July 9, 2013 - Le Conte Ranger Station

Title: July 9, 2013 - Le Conte Ranger Station

Hike Info:

Trail: John Muir Trail - Day Fifteen

Starting location:  Sapphire Lake

Destination:  Le Conte Ranger Station

Distance:  11.1 1

Start Time:  7:15

End Time:  6:15

Travel Time: 11:00 (1.01 mph)

Moving Time: 6:47 (1.64 mph)  

Elevation Rise:  1,058' 1

Maximum Elevation:11,960'

Sapphire Lake

Description:

Rachel and Ray get a start before we get up. Turned out later they could not sleep well because of the wind. So they left before I got up at 5:15. It is cold. There is frost on one of the bear canisters. But my cheap thermometer says 45 degrees-I doubt it. 

Sapphire Lake

We get a good start today, leaving at 7:15. Our discussion today is, do we have enough breakfasts to make it to Whitney? The answer, as we work it out, is yes. We have double counted today's breakfast. This is the discussion we had on our first rise of 500', up to Wanda Lake. 

Evolution Basin

The whole Evolution Basin is one of those places which are filled with lakes and boulders. But you travel up these, giving you a new sight at each rise. The lakes are so clear, but not inviting for a swim. At least on this cold morning, they look like icebergs cold float across any minute.  As I look across this scene. I get a feeling of elegance rather than something you want to touch.

McDermand Lake

We continue on above Wanda to McDermand. There we take a break and catch our breath. Larry and Paul come up the trail, with the same sense of breathlessness as we have. The boulder we sit on has a small crack on it. My iPad water protector leaps into the crack, never to be reached again.

Looking towards Muir Pass

Finally, around 10:45 we reach Muir Pass, and the hut on top. We spend at least an hour on top, enjoying the success of making it this far. A small group of us enjoy the companionship of common achievement.

Muir Hut

Helen Lake

But down we come. Not as steep as some passes are, but it still takes a bit of time to make it on to Helen Lake. Lunch break time. It is a bit of a hurried affair as the sun starts to make its presence felt. The trail leads us down a narrow gorge, here sometimes we lose which trail to follow-I think we followed most the current trail. It looks like the trail has been rerouted in the last couple of years and the forces of nature has not taken their course to obliterate the works of man yet.

Ravine Trail goes down

At one of the places, my foot slipped and I fell into an awkward position. Not hurt, just needed to figure out how to get up with a heavy pack. Fortunately Sherri had not notice, so I  figure it out on my own.

Down we go, passing both of Pete's Meadows. Also saw saw an impressive trail art- a rock with a wide, gaping mouth. Someone had put more rocks in the mouth, making it look like teeth. Later we found out that there were some recliners set up so we could look at the art, but we did not see them.

Now came the perpetual question: where do we stay tonight? Would like to make it to the Middle Fork of the Kings, but that is several more miles. So we settle on Le Conte Ranger Station, as an immediate goal. On the way own, we run across a young woman, hiking alone. She is from Israel and is doing a weeks hike and will be coming out at Bishop Pass.

LeConte Canyon

More down the trail we go, until we come to the trail junction for Bishop Pass and the ranger station. A short distance later we find a nice campsite and settle in. I walk down a little farther and find Ray and Rachel-it is like a reunion. The Israeli woman, Talia, comes by and we invite her to stay with us, which she accepts. After we get settled down and eat, Rachel and Ray come over and spend the rest of the evening with us. Talia has extra rice and she feeds us with it-Thanks Talia. It is nice to be completely full. After awhile, it is bed time again.

The Monster

Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Snacks
Oatmeal and add-ins, such as dried peaches, strawberries, nuts, granola. Tang.	Peanut Butter and Nutella on crackers	Szechuan Veggie Noodles	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:  13.1 miles

Elevation Rise:  654'

Maximum Elevation: 11,960'

Climb to Muir

Evolution Basin

Helen Lake

On top of Muir Pass

Water in Creek