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.

Thurs. August 25        Miles today: PCT miles 4.3 (plus more to ferry)  Total so far: 1,791.1    Sierras  H

It was hurry and scurry at 5:00 this morning.  We had 4.3 plus 1 1/2 miles to go before 9:45 am, and we had no idea what the trail would be like, other than downhill.  Would it be rocky or smooth?  The guidebook used the word”dusty”, so I was hoping for smooth!  Also, we’ve found that the trail mileages here in the Sierras seem to be incorrect.  We would swear we’d done 2 miles, but the data charts would insist it had been only one.  So we were concerned!

Down the north side of Bear Ridge we went, counting switchbacks (53, according to the guidebook; I counted 56) on what turned out to be mostly smooth trail, whew!  Near the bottom, we went through a lot of quaking aspen groves, where it seems many generations of hikers have used the smooth white trunks to carve their names and a date. I saw some dates going back to the 1940’s!  We reached Mono Creek and the trail junction for the ferry, in plenty of time, so that we could stroll the 1 1/2 miles to the boat dock.  Lake Edison was beautiful, and the cove for the dock had clear, not-too-cold water, with about 4 other hikers already lounging about on the rocks.  They were all just “regular” backpackers who come here often because they like hiking around here.  Pretty soon we were all “talking gear’ and looking at each others’ stuff.  I got out our 1/2 ounce beer can stove and made a mocha drink, which the other hikers found quite fascinaing, since they all had heavier, white gas stoves.

Finally we saw the ferry coming in, late–but that’s normal, we learned later.  A load of hikers piled off, then came a brisk, cheerful fellow with a plastic bag, calling, “Fresh FRUIT–Come and get it!”  Well, we all descended on him like a pack of ravenous wolves!  I got a peach, Bill got a banana, and there were oranges and plums, too.  Yum!  Pretty soon, we were off on our “cruise” of Lake Edison. The ferry captain pointed out osprey nests as we roared along.  He said that since they’ve been doing more stocking of fish in the lakes around here, the osprey population has just been booming.  Riding the ferry is a blast–it flies the American flag AND the Jolly Rodger!

Arriving at “VVR”, we checked in at the store.  Turned out hikers get one night free in tent cabin #4.  Good!  Next on the “to-do list” was EAT!  We had a “mountaineer breakfast”–3 eggs, 3 bacon, hashbrowns, 2 big hotcakes, and some watermelon.  Still hungry, we topped it off with peach pie a la mode.  Ahhh, much better!  Now to find tent #4–turned out it had 4 bunkbeds with MATTRESSES!  No sleeping on the ground tonight!  We claimed a bunk, got our resupply box, collected soap and towels for showers, and started on chores.  The laundry setup at VVR is fun–a washer and dryers sitting outside on a wooden platform.  I began sorting through our resupply food–and there was an abundance.  Besides what we’d mailed to ourselves, we had some freezedries given to us by a fellow ferry passenger (he insisted!) and the RICHES of the 2 “hiker barrels” in front of the store.  Wow!! I had never seen such awesome hiker boxes except at Hiker Heaven in Agua Dulce.  However, we noticed that all the chipmunks and squirrels around here seem to know about Tent #4–there was a constant parade of them going in.  This made us worried about sharp little teeth mixing with our backpacks, so we stowed the packs in the bear boxes outside.

The signs posted around VVR said that lunch was from 11:30–2:30.  Well, we showed up at 2:03, planning on a hamburger plus that promised “first beer free”,only to be told, “We’re closed.” “What?” we said.  “But the sign said ‘Lunch Till 2:30.'”  “Too bad” was the answer.  And that’s sort of how it was around VVR–a sort of laid back, “Oh, whatever” feeling.  If you are obsessed and uptight, don’t bother coming.  And if you are a vegetarian, forget it.  This is a real beer, meat-and-potatoes place.  So instead of a hamburger, Bill went to the hiker barrel and put together a great lunch from what he found there–chicken, mashed potatos and other goodies.

After that, I settled down to write journal stuff, and around 5:00, a HUGE ferryload of hikers came in.  All of them were doing the John Muir t Trail, and Tent #4 became a beehive of activity, with a race for the showers and laundry.  Poor things!  We had it easy this morning!  Many of the crowd turned up their noses at the “yucky” matresses on the bunks, and set up tents outside.  Silly fussers!  But in view of the crowds, Bill and I figured we’d better head for dinner at 5:30 sharp.  Dinner was a great green salad, then roast beef with baked potato, glazed carrots and the free beer. 

After dinner I wandered around a bit taking pictures of the fun signs posted around VVR, did some more writing, then went early to bed.  The other hikers stayed up till I don’t know when, sitting around the campfire just outside the “outdoor bar.”  Stories were being told about how several hikers died trying to get through the Sierras in June this year.  One didn’t make it across upper Evolution Creek.  Someone spotted his backpack out in the lake.  Sadly, he was still attached to it, and was very dead.   Bill and i had already checked the PCT register in the store to see if anyone we knew had made it in June–yes, two of them had!  The store owner said the ones who made it through all the snowmelt creeks and deep snow came into VVR “looking like zombies, they were so exhausted.”  But we also learned that in that violent storm a little while back, what had happened was several weather systems sort of collided with each other, right over the Sierras, and the result was a sort of “weather mayhem” for 16 hours, during which a couple of campers were killed at Vidette Meadows.  Again, we thanked God for His protection over us.  Hmmm, you may say.  “How come God protected YOU and not those other guys?”  Well, there could be any one of a number of reasons, one of which is, “Well, if you’ve been basically thumbing your nose at God and ignoring Him and wanting Him to stay out of your life, then why should you suddenly expect Him to protect you when you’ve been telling Him to get lost?”  Another consideration is, “Well, if it is true (and I believe it is, based on what God says) that this life on earth is just the beginning of an awesome, incredible life with God that goes on forever, then what’s so awful about “moving on” (dying) and going to be with God?”  There are any number of other possibilities, but those are two basic ones.  Anyway, Bill and I are not afraid of dying in some lightning strike.  We figure as long as God has work for us to do, we’ll be carrying on till it’s time for us to “go home.”