We were all warm and comfortable last night in the Muir Hut, even though the outside temperature dropped to below freezing.  The two brothers left at 4:30am.  It was still very early, and I watched out the little window by my “sleeping ledge” as their tiny headlamps departed into the darkness.  Bill and I waited a little longer, before getting up at 5:15, because we figured that everything would be very hard and icy, plus the light was so dim it was hard to see where the footprint trail went. 

Once we were ready to go, Bill put on Yaktrax and I wore my Microspikes. The whole scene looked like Antarctica, and it was 30 degrees. Brrr!  We were very glad of a well-established “footprint trail” to follow, because the snow here has melted into “suncups”, which makes it like trying to walk on a giant eggcarton with 1-2 foot deep “cups”, all hard and icy. Breaking a trail over suncups is very tough— we were glad it wasn’t us!  And in the shadow of the mountains as we were, the snow was VERY icy indeed. 

Down, down, we went, till the trail went around a big bend in the valley and the snow wasn’t quite as all-encompassing.  We began to encounter snowmelt creeks, which we crossed on snow bridges. Eventually we were in the sun again.  Hooray–the snow almost immediately began to soften up.  It is amazing how fast snow changes from hard ‘n icy to soft ‘n fluffy!  Of course I put my black headnet back on. 

The scenery all around us was breathtaking.  I kept wanting to stop and just drink it in, but Bill as usual was way out ahead and I had to do my best to keep up.  Whoever made the footprint trail was definitely an “islandhopper” who headed for every bit of bare rock he could find.  I am a bit leery of rocks now, after two bad posthole experiences, so I actually tried to steer clear of the rocks.  This meant I had to break my own trail around them, and sometimes that made for slow going.  I got quite a nice little entertainment at one point, though, which I HAD to stop and watch!  It was a marmot, trying to cross a snowmelt creek.  Marmots look a bit rolypoly and not very athletic, but wow, turns out they are really good jumpers, and very agile!   That furry little guy managed to rockhop all the way across the creek without getting wet.  Some of his leaps were absolutely amazing!  I cheered when he made it across!

We were making pretty good progress through all the snow, steadily heading down the hill.  I just kept plugging along, following Bill, till suddenly he stopped.  I caught up with him, and he said, “Something’s not right. That looks like the trail–on the other side of the lake.”  I hadn’t been paying attention much–just following Bill, and now I realized in horror that yes indeed, in all the snow we missed the turnoff to where we were supposed to cross upper Evolution Creek, followed by walking along the OTHER side of the lake.  

Oh no!  Very sadly, we turned around and headed back UP the hill we’d just come down, looking for the trail crossing.  We could not find it.  (Hikers later told us that the crossing, which is a line of huge steppingstones, was completely buried.  No wonder we didn’t see it!)   Finally Bill said, “We have no choice. We’ll just have to ford the creek.”  I was terrified. The “creek” was roaring and very wide.  The place Bill chose to cross looked deep.  Downstream a little way it looked wider and shallower.  I suggested that we should try to cross there, but Bill was adamant.  I tried my best to summon up all my courage and face that crossing, but I just felt like I couldn’t do it, and to Bill’s disgust, I started to cry.  I cried not just because I was so scared, but ironically, because I was so angry with myself for being scared.  I was also angry with myself for not being cheerful and brave!  Oh man!  The result was tears.  I know, I know, it’s totally illogical…and that made me even more angry at myself.

  But Bill put his foot down and said, “Let’s go, we HAVE to get across this thing. ” So I forced myself, sniffles and all, to put my gear into “nasty streamcrossing mode”, then since it looked pretty bad, I did not try to cross by myself, but sidestepped BEHIND Bill, holding on to his pack.  That way, he took the brunt of the roaring, freezing water. Yikes! But we made it, and not only that, but the snow was rapidly less and less, so it wasn’t long before we were hiking on green grass around Evolution Lake. 

Halfway along the lake, we stopped for lunch, very frustrated that it had taken us all morning to cover just 5 miles.  But the sun was warm, the grass was soft & comfortable, and pretty soon we were laughing at the marmots who literally surrounded us on all sides, obviously scheming on how to steal our food.  Bill and I practically had to sit back to back to protect our stuff, since the marmots were coming in from every direction!

Then we switchbacked way down to the Evolution Creek valley and lovely McClure Meadow.  It was gorgeous.  The blue creek wandered along through lush meadows.  Snowcapped mountains were all around.  Quite a few people were camped in the woods there.  A little way before the trail crossed Evolution Creek (another famously fearsome ford), there was another “ranger note” posted by the trail.  It said, “Evolution Creek is chest deep at the official crossing.  I recommend an alternate place upstream–follow the trail of upright sticks to reach the alternate.”  

Yikes!  Chest deep sounded nasty.   “Whose chest?”  I wondered.  “Was he six feet tall or five feet tall?”  We lost no time in following the stick trail through the woods, till we were standing on the bank of Evolution Creek.  The creek was pretty wide, but it was obvious that the deepest part was right below where we were standing.   I lowered my trek pole into the water to check the depth.  Thigh deep!   No problem!  And it wasn’t rushing and roaring, just moving along nicely!   Bill and I crossed easily, with no problems.

 On we went through the woods, till we were back on the PCT/JMT again.  I found it fascinating how quickly a river can change!   In McClure Meadow,  Evolution Creek just flows peacefully along, but just after the official trail crossing, it begins to plunge down the canyon, and instantly becomes a whitewater foaming ROAR.  Looking at it, you’d never dream that it was easily fordable just upstream.

More switchbacking took us down to the South Fork of the San Joaquin with its nice BRIDGE (I LOVE bridges!) where we stopped and tried to eat some supper.  Neither Bill nor I could eat much.  We both still feel rather sick.  I have been dosing myself with
GSE all day, hoping to cure whatever it is I have.  I tried to tell myself that eating so little and exerting myself so much was bound to create problems, and tried to force myself to eat more, but I just could not do it.  So our supper break was really more of a rest break than anything else!

We pushed on again for another 3 miles or so, before finding a nice place to cowboy camp near the river.  A bit of breeze was blowing, so there were no mosquitoes.  I was very tired, but cheered up when I calculated our mileage.  Despite the slow start in the snow this morning, we still managed to get 16 miles done!  And what a contrast of scene today–starting in Antarctica, and now here, on a warm evening, with green plants and trees everywhere.  The only concern I have left is that I continue to feel so ill and increasingly weak.  On the bright side, we certainly will have no problem of running out of food!   Bill and I have eaten so little that we have plenty left!

Walk to Lórien: At the first leaves of Lothlórien, near the Nimrodel

Tags: Evolution Creek, Mammoth Lakes, McClure Meadow, Muir Hut, San Joaquin River, Yaktrax