8/1/13 – 107 miles
I wrote this post three weeks ago and had no signal after that:
We made it to Muir Ranch. This trail is not easy. The grades may be better than a lot of places on the AT but they go on and on for a long time, combine that with thin air at 12,000 feet and you will get quite a workout!
The scenery through these mountain is so beautiful, that with each pass we climb and meadow we come to, all we can do is stare and say “Wow!”
We were originally planning to stay here for two day but the second half of our trip will be even more strenuous than the first and we will need every day to reach our next resupply.
There is still a lot of smoke in the area. For two days we have stayed ahead of the drifting grey cloud but it has caught us again and shrouded the mountains above. As we get further south, it should clear.
Last night we had quite a concern. A helicopter kept flying up the valley below where we were camped and dropping water into the woods where we would hike the next day. We found out later that a tree struck by lightning was burning and the helicopter and ground crew put it out this morning.
Good food here, showers, and a bed to sleep in. Tomorrow we will enter Kings Canyon NP. I’m not sure when I will get to post this.
I’ve enjoyed reading about your trip so far. Are you going to post “the rest of the story?”