Tyandale Creek - Vidette Meadows 6/24/10 12 miles

What a day! Woke up planning to complete 23 miles and then hitch into Independence, CA. We did 12 miles, the hardest of our miles, no joke. We started at 6:15 am and hiked up into the snow field before Forester Pass, while it was still frozen. The snow got thick and we lost the trail, no biggie, we couldn't find it for the rest of the day. I used my mapping skills to get us about halfway there, then we saw Alex pop up over the hill. We followed him to the pass, but never caught him. We watched him go straight up, like nothing I've ever seen. He had no crampons, no ice axe. Both were needed, but it didn't slow him down. We followed and got to the top of the sketchiest climb of our lives and celebrated life. We then hurled ourselves over the other side, glissading. I went first and got down to the lake. After the slide, we had to walk around the frozen lake. The snow started to melt and made travel grueling. POSTHOLING. We walked for five ours before we got out of the snow. No trail. Pooped, we ate the last bit of food - two packs of ramen and Poptarts. We then mozied to the campsite and totally threw Independence out the window until tomorrow. We sat up, talked to Alex, built a fire, bummed some food. A mixture of grape nuts, chocolate pudding, powdered milk and almonds. It was awesome, but we were hungry. Sky and Marianne let us have the rest of their peanut butter. Much appreciated. Twelve miles, nine hours, tired and ready for town and a zero day. Cant wait!! CM