We awoke the next morning under cold (around 35'), but nearly clear, skies and set to work drying our things. The tent had been splattered with mud, our space blankets (tarps) were muddy on one side, and most everything else was at the least damp, if not soaking wet. We tossed the muddy things into the creek briefly to clean them off, then spread everything else out to dry. It was after 9:00 before we got on the trail.
Our destination was the Muir Trail Ranch, where we would pick up the food that would carry us through the end of the trip. Our pace of the past few days was actually going to get us to the ranch a day early, and we planned to use this extra time to take a badly-needed layover day at Evolution Valley several days later.
To that point, my own health problems were minor: I had experienced some back and shoulder pain early in the trip, primarily from having all the food in my pack, and had applied tape and moleskin to several places on my feet as a preventative measure when I felt hot spots flaring up. But that morning, I was brought to my knees by a strange back spasm. I did nothing more strenuous than bend over to pick up a cup of tea, but I guess it was the wrong thing to do. It took a heavy dose of Ibuprofen and a half hour of yoga before I was able to put my pack on. The saving grace was that, once I had the pack on, it seemed to serve as a brace, and I was able to walk without much pain.
As we started out hiking, Julian noticed that our suspected fire from the night before was indeed smoldering and sending off a large plume of smoke. There were no other trees nearby, so there was no real risk of it igniting anything else.
As we emerged from the treeline, we passed along the shore of the stunning, though very windy, Marie Lake. It was a beautiful sight, with the low morning light, puffy clouds, blue of the lake water and the stark, alpine beauty of the surrounding granite coming together to create a near perfect mountain experience. We looked back often as we climbed the short set of switchbacks leading up to 10,900' Selden Pass.
The views from the pass were sensational, with Marie Lake to the north and a narrow canyon leading down to Heart Lake to the south. However, the wind we'd felt at Marie Lake was being funneled through the pass with an intensity I've never experienced before. It wasn't so much the speed of the wind, but it had a buffeting quality that made my ears hurt, and I headed off down the trail as soon as possible, while Julian stayed behind to shoot some video.
As I passed Marie Lake and headed down between the beautiful Sallie Keyes Lakes, I met two interesting sets of people on the trail. The first was two guys who, when asked about their trip, described a long itinerary that was partially on trails and partially not, crossing many remote passes and comprising a trip that traveled through the best the southern Sierra has to offer. We met a variety of people hiking this style of trip, and I was impressed with the potential, as there is so much to see that is not covered by the trail system.
The other group consisted of a group of five guys who looked more like a bowling team than backpackers who by then would have been 15-20 miles from a trailhead. They were heading up into the windy Selden Pass, but they wore khaki shorts and Hawaiian shirts and carried no water, wind protection or food. I later heard that they had scattered the ashes of a friend at the pass. A few minutes later, I walked by their camp and saw that each of them had carried a regulation lawn chair into the backcountry. We saw an awful lot of lawn chairs strapped to backpacks on the trip, and though I can appreciate the creature comforts of the things, I think they should be banned outright. Come on, support your local fallen tree ...
A short while later, after crossing Sanger Creek, we encountered a pack train of llamas, with two guides supporting two clients. Since llamas are still something of a novelty in the mountains, we stopped to chat. The lead guide regaled us with stories of the fabulous cuisine they were feeding their customers: "Fa-hee-tahs tonight! And what did we have for breakfast this morning?" No answer. "French toast, with fresh strawberry sauce and hazelnut coffee." Gag. Give me a break. As we trudged off down the trail secretly craving some fajitas and French toast, the second client came along. Probably on the advice of her able guides, she was wearing a poncho (it was 80' and clear) and complaining about the uphill climb (hint: take the poncho off). The second guide then arrived, and he had good reason to complain. One of the llamas had gone on strike and refused to carry its pack anymore. The guide was therefore toting two heavy panniers totally over a hundred pounds of fajitas, French toast and the like, and grumbling all the while. We skipped lightly down the trail with our forty pound packs of dehydrated food.
After yet another torturous downhill for Julian, we arrived at the Muir Trail Ranch and nearby Blayney Meadows hot springs. To get to our camp and the nearby spring requires a ford of the very wide South Fork of the San Joaquin River. The river runs quite fast at that point, and a rope is provided to help with the crossing.
By the time we got to camp, my back was again in knots, and our first order of business was therefore to seek out the hot spring. We could not have been more disappointed. The "spring" was no more than a large, warm mud puddle in the middle of a meadow, with a water temperature of no better than 85 or 90 degrees. I had read somewhere on the 'Net that this is not a true spring, but a large, warm mud puddle with some thermal vents underneath it which heat the water. We went down the trail beyond the spring, and found a large, relatively warm swimming hole, and spent a few minutes enjoying a swim. All of the lakes and rivers we went by on the trip were quite cold, so this was a welcome relief. I then pleaded injury and headed off to the "spring" while Julian graciously set up camp.
There is, I found out later, a much nicer spring very near to the mud puddle. Sadly, though, I am sworn to secrecy as to its location. Even more sadly, I was not able to try it out.
Photo: Marie Lake
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