Fri. August 26      Miles today: 4            Total so far: 1,795.1            Sierras Section H

Ahh, how nice to sleep on a mattress!  We lazed around on our bunks till just before 7:00 am, when the VVR cafe is ‘SPOSED to open.  There was a whole posse of hungry hikers lurking outside the cafe door when we got there.  Seven o’clock came and went, but the “closed’ sign stayed up.  We could HEAR the generator which provides VVR electricity, and it was not sounding very healthy.  Some hikers started getting antsy and grumpy about the delay.  (Obviously they are not “Amtrak Alumni”–those of us who have ridden Amtrak have learned to be very paaaaaaatient with delays!)  The rest of us got into a fun discussion of JMT vs. PCT.  More and more hungry hikers arrived.  Yikes, a serious situation!  Some of the grumpy folks were upset because they needed to do laundry AND eat breakfast BEFORE the ferry left at 9:00.  I hate to say it, but those of us who had arrived early and were therefore at the head of the line did not budge from our places.  We were HUNGRY!

Finally the generator settled down instead of sputtering and fussing, the lights in the cafe came on, the door opened, and in we charged!  Bill and I had a rerun of yesterday’s breakfast, but ate as fast as we could; we knew lots of others were waiting.  Then I took my journal writing down to the beach to sit in the warm sun and enjoy blue Lake Edison.  The “Edison Queen” ferry was VERY late leaving, because they made sure that every hiker who wanted to be aboard had been able to eat first.  I don’t think it was necessarily because the folks at VVR are just being helpful–I think they wanted to be able to make every last dollar they could possibly make off every hiker.  And I don’t say that as a criticism.  The folks here at VVR are extremely nice, and they have only a few short months in which to earn their living for the year.  I don’t begrudge them a single dollar.

Let me give a “word of wisdom” to future thruhikers who may read this.  If you resupply at VVR (and you should!) go IN on the MORNING ferry and OUT on the afternoon ferry.  That way you don’t have to compete with thundering herds of other hikers for access to the showers, laundry, etc.  Bill and I could have gone out on the ferry this morning, but we decided to wait till afternoon so we could eat and rest some more.  We really needed a break!

At around lunchtime, I went back to Tent #4 to reconnect with Bill, just in time to watch a whole string of very good-looking horses go by.  They were beautiful, and their coats shone with all sorts of warm brown colors.  We strolled down to the cafe, and this time it was open; we were able to get big juicy “VVR Burgers”.  After waddling back to Tent #4, with our stomachs stuffed, we stuffed our PACKS with all our supplies, lashed the straps, and then took naps.  We feel as if we need rest almost as much as food!

Just before 4:00, we were at the beach, ready to board the ferry, but the “captain” didn’t show up till 4:20ish.  He looked rather piratical, and was very proud of the “Jolly Rodger” that flies from the stern of the “Queen.”  Bill teased him about it:  “I thought you flew the Joly Rodger as a warning that you were going to take all our money with your high prices!”  The captain just laughed.  Well, it is true that prices are a bit high at VVR, but again, I don’t think that’s wrong.  They are way out in the middle of nowhere, they have only a short season, and they need to earn a living.  If your budget is limited, then don’t take the ferry–just WALK to VVR, then take the free beer and the free night’s lodging, do your “shower” by swimming in Lake Edison, and launder your socks in the bathroom sink.  For meals, raid the wonderful, huge, FREE hiker barrels… AND STOP WHINING ABOUT VVR PRICES! 

At the far end of the lake, a crowd of hikers were waiting on the shore.  Bill and i hopped off the Queen, and headed back to the PCT (1 1/2 miles away), ready to tackle the climb to Silver Pass.  The trail was “the usual”–steep and rocky, but VERY pretty.  In many places, there were nice, normal-human-size stone stairs.  Hooray!  We also had several creek fords on rocks and logs, but none of them were too bad.   Late in the day, when we were starting to think about maybe watching for a campsite, we passed some hikers setting up camp and (sigh) COOKING dinner.  That’s like ASKING bears to visit you in the night!  So we pushed on as far from them as we could before it got too dark, reached a nice meadow and camped offtrail in a grove of lodgepole pines.  We were glad to be done with some of the worst “steep stuff”, and feeling MUCH better because of our rest and food at VVR.