossing was a little troublesome - Dean tried one place where he had to slosh through some water that was several inches deep, but Thomas and I found a narrower place upstream where we could get across on some rocks.  Then we had to go back up 6-800 ft. to get to the lake where we planned to camp - "the lake at mile 158" according to our book, and the altimeter says it is at 11050 ft.  All the while clouds were building.  A half mile from where we planned to camp we caught up to Alex - he'd taken a break.  As we hiked up to our lake it started to sprinkle - at about 2pm (we'd been socked in since about noon).  Larry and Carl were waiting there for Alex.  Looking back at Mather Pass you could see that it was raining heavily in Upper Basin, but we could still see patches of blue sky to the west.  We started getting our tents set up, and Larry and Co. decided to go at least another mile or so to Marjorie Lake, and maybe over the Pass - they need to get to Rae Lakes tomorrow.
    Just as we got everything set up, it started raining a bit more heavily - probably at about 3pm.  It rained on and off, sometimes fairly heavily (and with a little thunder but not too much wind) until about 5pm.  We planned out the rest of the route (we'll make the last day - over Whitney - a long one).  We napped for a while and got out at about 5:30 to get dinner (we'd never gotten our second lunch).  After dinner we decided to do laundry - the water was so dirty after Dean's shirt and pants that we decided to use fresh water for each of us.  The sun was setting and the clouds clearing just as we hung up the clothes.  The setting sun on the mountains and clouds was very pretty.  By 8:45 it was getting dark and cold, so we got into the tents.  The clouds are almost all gone, and the stars are out.  A guy camped nearby, who hiked in over Taboose Pass says that we are getting "monsoonal" weather from Mexico, and that it won't ever rain too much - just showers??

    Early (like 3 or 4am) I saw some clouds, but the sky was clear at 6:15 when we got up.  It took us a while to get the laundry down and everything, but we were on the trail by about 8:20.  It was a lot of uphill, which is hard at 12,000 ft., to Pinchot Pass.  We were all pretty tired, but we got there at about 9:40am.  There were only 1 or 2 little clouds, and the views were great.  It was chilly and windy, so we only spent about 15 minutes on the top of the Pass, and then started down.  After about 1/2 hour we met an older woman, and then 10 minutes later a couple (he had thru-hiked the PCT in 1974 - he said that they went through this area in May, and it was all under snow, and there was no bridge over Woods Creek).  They were doing a lot of cross-country hiking on this trip.  They had camped around Twin Lakes last night.  We kept going down and ate some lunch near a little lake (it looked like the trail had been moved a 100 ft to get out of the meadow by the lake).  There was a pretty campsite there on the end of a small ridge.  We decided to continue on past the original plan for the night by a couple miles, and stop at the Woods Creek Bridge.  We passed a woman (Shelly) who had originally planned a big loop but her leg was giving her trouble, so she had decided to go back and do the Rae Lakes Loop.  She told us that there were a bunch of nice campsites at Woods Creek.  We got there at about 2pm. and there were 6-8 sites, almost a campground.  The bridge over Woods Creek is now a fancy suspension bridge - very wiggly!  A lot more fun than the low bridge I seem to remember from when Gail and I were there in about 1976.  Thomas was going across with no hands and his eyes closed.
    There were a few puffy clouds - nothing threatening.  We decided to have hummus for our 2nd lunch.  My poor plastic Tuolumne Meadows spork is missing 2 teeth, with a crack in the bowl, and Dean's is missing 1 tooth.  So, I had Dean stir the hummus with Thomas's spork - the handle broke.  Now Dean has a midget spork!  We decided to go "swimming."  It was cold!  Dean and Thomas each put their head under, but I just went in to my neck - we got ourselves a little cleaner.  I was talking some more with Shelly, and she said that some people last night had caught some fish, so Dean and Thomas went off to fish.  She told me about her North Lake - South Lake trip last year with 7 miles of snow to get over Muir Pass, and she needed crampons to come down Bishop Pass - all in the last week of July.
    Thomas came back reporting no fish, while I did some laundry.  A little after 7 we decided to eat, but then Dean showed up with 3 fish.  He'd caught 11, but just kept the last 3.  He went to clean them and 2 were carried away by the current, but we built a fire (and there's an old grill) and cooked the one.  After it was cooked enough, it tasted good.  Tomorrow we only have 5.5 miles to Rae Lakes.

    Today was mostly a rest day.  We got up at about 6-6:30.  It took some time because there was dew and condensation all over everything.  We got on the trail at about 8am, and only needed to hike about 5 miles, with 2000 ft. of elevation gain to the Rae Lakes.  We got to the middle lake, where there are bear boxes and lots of camping places at about 11:15am.  Just after getting there we met 2 PCT hikers (to Oregon this year).  One (the "Abominable Slow Man" - didn't catch his real name) had just retired and had been backpacking here since he was a boy in the 1940's.  His partner, Hugh, must have been in his 20's.  "Slow Man" has a cabin on Huntington Lake (on Mom's favorite road - the one to Edison Lake) and will stop there for a few weeks.  He has a friend with a cabin there who is from Princeton (taught Math at Rutgers and the Institute).  He had done the south-to-north traverse across Mt. McKinley to Wonder Lake in 1992, and knew all about Sanctuary and Savage rivers, etc.  He said that he likes the campsite a mile or so past Center Basin Creek for going over Forester Pass, so maybe we'll try to get there.  He also liked a camp a little past Tyndal Creek - sounds like the one at mile 192 that we'd planned on.
    Shelly (from Woods Creek) arrived at about 3pm - her leg is feeling better.  It started clouding up and looking ugly in the later afternoon, so we put on the tent flies.  But then it started clearing and only a few clouds were left at sunset - made for a very beautiful sunset.
    The fishing here is great!  In the afternoon Dean caught about 19 fish, and Thomas caught 10.  In the evening, after dinner, Dean caught a couple more in a few minutes, and then over about an hour, Thomas caught 16 more - 47 fish on the day!
    Now the wind has died down and the stars are out.

    We got up at around 6am and got started hiking by about 7:45.  The easy day (and maybe the food we'd eaten to lighten the packs) must have helped, because we cruised up to the top of Glen Pass by about 9:30, or a little earlier.  We passed 2 guys who came in over Bishop Pass and are going out over Whitney.  They had met thru-hiking the AT in 1996, but they hadn't hiked out here before, and the altitude was tough on them.  We leap-frogged them a couple times today.  The views from the top of Glen Pass were great, with few clouds.  We decided to have our first lunch early - a little after 10 am.  We met a bunch of fathers and boys who'd come in over Kearsarge and were going to Rae Lakes (looked like scouts).  They were very excited to hear about how many fish we'd caught.  We went on down a long way to Vidette Meadow - I think I saw where Mom and I had camped 20-some years ago.  Then we started heading up the valley towards Forester Pass.  We had thought about stopping around Center Basin trail, but decided to go another couple miles (and about 700 ft.) to the highest sheltered campsites before the Pass.  We caught up to the 2 AT guys, and they have decided to head there also.  We got to the place at about 3pm, and there were already 2 groups of two there, but there's room for the AT guys and us.  Two of the guys there (Mark and Paul, from San Diego) also came in over Bishop Pass and are going out over Whitney on the 5th or 6th.  The other 2 are going to explore, and go out over Shepherd Pass.  Some pretty ugly clouds appeared at about 5 pm, and we put on the tent flies, but the clouds just hung on the mountain tops.  It looked like there was a big storm cloud just about over Rae Lakes, but it dissipated around sunset.  It got kind of chilly, so we left the tent flies on.  One of the AT guys lives in Tennessee, the other in Minnesota.  They were saying that there are some very pretty sections of the AT down in the Tennessee-North Carolina area - maybe we should visit Granddaddy and check it out.  They knew Sunfish Pond on Kittatiny Ridge and had seen the rock "sculptures" Thomas and I saw last December.  They said that there are lean-tos about every 10 miles for most of the AT, and they stayed maybe half the time in them, but you really need a tent.   They both have small 2-man's (a Sierra Designs and an Outbound) so that they can get their gear in out of the rain.  They never heard of bears stealing food along the AT, and usually slept with the food in the tent.  But in Vermont, etc. they hung their shoes and packs to keep the porcupines away.  They said that mice were more trouble than bears.  We were at least at 11,000 ft., so we figure that there wouldn't be any bears coming through, and they slept with the food. (Note: we talked to a couple at Crabtree Meadows, and they had a bear come through and climb up after their food in this spot a few days earlier!).

The 2 AT guys got up a little before 5 am and hit the trail by 6.  They need to get to Crabtree Meadows since their ride is meeting them fairly early on the 5th.  We got up at 6, and were on the trail by 7:35.  We left just a little before Paul and Mark and a couple minutes after the other two guys.  Forester Pass was a long trudge up, but we got there by about 9:15.  A guy (Grandpa?) and a boy who had passed by us yesterday evening were there, and headed on South.  There was also a group of about 5 Boy Scouts and 5 leaders who had camped at tarn 12248 (a pretty desolate spot - like Wanda Lake, but more so).  We leap-frogged with them several times on the way down.  I talked with some of the adults about how they organize a trip like this for scouts (the troop is from Reseda).  They allow kids 12 and up to go, but each must carry at least 30 lbs. (the older guys were carrying 40-50) and they have a bunch of warm-up hikes (like up Whitney!).  A couple of the younger guys didn't "pass" the warm-ups, so couldn't come this year (grown-ups get together to decide).  They're doing about 8 mi. per day (did about 10 mi. on the warm-ups).  One of the adults is from La Canada, and is just starting a software company with a guy who taught at Princeton in the 1970's.  They also confirmed an earlier rumor about trail closings on Whitney - say that the switchbacks are closed about 1.5 hours each day and will be closed for 3 days after this weekend (we'll be out!).
The views from the Pass were great, again.  We could see all of the way back to near Glen Pass.  After we came down a couple miles, we could see the top of Whitney (we think).  It was only about 1pm when we got to our original planned stop (a little past Tyndal Creek), so we decided to go on a ways.  About 2 pm we decided to stop at Wright Creek (We'd heard from "Slow Man" that Wallace Creek is cold and damp).  We ate lunch.  It's a nice spot - between a small meadow and a larger one.  We were lying around in the meadow and a coyote (I think) came up the creek and circled around us up the hill.  At about 6 pm it started hailing a little, and we got in the tents.  It never hailed hard, and at 7 pm we decided to have dinner.  There was a bit of thunder, but whatever it was seemed to be a mile or 2 to the West (about where we'd planned to stop).  Still, we hurried up dinner and got everything ready for the night.  Dean and I went out into the meadow to see if any wildlife showed up.  All we saw were mosquitoes and a bat.  Thomas was tired and went to bed.  Tomorrow should be a pretty easy 8 miles to Guitar Lake, then rest for the last day.

We were a little slow getting up, but hit the trail by about 8 am.  We saw a couple groups we'd seen before, and we're all headed to Whitney.  We passed by a couple meadows (including Sandy Meadow) with nice views West towards the Great Western Divide.  We reached the cut-off towards the Crabtree ranger station around 10 am, and decided to go over there to eat.  But, in a few yards we came to a great campsite, with a view over Whitney Creek to Mt. Whitney, so we just ate there.  We met a couple who were hiking the JMT for their honeymoon.  They'd started July 1 and had lots of layovers and hikes out to resupply and see friends.  After lunch we set out for Guitar Lake, and got there by about 12:30.  There were already half a dozen tents up, and we decided to head up to a little lake about 100 ft. higher and quarter mile farther up.  We were there by 1 pm.  We set up camp - we're at about 11,700 feet, and there wasn't much shelter.  It's good we didn't have any bad storm.  We ate lunch and then just lolled around in the sun.  A couple groups came down off Whitney who are doing the JMT South to North.  One guy had trouble with his boots going over Whitney and had switched to Tevas.  A guy (40-ish), who was resting by Guitar Lake when we passed by, went up the mountain and he looked pretty tired already.  A rescue helicopter flew up by Trail Crest and down to Guitar Lake, then back up.  It flew off to the West, and after a while it came back and eventually landed up by Trail Crest.  Later, as we finished dinner, the Crabtree Ranger hiked down and said that a woman had tried to do the whole mountain in one day, but was overcome by the altitude and effort.  He said that the helicopter pilot was both brave and good - it was pretty windy and when he landed his blades were only about 18 inches from the rocks.  We were watching all of this through bino’s, and the guy who we saw going up slowly made it over Trail Crest at about 5:30 pm, as the helicopter took off.  Meanwhile, the clouds had started looking pretty ugly, so we put on the tent flies.  We got about 3 drops, but the Ranger said that they didn't expect a thunderstorm.  It's pretty cool and windy up here, so we left the flies on.  The clouds robbed us of most of the sunset on Whitney, so we were cold and got in the tents about 7:40.  We plan to get up at 5:30 and get hiking as soon as we can.  It looks like 15 or 18 miles tomorrow.

We all set the alarms on our watches to 5:30 so that we'd get an early start.  We were on the trail at 7 am.  We decided to take a couple extra quarts of water in the dromedary since it would be quite a while until we hit water again.  I asked Thomas to set a pace that wouldn't get us too tired, since we had a lot more hiking to do today.  He set a really good pace, and we cruised up the mountain.  It was cold, and we started out with our fuzzies on, and stopped just once to take them off and get a drink.  We were at the junction of the Whitney Trail by 8:45, and not tired or out of breath.  Thomas and I decided to carry our packs to the summit (we'd carried them this far, 2 miles couldn't be too bad) and Dean decided that if we carried ours, he'd carry his (of course he still had the water and the lunch).  We got to the top of Whitney a little before 10 am.  We signed the register, and saw that the AT guy from Tennessee, Kent, had passed through the day before, as planned, but no evidence of Carl, Larry, and Alex - hope they made it OK.  There were just a few clouds forming, and we could see for miles in all directions - over Bighorn Plateau and up towards Forester Pass, over to the Great Western Divide, and hundreds of mountains to the north.  We found a group who were willing to let us shoot a roll of Thomas's film with their camera (once they had started the JMT, but went real fast at the beginning and burned themselves out by Vermilion).  We took our 24 or 25 pictures quickly (they had to head down soon) - not much thought about composition - just pictures in all directions.  Some required pictures of us at the top.  We started down at about 11 am.  On the way down we met a guy (Lou) who had done the JMT 6 times, and the PCT - he'd made a video of the JMT (REI sells them).  He told us that a guy coming up the trail was John Muir (in the video).  Sure enough, in a couple minutes we met "John", beard and all (really Al King).  He is a real nice guy and we talked with him for a little bit.  A while ago he'd taken off 30 days to do the JMT - said that he'd gotten to see a lot more than other times when he's gone through quickly.  He thought that it was pretty cool that the Sky Pilot was in bloom all over Whitney (he said that it only grows above 12,000 ft.).  We got to Trail Crest at about noon, and decided to eat.  All the way down, so far, we'd met dozens of people coming up (the crowds were just starting to get to the top as we left).  Most looked pretty worn out.  Four guys stopped at Trail Crest who had started up from Whitney Portal at 4 am.  A couple of them were pretty tired and decided to turn back.  The other 2 went on to the top.  The guys going down were moving pretty slow - I hope they made it all the way down before dark.  After lunch we started down the switchbacks.  Up near the top there were places where slides had covered the trail for a few feet, but not too badly.  The trail crew was working about half way down, and the trail was real good below them.  They said that they just start at the bottom every year and work their way up.  We came down through Trail Camp and Outpost Camp.  Both looked like tent cities.  There were some good views as we came down.  We arrived at about 5pm, and Gail Catherine and Mary were there to meet us and take our pictures.  They'd been waiting about an hour.  We stopped by the store and a couple of the guys we'd seen were there - the fellow we'd watched go up to Trail Crest yesterday and a fellow we'd leap-frogged with since Tyndal Creek.  Apparently the 2 AT guys had already gone.  We drove on down to the motel and took showers - that felt good.  Then we put on our JMT tee shirts from Vermilion, went out for pizza, and vegged out in front of the TV's.  Unfortunately, there was no ice cream shop open!

On about our second day, at Sunrise Creek in Yosemite, we met a group of a few fathers and their sons.  They had told us to get a fishing rod (excellent advice), but one of the fathers had also said that on Whitney a few years earlier he'd talked to quite a few people who were just finishing the JMT.  He said that they were all happy that they'd done the Trail, but when he asked them if they'd do it again, they said "No".  He figured that we'd feel the same.  I don't, at least mostly not.  It is certainly good to sleep in a nice warm bed and eat real food.  We'd all been looking forward to it.  However, give me a week of real food an I'd be back on the Trail if I had the time This has been the first backpacking trip I can remember which has been long enough for me to get used to the altitude and to get into shape a bit.  You just can't do that on a one-week trip.  If the passes were a little more conveniently spaced, we could easily have hiked 15 miles a day the last week.  It's fun.

The problem with hiking the JMT is that there are lots of places off the trail I would have liked to explore.  However, you can't carry the food to go explore these places and walk the JMT too, without coming out to resupply.  So, hiking the JMT again would be great, but I'd want to have the extra time to check out some of these other places as well.  Maybe in a few years.
 

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