The mosquitoes were still largely sleeping when we got up this morning. Nowhere near as bad as last night! First up this morning is crossing Bear Creek. In the movie "Mile, Mile and a Half" (shot in 2011, the 200% snow year), this crossing was an epic! Four years of drought........ not the least bit of an issue for us!
As is our custom, we headed toward a morning crossing of the pass-du-jour. About 3.4 miles to Selden Pass and about 1400 feet higher than our camp. The ascent was fairly gentle and even had some flat-ish sections.
We had more cloud today than usual. The up-side of that is that it makes for some pretty good reflection pictures.
As we got closer to the top of Selden Pass we had Marie Lake on our left (east). I took tons of pictures. Here is a sampling.............
A few people on the trail ahead of me up heading up to the pass.............
A few more looks at Marie Lake
And a snack break and rest at the top of Selden Pass (10,898')
Heading down the other side - nice views and more creeks & lakes.
Heart Lake coming into view.
We paralleled a creek draining Heart Lake.............
Into Sallie Keyes Lakes, where we stopped for lunch.
At lunch I pulled the rain gear out of the pack for the first time since Tuolumne Meadows. Not for rain, mind you, but to ward off the mosquitoes. But then it started to spit rain a bit as well. Pack covers on, but rain gear off as we got going again. A bit of sprinkling for a while, but then the sun came out again for a bit.
Shortly after lunch was passed this small cabin in the woods. Apparently it is a "snow survey cabin". I think you need to be very comfortable with your own company to spend much time in there.
We had lots of downhill this afternoon, mostly in the trees. There was a big thunderstorm rumbling close by but we stayed dry for quite a while. It was really socked in all around us so it was inevitable that we would get wet eventually.
It rained for about an hour and then the sun came out again. About the time the rain stopped we passed the official Halfway Point of the JMT. However - since we started at Tulomne Meadows instead of Happy Isles and we'll have two days after Mount Whitney, we won't reach our halfway point for a few days.
The rain held off while we set up camp, and then it started to sprinkle again before dinner. Not bad, though, to have been out over a week and this is really our first bit of precipitation. Rumour has it that there is a storm system moving in for the next 3 days or so.
Dinner under shelter...........
I had a bit of trauma tonight that I think I'm going to have to go into therapy for. I have a book with me to read (a hand-me-down from Jane). Kaylee is also interested in reading it, but doesn't want to wait until I'm done. It is standard trail procedure to rip books up and discard/burn sections that you're done with or to share parts with others. That is sooooo against my nature! I take such good care of my books and would never consider desecrating one. But - I understand the unique demands of the trail. Alex kindly stepped up and did what I couldn't bring myself to do. He ripped off the first 70 pages and handed them over to Kaylee. Oh my - will I even be able to sleep tonight??
Stats for the day - about 11 miles, 1620 feet up, 3180 feet down. Elevation at our camp near Piute Creek is about 8100'.
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