Thursday, July 11, 2013
Hiking Uphill: 1,809ft
Hiking Downhill: 2,609ft
Distance Hiked: 13 miles
Post by Melissa:
We woke up to more clouds and rain pitter pattering on the roof of our tent. For those that don't know...Nick hates the rain and cold. It was just the excuse we needed to stay in the tent and snuggle for a little while longer. Eventually we drug ourselves out of the tent and headed towards Muir Pass.
As we were heading to Muir Pass we came across Helen Lake. I noticed something on the surface of the water from a distance and wasn't sure what it was at first. As I got closer I identified the floating objects as frogs! They were all over the place. Clearly this lake did not have fish in it as the frog population was thriving. It was a cool sight to see.
We snap a couple pics of the frogs and move on towards the Pass.
Interesting flowers. We are seeing all kinds of new species we have never seen before.
Marmot sighting!
We pass a few smaller lakes as we head up to the pass. Que Bonita!
Snow!
That's me on the right side of the photo heading up the last part of the pass. I think I can...I think I can...
We've made it! We reached the stone hut erected in John Muir's honor at the top of Muir's Pass.
Love this picture! Isn't the stone hut's construction pretty awesome? I wonder how long it took them to make this hut in the 30's. I'm guessing they had to hand carve each stone.
The fire place had been filled in so no one could burn fires here anymore. There isn't any wood around anyway so I don't think it would have been a problem even if the pit wasn't filled in.
The ceiling of the hut. Impressive design for the 30's.
That's me out the window starting my descent while Nick plays a little longer in the hut.
We descend Muir Pass and head towards Lake McDermand and Wanda Lake. It's a bit chilly here and there is snow on the ground in patches. Notice the gloomy sky...
As we approach Wanda Lake we start seeing more frogs again.
Look, a little frog family enjoying the sun together. How cute!
Nick catches one of the froggies and identifies it as the yellow legged frog. This is the one we have been hearing about for months that is endangered. We've heard from other hikers that the trout that have been stocked in the Sierra lakes and creeks are destroying the frog population. Now, the Forest Rangers are killing all of the fish in some of the lakes in order to protect the frogs. Interesting...
After we play with the frogs for a few minutes we continue on towards Sapphire Lake and Evolution Lake. There are a lot of lakes in the Sierras! It's hard to keep them straight.
We see signs everywhere warning us of the fire dangers. We have not had one campfire on the trail. The fire restrictions are pretty strict right now and we are obeying the law :)
We reach McClure Meadow and find a nice place to set up our camp near a river. I throw my pole in and catch a tiny fish. It sure is fun doing catch and release!
Near our campsite there are deer grazing in the meadow
This was the section of the river nearest our campsite. When we were down here collecting water I noticed a shiny coin in the water. I mentioned it to Nick and he told me to grab it. I didn't want to because the water was deep (and cold) so Nick jumped in and stuck his arm in the water and grabbed it. It was a quarter!
We did some laundry, ate dinner, and passed out. One more pass done...
Hiking Uphill: 1,809ft
Hiking Downhill: 2,609ft
Distance Hiked: 13 miles
We woke up to more clouds and rain pitter pattering on the roof of our tent. For those that don't know...Nick hates the rain and cold. It was just the excuse we needed to stay in the tent and snuggle for a little while longer. Eventually we drug ourselves out of the tent and headed towards Muir Pass.
As we were heading to Muir Pass we came across Helen Lake. I noticed something on the surface of the water from a distance and wasn't sure what it was at first. As I got closer I identified the floating objects as frogs! They were all over the place. Clearly this lake did not have fish in it as the frog population was thriving. It was a cool sight to see.
We snap a couple pics of the frogs and move on towards the Pass.
Interesting flowers. We are seeing all kinds of new species we have never seen before.
Marmot sighting!
We pass a few smaller lakes as we head up to the pass. Que Bonita!
Snow!
That's me on the right side of the photo heading up the last part of the pass. I think I can...I think I can...
We've made it! We reached the stone hut erected in John Muir's honor at the top of Muir's Pass.
Love this picture! Isn't the stone hut's construction pretty awesome? I wonder how long it took them to make this hut in the 30's. I'm guessing they had to hand carve each stone.
The fire place had been filled in so no one could burn fires here anymore. There isn't any wood around anyway so I don't think it would have been a problem even if the pit wasn't filled in.
The ceiling of the hut. Impressive design for the 30's.
That's me out the window starting my descent while Nick plays a little longer in the hut.
We descend Muir Pass and head towards Lake McDermand and Wanda Lake. It's a bit chilly here and there is snow on the ground in patches. Notice the gloomy sky...
As we approach Wanda Lake we start seeing more frogs again.
Look, a little frog family enjoying the sun together. How cute!
Nick catches one of the froggies and identifies it as the yellow legged frog. This is the one we have been hearing about for months that is endangered. We've heard from other hikers that the trout that have been stocked in the Sierra lakes and creeks are destroying the frog population. Now, the Forest Rangers are killing all of the fish in some of the lakes in order to protect the frogs. Interesting...
After we play with the frogs for a few minutes we continue on towards Sapphire Lake and Evolution Lake. There are a lot of lakes in the Sierras! It's hard to keep them straight.
We see signs everywhere warning us of the fire dangers. We have not had one campfire on the trail. The fire restrictions are pretty strict right now and we are obeying the law :)
We reach McClure Meadow and find a nice place to set up our camp near a river. I throw my pole in and catch a tiny fish. It sure is fun doing catch and release!
Near our campsite there are deer grazing in the meadow
This was the section of the river nearest our campsite. When we were down here collecting water I noticed a shiny coin in the water. I mentioned it to Nick and he told me to grab it. I didn't want to because the water was deep (and cold) so Nick jumped in and stuck his arm in the water and grabbed it. It was a quarter!
We did some laundry, ate dinner, and passed out. One more pass done...
Ok, not getting tired of all the beautiful scenery pics, thanks so much for sharing and documenting the journey, it's definitely inspiring me to want to hike the JMT.
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