June 28, 2013 - Lyell Canyon and beyond

Title: June 28, 2013 - Lyell Canyon and beyond

 (Preliminary)

Trail:JMT-Lyell Canyon

Starting location:  Tuolumne Meadows

Destination: above the Lyell Footbridge

Actual Destination: pond at 10,185'

Distance: 10.6 miles ²

Start Time: 7:30

End Time: 5:00

Travel Time: 9:30 (1.12 mph)

Moving Time: 5:07 ( 2.07 mph) ²

Elevation Rise: 1,506' ²

Maximum Elevation: 10,185'

Description:

Steven

Slept OK at Murphy's Inn in Lee Vining. Even though we had the A/C running last night I thought it was a bit stuffy. Woke up several times, but feel asleep. Sherri was up some also. Finally turned on the iPad around 5:30and read my devotions before getting up around 6. Got the last minute items put away, then off into the car at 6:30 and stopped at the Whoa Nellie Deli for breakfast on the way out. Steven and I had a breakfast burrito-which I did not finish, and Sherri had a eggs and ham croissant. Good eats with lots of food. Nice combination. Got to the trail head at 7:30.  Pretty good for us.

Morning Start

Our third instance of doing a little bit of cheating. There are two places where we could pick up the Trail. The first is the wilderness ranger station, where Steven picked us up.  Then there is the long term parking about a mile down the trail-see the purple line on the map. We opted for the mile down the trail-it cuts off a mile of walking beside the road, particularly since we have done this section of the trail several times and so far it had not added anything, except being tired.

So off we went, waving goodbye to Steven, thanking him for driving us around and the food drop off. We hiked this first piece three weeks ago with Betty. Not much has changed, except some of the mud has dried up. The Lyell Fork still is running strong and the grass is green. Before hitting Rafferty Creek, we see a buck and five deer. Nice sight. 

View From the Trail

Even though the pack is heavy on Sherri, mine is only a little more than the first days, we make good time, averaging about 2.5 mph. We meet the father of the PCTer which we talked with at Sunrise Meadow a couple of days ago. The opening comment he made was that this was the second JMTer who was carrying a Kelty which he had met, before realizing the first and the second were the same person. His daughter, Jessica-trail name Night Crawler¹, because she traveled at night in the desert, is with him. We chatted for a few minutes, then headed our separate ways.

We pass the Evelyn Lake trail junction and continue on. A little bit later, we stop and have lunch. Thanks Steven for making our peanut butter and Nutella sandwich. Tasted good. A little bit later, we came across the hidden campsite which Andrea, Sherri and I found.   This is the one which Zander stumbled across while we were there.

Campsite from six years ago

We keep going up Lyell Canyon, it is slowly rising, about a hundred feet in a mile. At the end of the level part, we stop for a Clif Bar and a break before a climb. There was a bit of frustration with some miscommunication. Also with the iPod not working how we thought it should. But when we started walking again, that gets shoved aside and our energy is concentrated on climbing 600' in the next mile to the footbridge which crosses Lyell Creek.  It is hot and dry, so we walk a bit then breath a lot. But step by step we get up it.

Lyell Glacier

Along the way, we talk with a guy who will be going up to Lyell Glacier. We then see him by the footbridge. We talk for a time, getting rested.  Clouds are gathering, cooling the air. So we decide to go another mile and 500' up to a pond. This will help out tomorrow when we go over Donohue Pass. This climb was a lot better than the first one. Being rested and cooler really helped.

Our Bedroom View

We have a spot  to camp (37.95887, -119.12091) at with a view, you would pay big bucks to have-we only needed to perspire.  This is at an unnamed lake, only known by its elevation-10,185'.  We watched several people cross the creek we will be crossing tomorrow. We do take some interest in observing peoples styles of crossing-some decide quickly to plunge right in and wade across, others try to keep dry and go across some marginal rocks-only one person was successful. Most decide to wade. One of the people is Lucy who is writing her blog. We exchanged cards. it was informative watching various groups crossing the outlet to our pond. Dinner was tamale freestyle-filling and tasty. We resolve some of the iPod problems. Then it is time to go to bed, around 9. The sunset was pretty good off of the snow above us.

 Today's JMT Lesson: Known and own^* your equipment.

^*The owning is not so much possession, but mastery of what you bring.

Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Snacks
Oatmeal and add-ins, such as dried peaches, strawberries, nuts, granola. Tang.	Peanut Butter and Nutella on crackers	Tamale Pie Freestyle	Clif Bar, Jelly Bellies, CytoMax, Propel, GORP

Notes:
¹We have a strange world which we live in. After reading a draft of this blog, Lindy, a PCTer and a person who is doing the JMT this year, met Night Crawler's Dad up in Seattle. Also Night Crawler gets mentioned in several blogs: PJG and Guy on a Buffalo.

²The supplied figures come from either the book John Muir Trail: The essential guide to hiking America's most famous trail by Elizabeth Wenk. Also some information comes from topo maps as well.The tracks from my Foretex did not get saved. This will become a problem for the rest of the trip. Getting either no or incomplete set of tracks. Below is the readings from today's status on the GPS. I view it as only somewhat accurate.
Distance: 11.3 miles

Moving Time: 5:07 ( 2.2 mph)

Elevation Rise: 996'

Maximum Elevation: 10,185'