We dawdled around getting organized this morning, and enjoyed the Motel 6 Coffee while we ate a breakfast of leftover this n’ that from our food.  It felt so good to be just resting!  But finally we said, “OK, enough!”, filled the bear cans, loaded our packs, and headed for the trolley to The Village.  It was another clear, beautiful morning.

The trolley driver directed us to the “bike Bus” up to Mammoth Mountain Resort, and soon we were on our way back up the mountain.  The Bike Bus pulls a long trailer, which was loaded full of all kinds of bikes–everything from kid’s bikes to dad bikes, to crazy mountainbiker bikes.  Two of those “crazy mountainbikers” were sitting right behind us, looking very impressive in their black and silver protective gear.  Never mind the gear–the guys themselves looked pretty fearless!  After some of the video footage I’ve seen of mountainbiker stunts, all I can say is, “I hope they get home in one piece!”

Mammoth Mountain Resort was now totally converted from skiing to mountainbiking, and there were hordes of people everywhere. We had to wait a half hour for the next bus to Red’s Meadow, where we stopped off at the store for one last snack (ice cream and Odwalla) and chatted with thruhikers who’d just come in off the trail, notably Chocolate Bandido.

We met lots of folks hiking, riding and fishing. At Agnew Meadows there were a lot of CCC vehicles, including a couple of trailers full of very antsy mules who were making quite a racket, kicking and fussing.  “Hey, looky that!”  I said.  “Maybe there’s a trail project up ahead–I hope we get to see it!”  

After Agnew Meadows we began the long, gradual climb that took the rest of the day. The “flower gardens” at the springs on the High Trail section were gorgeous, and so were the views of the rugged snowy mountains on the other side of the canyon, where the JMT is.   Butterflies were everywhere.  Along the way, at an awesome overlook just off the trail, we caught up with “Dude” and “Trouble.”  We hadn’t seen them since Guffy Campground, before Mt. Baden-Powell!  All of us were oohing and ahhing over the stunning view of Shadow Lake across the canyon, with its backdrop of jagged, snowy peaks.  Trouble offered to take our picture, and we were glad to accept!

We stopped for supper (bagels & cream cheese!!) at the top of a long set of downhill switchbacks.  An aspen grove nearby was literally shimmering green–very pretty!  The trail itself in this area is mostly pumice–the kind that floats if you put it in water–so it felt (and sounded) as if we were hiking on potato chips.  By 7 pm, we were at Badger Lakes, but didn’t want to camp there–WAY too many mosquitoes!  So we kept on going till the trail climbed up higher again, out of the “mossie zone”.  But finding a dry place to camp was hard.  There were so many snowdrifts and snowmelts.  We finally found a dry spot and could cowboy camp.   Hooray!   We are hoping to reach Tuolemne Meadows by tomorrow, but with TWO snowy passes to cross first, well, we’ll see.

Walk to Lórien: Reach the city of Caras Galadan in Lothlórien

We “slept in” till 6:15 this morning. The sky was clear and blue— nice to see after yesterday afternoon’s dark gray clouds that dripped a bit. Looks like the Sierras are going into their normal summer pattern of clear sky each morning and cloud buildup in the afternoon. We packed up and headed for the Red’s Meadow cafe to have some coffee and wait for the bus to Mammoth. “Just Paul” and Eric were there, too— we enjoyed one last chat.

On the ride to Mammoth, a whole bunch of Boy Scouts and leaders got aboard. They were very excited and interested in what we are doing, and gave us a ride from the bus stop at the ski resort into town. We love Boy Scouts! They do a wonderful job of getting kids into backpacking.

Next on our agenda was breakfast at the Base Camp Cafe, a room at Motel 6, our resupply box and shopping for food. Getting around town in Mammoth is really easy, with a free trolley every 20 minutes. It’s a really pretty place with dramatic Sierra backdrop, tasteful buildings that “blend in” without the usual garishness of tourist towns, and best of all, gardens in bloom. I noticed that most of the garden plants are perennials— I guess they best handle a snowy winter.

Bill and I needed this zero day— we were so tired, and we both have lost an awful lot of weight. I don’t have much “padding” left on me. Hope that good food and a day of rest will help. I was worried about taking a whole day off, since we are only 1/3 done with the PCT, but Bill was very firm— “we need this rest!” he said, and I realized he was right.

Walk to Lórien: The hill of Cerin Amroth

We were up long before the others and walked along Cascade Creek to  beautiful, green Tully Hole. Then it was a long grind of switchbacks and climbing up to Lake Virginia, where we were overjoyed to find an icefree lake and not-too-bad snow.  However (of course!) since the snow was melting nicely,  it meant that the whole area around the lake, including the PCT, was basically a bog.  Muddy, muddy!

We continued slogging on toward  Purple Lake.  The snow was enough to give us problems occasionally, but it wasn’t too bad.  A looong contour around a mountainside took us to a very scary (Slippery rocks!  Big dropoff just below the trail crossing!) ford of Duck Lake’s outlet creek.  I tried to do it and backed out.  “I’m going farther upstream,” I told Bill.  So while he crossed at the official ford, I walked a little way up and crossed there with no problem.  Just beyond that creek was a very pretty meadow with people and horses lounging around, as well as a very unhappy dog, who kept randomly barking and whining.  I’m not sure what his problem was.

The trail then spends many miles contouring through forests near the edge of a dramatic deep canyon with snowclad peaks beyond.  Every time there was a break in the trees, the views were awesome.  We met no other hikers till afternoon, and then there were lots of them.  First was a lost JMT’er (we set him straight and he was very grateful!), then a gang of newbie JMT’ers  (we wondered how they were going to handle the challenges ahead of them) and then, to our great amazement and delight, sitting by the trail was Scott “Buck Larceny”, a fellow thruhiker from the PCT in 2005!  He was doing the JMT with his girlfriend “Tango”.  We had a very joyful reunion, and took pictures of each other before heading our separate ways.

Bill had been figuring we wouldn’t reach Red’s Meadow till late in the day, but before we knew it, we were down into the “burn zone” and Red’s Meadow.  As we turned off the PCT, we could hear the sound of a farrier’s hammer at the corral, and sure enough, he was busy shoeing a horse.  I stopped to watch for a few minutes, but the lure of burgers and milkshakes at the cafe was very strong, so off we went again. 

Fortified with HUGE burgers, we strolled down to the campground and claimed one of the campsites near the famous hotsprings showers.  I wanted a shower, but my only “towel” is a small 9″ square piece of absorbent cloth.  It was late afternoon by now, and getting chilly.  If I’d had a nice big towel, I would have taken a shower, dried off immediately, and been fine.  But my tiny towel wasn’t up to it, and I didn’t want to get cold.  So Bill did take a shower, but I stayed at camp and welcomed other hikers to join us.  We ended up sharing with Michelle (who sewed her own tent–very nice!),”Just Paul” and Eric, and one other couple.  

We all put up our tents & tarps, since it was clouding over and dripping a bit, but sat around swapping stories and talking till 8:30 pm.  We also slapped at mosquitoes a bit–they were definitely a presence!  Tomorrow we’ll take the bus to our resupply in Mammoth!

Walk to Lórien: Arrive at the hill of Cerin Amroth