Sat. August 27         Miles today: 24.7         Total so far: 1,819.8            Sierras H

It ws very cold when we got up to continue our climb to Silver Pass.  The air was so still that we could see a perfect reflection in one of the lakes we passed.  Finally we stopped for breakfast, but it was still so cold that there was ice on the puddles.  So we tried a new idea.  Instead of having our hot mochas at noon when we usually stop to cook, we decided to have them at BREAKFAST.  We knew that it would be hard to light the alcohol stove in the cold morning, so Bill had been carrying the fuel bottle under his jacket to prewarm it.  Even with the “prewarming”, the stove was still hard to light,  but we were determined, and the end result were two tasty HOT drinks!  We sipped them and warmed our cold hands with the cups, and watched the beautiful morning light growing on the mountains. 

Now for the final push to the top of Silver Pass.  The trail was VERY rocky, but by 7:45, we had made it to the 10,900 foot crest.  The views were really spectacular, and the trail down the other side also had beautiful mountain views and more pretty lakes.  Funny–the High Sierra PCT/JMT is just loaded with lakes, but everybody tends to camp at the same few.  Why??  Along the way, we met more southbound JMTers, but not as many.  I think their “season” is starting to wane.  However, many of the fellows we met today were VERY happy fishermen! They said they’d had great catches and were having trout for dinner every night. 

Eventually we reached pretty Tully Hole and then another big climb up to Lake Virginia at 10,300 feet.  By lunch time, we were at Purple Lake, where we had a great seafood chowder lunch, and just as we were packing up (drum roll, please…..) a RANGER arrived.  He saw our bear cans and was very pleased.  We told him we wre PCT thruhikers, and he didn’t even ask to see our permit.  He was very nice, but i wonder what would have happened if we had no bear cans????

The rest of the afternoon was bascially uphill and contouring above deep valleys, through evergreen forest.  Sometimes it was miles before we got any views.  The trail was often deep sand and pumice–it was like walking on a beach; slow going!  Twice we were passed by loaded mule trains.  Coming in to Deer Creek, I saw what I think was a fox, running down the trail ahead of me.  We stopped at the creek for water, and met a really nice guy who was with a group of JMTers.  He was so enhusiastic about what we were doing, that he wanted a picture of himself with us.  Hope he gets to be a PCT thruker someday!  We sat on a log and talked to him for a little while.

Finally we got to the point where the trail heads down 4 miles to Red’s Meadow.  We didn’t have much time till sundown, but figured we’d find a flat place to sleep somewhere.  But then, we overtook a very odd group of three people–a GUY with a hunting bow (arrow on string, yikes!), a GIRL with a huge camera, and a GUY with a little tiny dog.  They said they were following a BEAR, but let us go by.  We went on another half mile and moved off the trail to camp in a forest fire-blackened zone.  We don’t like camping where there has been a fire–the black soot gets on our stuff–but we had no choice, with the sun already below the horizon.  Awhile later, the “Odd 3” came by, warning us that a large mama bear and cub were nearby.  Well, ALL our food was in the bear cans, so there was no way any bear could get it.  We prayed for God’s protection on our camp, and went to sleep, wondering where the threesome were from.  None of them had packs.  Red’s Meadow, maybe?