Gary-Summer: July 11, 2013 - Bench Lake Ranger Station

Thursday, July 11, 2013

July 11, 2013 - Bench Lake Ranger Station

Title: July 11, 2013 - Bench Lake Ranger Station

Hike Info:

Trail: John Muir Trail

Starting location: Lower Palisades Lake

Destination: Marjorie Lake

Actual Destination: Lucky Dog Lake?/ Bench Lake Ranger Station

Distance: 10.3 miles ¹

Start Time: 8:45

End Time: 6:30

Travel Time: 9:45 (1.06 mph)

Moving Time: 6:15 (1.65 mph).

Elevation Rise: 1,825' ¹

Maximum Elevation: 12,100'

Lower Palisades Lake

Description:

Listened to the sprinkle of rain all night on the tent. This morning, the mountains surrounding us are covered by clouds. Here at Palisades Lake, we look up at them wondering if the cloudy skies will turn to rain. A bit of a sprinkle now and then. Got up a bit later, seems like a lot later, but it is only 6:30. Still with the dampness, it stopped raining when we got up, but it is cold, making it a slow morning. We leave about 8:45, about half an hour after the Millers leave.

Upper Palisades Lake

Mather Pass is really kicking us, especially after climbing the Golden Staircase yesterday. The cold and damp while not uncomfortable, is making it harder to breath. But Palisades Lakes really are jewels. Sherri tries to find the place where Andrea and her had camped when they did the JMT, but did not have success. They had camped at Upper Palisades Lake. We also were looking around for where the trail crew had put their camp, but they hide it pretty well.

On top of Mather Pass, looking South

We do take three breaks on our way up Mather. What a long trudge! Around 12:30 we make it to the top of Mather Pass. We have a ProBar-but no lunch, much to Sherri's dismay. We did not have enough water to guzzle with peanut butter and Nutella. But Mather does give us wonderful views, even though we are out of breath.

It is a long down, almost all the way until we reach the South Fork of the Kings River. Right before the crossing, we saw two female PCTers who greeted us by name. They had seen Ray and Rachel-we will not see them again, but we will hear from them some more. After resting, we decided to continue up to the Bench Lake Ranger Station, then make a decision there. From the maps, the ranger station may not be at Bench Lake, but at a pond along The Trail. There is one person's blog who calls this Lucky Dog Lake, if I understand it right. Whatever it is, the setting is gorgeous. As a note: we never did see the ranger station. We have heard that it is only a tent on a platform, but judging by other ranger stations we passed, this one may have been removed.

Walking towards Mt Ickes

We got there when the sun was getting low in the sky. A few spots are available (nobody else is here), but few inviting. We took one where the tent would fit, which turned out to be probably the worst night sleep we got on the whole trip (36.95871, -118.43672). But we ate, watched McGyver and went to sleep.

Today's JMT Lesson: No climb above 11,000' is easy.

Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Snacks
Oatmeal and add-ins, such as dried peaches, strawberries, nuts, granola. Tang.	Peanut Butter and Nutella on crackers ProBar	Black Bean Soup with Tortillas	Clif Bar, Jelly Bellies, CytoMax, Propel, GORP, Bank Balls

¹The supplied figures above come from either the book John Muir Trail: The essential guide to hiking America's most famous trail by Elizabeth Wenk or from topo maps. There was only partial tracks for today in my GPS. Below is the readings from today's status on the GPS. I view it as only somewhat accurate.

Distance: 11.1 miles

Elevation Rise: 1,116'

Maximum Elevation: 12,100'