Day 62, June 18: Mile 837 to 856, Over Muir Pass
Start: Mile 836.5
End: Mile 855.9
Miles: 19.4
Ascent: 1714 | Descent: 4523
The night was indeed chilly but my 10° quilt performed well, and I was very happy I went for the 10° instead of 20°, as some people online had recommended. Still, it was hard to get out of bed and face the cold morning. I hit my snooze many times until I finally got myself going.
Squirrel Daddy and I left camp around 6:30am. The sky was perfectly blue and sunny, although it was cold. We kept saying how glad we were to not be going up to the pass in the weather we had yesterday. Despite the promising weather, I made a miscalculation in a stream crossing within the first half mile and slipped off a rock that I didn’t realize was covered in ice. My foot was completely soaked in the icy stream. I felt a little stuck as I didn’t want to risk having my entire body fall into the stream, so I just decided to wade across, getting both of my feet wet. Not ideal for a day where the high at the pass was supposed to be around 36°. I changed my socks shortly after but it didn’t do much to warm up my feet.
With no other option than to keep hiking, that’s what I did. The ascent was a little tricky, but we were making good progress. I put on my microspikes and quite enjoyed climbing up the sun cups in the snow, once I got into the groove.
Pretty soon, we reached the top of Muir Pass, which has a stone shelter. We went inside and I took off my wet shoes and socks and put them outside in the sun to dry. Squirrel Daddy and I took a breakfast break for maybe half an hour in there, and two hikers from Taiwan, Bill and Jessica, joined us for a bit.
Around 9am, we packed up to continue hiking on. I winced as I put on my shoes and socks, which were very much not dry at all. Again, not much I could do but hike on.
The descent from the pass was a bit of a slog, with many more snow fields to navigate. Often, the trail would disappear once we reached a rocky section, and I was grateful to have the FarOut app to help find the GPS track. Once the snow fields started to thin out, then the ice, slush and mud started. It was a very sloppy descent, but the scenery was absolutely stunning. There were many deep blue lakes surrounded by snow-dotted mountains, and streams flowing all around. I don’t think I’ve ever hiked or been in an environment quite like that, and I was loving it.
We continued on and chatted for much of the descent. After a bit, SD and I took a short lunch break. I had more tuna wraps and Nutella/potato chip wraps, and SD gave me a bite of his ramen.
After continuing on, we ran into Squirrel (who we jokingly call Squirrel Daddy’s daughter), Suncatcher and Stem. They’re a trio of ladies and we’ve been seeing them off and on on the trail for a bit. They had also camped near us to wait out the storm, and we were glad to see they were all doing well too.
As we continued descending from the pass, we began to walk alongside Evolution Creek, which seems to be more of a river than a creek. It was gorgeous and rushing powerfully at times. The water was often a stunning shade of aquamarine, and I loved watching and hearing how it shifted back and forth between a silent lazy river to a roaring rapid. I stopped to take photos of some particularly impressive waterfall sections.
We had to cross the creek at one point, which we forded with our shoes on. It seemed like a safer option than taking off our shoes, and I think it was the right call. I was very happy that it is a low snow year as the creek only came up as high as my knees. In high snow years, it can be chest height - yikes!
SD cruised on ahead and I was hiking by myself. After a bit, I crossed a bridge and was then walking along the South Fork San Joaquin River, which was also both stunning and powerful. The canyons around the river were also breathtaking, and I tried to soak in as much of the beauty around me. It simply boggles my mind how the Sierras can contain so many beautiful valleys all in one place.
Towards the end of the day, I kept gawking at the beauty around me and also kept feeling very ready to be done hiking. Though it was a reasonable mileage day, I felt pretty spent, probably from both the stress of the snow day yesterday as well as navigating the snow fields today. I was very happy when I heard Squirrel Daddy call out to me, indicating I had made it to camp. And we were camping with some friends, Erick and Manon, who are from the Netherlands.
We had a relaxed dinner together, chatting and laughing. I was very happy and ready to crawl into my tent when I was done eating and brushing my teeth. One more full day of hiking, then I will be at VVR! Goodnight!