![\"IMG_1130\"](\"http:\/\/skelmo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/IMG_1130.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nWe returned to the Meadows and grabbed lunch at the caf\u00e9 there.\u00a0 The rest of the\u00a0evening was spent getting our gear ready for the following day.<\/p>\n
We set out the following morning by following the Lyell River up the canyon for 8 miles.\u00a0 We then starting climbing towards its headwaters in the mountains.\u00a0 The climb would eventually end at Donohue Pass but we weren’t planning on tackling that until the following day.\u00a0 We ended up stopping at a mountain lake\u00a0after 12 miles and an 1,800ft climb.\u00a0 We camped a little above the lake, but spent several hours cleaning clothes and our bodies in the water.\u00a0 If you look closely at the picture below, you can see Tracy sitting on a rock in the water.\u00a0 This was the view from our campsite.<\/p>\n
The following day we had to summit the pass which is slightly over 11,000ft.\u00a0 The weather was perfect but Tracy’s hip was hurting her so we took it easy and made it to the top by 10am.\u00a0 The picture below is of me climbing to the pass.\u00a0 The valley and campsite from the night before are in the background.<\/p>\n We then had many miles of down hill which taxed Tracy’s\u00a0hip even further.\u00a0 After a break at Rush creek we started to climb Island pass, which is a lot smaller than the last but still required 800ft of climbing.\u00a0 The trail then wound around Thousand Islands Lake which is incredibly beautiful, but I had a specific place to camp in mind which was still further.\u00a0 Leaving that lake we climbed to the next and the next.\u00a0 It seems in the Sierras that every lake is in a bowl so getting to a lake always requires a climb and a descent.\u00a0 We seem to do this over and over again.\u00a0 We finally got to the lake that I wanted to camp at but it required going off trail for half a mile at a very steep decent of 300ft that we’d need to climb in the morning.\u00a0 Once we got there, we had a private beach, incredible views, and complete solitude (with the exception of the bear tracks in the sand).\u00a0 The picture below is from sunrise, but this was the view from our tent.<\/p>\n You may recognize the peaks better if they are in black and white.\u00a0 The area we are in is the Ansel Adams Wilderness, since it was the location of so many of his famous photos.<\/p>\n We had a great afternoon lounging on the beach.\u00a0 When backpacking there isn’t a ton of spare time since you often hike until late in the afternoon (4pm this day) and if you want to dry anything you need to get it into the sun immediately.\u00a0\u00a0 We got the tent set up, filtered water, and starting washing the massive amount of dust from the trail off our clothes.\u00a0\u00a0Since we had a great sandy beach we also decided to\u00a0do the same of our bodies.\u00a0 Take a look at Tracy submerging herself in\u00a0a lake that is fed by the glaciers above.<\/p>\n Between the two of us, we must have taken a hundred pictures of this lake and the peaks around it.\u00a0 I got up before sunrise to make sure I got every possible angle of the sun.\u00a0 Tracy was a trooper to get up also so we could get a timed shot once the top of the mountain was lit by the rising sun.<\/p>\n It was tough leaving that campsite but we were on the trail by 8:20am and that was even after breakfast and Tracy making a short video for her work.\u00a0 The day required us to hike over 14 miles through multiple lake basins (which means climbing) and to traverse a hot and dry 5 miles down a dusty slope.\u00a0 The good news was the destination of Red’s Meadows had showers, food, and laundry.\u00a0 We\u00a0were moving at a decent pace until Tracy kicked it into high gear and we covered the dusty part\u00a0twice as fast as I expected.\u00a0 I know\u00a0she was hurting, but we were both happy to have that part done.<\/p>\n Along the trail, you\u00a0meet a lot of people.\u00a0 One of the most interesting was Glenn from Washington.\u00a0 He was taking a break right after climbing out of the Garnett Lake basin.\u00a0\u00a0We talked with him for some time.\u00a0 He\u00a0was hiking the entire JMT.\u00a0 He was an older guy and you could tell by his\u00a0pack and his large physical build that he wasn’t a rookie backpacker.\u00a0\u00a0He told us that he hiked 1500 miles on the PCT last year covering the states of Oregon and Washington.\u00a0 Then he told us the thing that floored us, he was 73 years old.\u00a0 It was really hard to believe since he\u00a0was in better shape than me and had no inhibitions about hiking solo in such remote places.\u00a0 From the 20 minutes we spent with him we could tell that there were years of stories he could tell.<\/p>\n On the way to\u00a0Red’s we cut through\u00a0Devil’s Postpile National Monument.\u00a0 The name is so fitting (see the picture).\u00a0 The posts are formed by lava cooling into a honeycomb shape\u00a0vertically.\u00a0 The honeycomb is due to the fact\u00a0it’s the strongest shape.\u00a0 The posts are revealed once erosion happens and the full vertical post can be seen.\u00a0 We walked up to the top and\u00a0you can see the tops of the posts that are still buried.\u00a0 This is just a small section of the tops, but up and down the\u00a0hillside they\u00a0were everywhere.\u00a0 It was almost like nature’s tile floor.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n