Sunday day 50

5.13.2018

Miles 716-730

Well, my morning walk to go pee was a frosty one today. It was 545 when I woke up and as I tapped the sidewall of my tent to find my booties I was surprised to few chunks of frozen condensation now falling inside. Awesome. It was everywhere! That being the biggest complaint of the night/morning…. the best thing was how great I slept. I was a little nervous going to sleep at 7800ft elevation. I wasn’t sure how warm I would be in my new setup. The Nemo pad is pure luxury and the fleece jacket as an added layer–between my wool shirt and down jacket–is golden! And not to mention those down booties might be my favorite gear item ever!

We were packed up and on the trail shortly after 7am. It took us all a little bit of extra time to get the frostiness shaken out as best as possible. By 945 we had climbed up to 9000ft (mile 720) and by noon we had made it to 10,571ft (mile 724). The terrain is so much more picturesque here. It was cloudy most of the day so everytime we stopped we had to put on a layer and once you got going again, you couldn’t wait to shed that layer. I must have put my fleece on at least 6 times today.

With the clouds covering us most of the day, we reached our last planned water source for the day shortly after 3. We had planned to take enough water for tonight and tomorrow (as it could be a 12 mile stretch before water again) but as we filtered water the clouds continued to darken. We made a group decision to stay and camp where we were. The next few miles will take us back up to 10,000ft and we didn’t want to get caught up in anything bad. So we hunkered down, set up our tents and Dude built a nice fire. We cooked dinner and chatted until now (it’s 7pm). I’m layered up in my tent and listening to the creek and the few drops of rain that are hitting the outside of my tent. Most of the clouds have since past but I’m glad we erred on the side of caution. (The weather report I pulled from my Garmin said “slight chance of heavy rain” and then snow.)

We only saw a few other people today and nobody has gone passed us here at cake since we’ve been here. We did see a couple of guys RUNNING the trail. OJ had seen them behind him so he said “I’m not letting them pass me.” So he took off in his best sprint up the trail. They runners came by us–we were on a break–and said hello. I asked if I could take a photo to prove that other crazy people were out today. And then shortly there after I see OJ reappear. I asked what happened… he said, “that’s the last time I run the trail I totally missed the switchback.”Ha! That guy is hilarious.

Tomorrow we are hoping to get an earlier start. Well, at least Luc is. Dude and I will make miles whenever we wake up. I do know we need to make at least 18 tomorrow and 18 on Tuesday if we are going to attempt Mt. Whitney by Wednesday. I’m still undecided about Whitney. I’ll make a decision when we get that much closer. I know it’s the best opportunity I will have to attempt the summit but it’s not an end-all if I don’t make it this time around. And I know I may never have these kind of climbing muscles again 🙂 Decisions.

Well, as the clouds have cleared it’s going to be a cold night. We are at 8958ft for the evening. Here’s to another warm night in my tent! Goodnight!