Sierra City 7/28/10

Hey yall! We're in Sierra City right now. We lucked up and ended up meeting a super nice couple here at the Red Moose that actually hooked up a ton of hikers! We got in at about 6:30pm yesterday (after a 23 mile day) and were feasting on delicious ribs, potatoes, carrots and fresh fruit by 7:30pm! We had free showers and free laundry and they allowed all of us to camp in the back (on the river :)!! There names are Margaret and Bill and are actually gold miners, so we were entertained with lots of cool stories! Not a lot of time here in town, but we'll be posting again on all of our days out when we arrive in Belden, CA, in about 5 days.

Pleasant Valley Creek - Shower Lake 7/20/10 22.2 miles

Beautiful walking today. We enjoyed some cook, shaded flat forest in the a.m. and took a break at Yosemite Trailhead, where we crossed paths again with our buddy Kiwi. We continued on and the day continued to get better. We had some small climbs and got some awesome views. We had rolling, grassy hills on one side and rocky, snowy ones on the other. WE walked across some hillsides of endless, colorful wildflowers again, as the nice breeze cooled us off. We walked up and around some switchbacks for a while and came upon a patch of snow covered trail on the steep ledge. No biggie, we've cam across far worse, especially in the Sierras. We carefully placed our feet in the footprints and came across. Almost to the end and I slipped. I got very lucky somehow as I dug my fingers into the snow and stopped myself. Shew! Close call. Climbed back up and needed a breather for a second. Reached a high point to take a break and realized I had cell signal, but not much battery. Gave my Mom a call to check and her and was happy to hear that she was home, but still having problems with getting her levels back to normal. My phone died, but luckily I will get to call again tomorrow in town. We passed many day hikers with some smiling faces as they enjoyed the scenery and sunshine. We came across a nice lake, Frog Lake, and I couldn't resist taking a dip. Chilly but refreshing. We were not in El Dorado National Forest and passed some Information Center Volunteers who shared some of their juicy watermelon. Yum! Came into a nice, green meadow and checked out a cool historic cabin. Talked with Kiwi again, as the vampires feasted on us , so we rushed along to camp. Watched the sun set by the lake and quickly jumped in the tent to avoid providing additional feasting. Cheesy rice burritos for dinner. Town tomorrow! Excited to relax and bit and talk to family. -KB

Wolf Creek - Pleasant Valley Creek 7/19/10 21.6 miles

Got a good start on the morning feeling pretty god after our long day yesterday. Had tow climbs before break and we were happy to get them out of the way. They were actually the easiest ones of the whole day. Kristi said she wanted to do 14 miles before lunch. I agreed. I had a bit of an upset stomach, but after a couple of stops, it settled down. We made it 13 miles before 2pm and decided to eat. We walked through some constantly changing scenery with lots more flowers and high rocky cliffs. It almost looks Grand Canyon-like, but the rocks look like they have been glued together with cement. It's some type of volcanic creation. WE pushed another six miles before our next break. WE met Flashback. He had already done 25 miles by 6pm. We planned to do five more miles, but had heard the mosquitoes became horrendous. We ended up doing about three more to camp. The mosquitoes were bad here too, but we got set up and had dinner in the tent again. Planing for a long day tomorrow too. It feels good to be doing/able to do more miles, but it still make you tired. -Cm

Sonora Pass - Wolf Creek 7/18/10 23 miles

Waking up this morning was bit of a challenge. Three zeros in a row with a little wine on top makes on e a little lazy. We got going and out by 8am. IT was a slow morning. We walked up hill for quite some time and reconditioned ourselves. We had a break at a nice overlook and munched down on some spicy peanuts, trail mix and chocolate that Mary had sent us (thanks Mary!) We continued on, having some random discussion about hobbies and music that had been stuck in our heads. I thought a lot about my mom today, hoping that she did get discharged from the hospital and that she was feeling better. Very anxious to talk with her. The trail was nice today, sandy and easy o the feet. The views are changing from tall, sharp, snow mountains to sandy, rounded, rocky ones. Again, this trail keeps us on our toes with the rapid change in scenery. WE walked through meadows of gorgeous wild flowers-yellows, purples ,greens, oranges, reds and pinks. WE walked into nice shaded forests with lots of old trees. Beautiful day, blue sky. -KB

Bridgeport - Sonora Pass 7/17/10 0.4 miles

What a day. we got to sleep in until check out. Kristi got news from her Mom tat she would be getting out of the hospital soon and needed no dialysis. WE were so relieved! Went to the library to finish up our blog and to do a little budgeting. Finished up there and went to Pop's one last time. WE sat and made some final phone calls. We got ice cream before we started hitching and sat in the heat for about 45 minutes. Again, a guy came from the wrong direction, stopped and said he would be back in five minutes to pick us up. Sweet! He came back, he had to stop and pick up some of his favorite beer. HE had been skiing on Sonora Pass earlier in the day. Super nice guy, Mike. He had worked for the forest service for 20 years, so we had tons to talk about. We got to the trail and he gave us a couple beers and his card. He wished us luck and told us to call if we needed anything. Met a day hiker, Andrew while we drank our beers before we got started. He gave us some great advice. WE finally got started hiking at about 4:30pm. We got about .2 miles and saw a sign that said "BBQ" made from rocks and an arrow pointing towards the campground. Wow! We just came from town, had a great ride and not this! Lisa Freathy, from Napa, was doing trail magic. She was planning to hike next year. Here's the list of food she had for everyone today: hotdogs, burgers, chips, guacamole, salad, five types of great cheeses, coolers of beer, case of great wine, basket of fruit and the biggest box of doughnuts ever! WE hung out there till dark and had tons of fun. Got a little buzz and a whole lot of full on food, again. WE met some new hikers, Brazil Nut, Foxtrot, Little Bit and Kiwi. We decided we had to get out of there or we would never leave. They were cooking breakfast in the morning too. WE walked .2 more more to resist the temptations of breakfast. We drank our to go cups of wine as we watched the sunset. We had a great day, not much hiking but alot of good, people, good news and good times. -CM

Bridgeport 7/16/10 Zero day

Today wouldn't actually be considered a relaxing zero day. WE had initially planned on leaving today, hoping to only stay one night in each town we stopped to resupply, in order to save money and continue gaining mileage on the trail. After hearing that my supposedly healthy Mom was in acute renal failure, our present and future plans were now on hold. She was currently in ICU with 13% kidney function in both kidneys, with no answers. I talked to her and she said that she was feeling much better, but her condition was very serious. She did not know what was going to happen. Dialysis had been mentioned to her as an option, but still no definite answers until lab tests come back tomorrow morning. Being so far away was really hard. I wish I could be there right now. This was just such an out of the blue occurrence, being that she had had no prior health concerns. Chris and I decided to stay in town again tonight to wait and find out the lab results in the a.m. I talked to family and friends on and off throughout the day, discussing her condition and seeking advice on what I should do. Did I need to go home not, wait until the morning, or what? I decided to wait to acquire the lab results and go from there. Chris and I went to the library and I mostly researched her condition so I wouldn't feel so in the dark. I wrote info on some note cards and researched dialysis to better understand the procedure. I felt better to know more, but it was scary. I talked to my Mom and she said that she was feeling better, but I was still worried sick. On top of this, I was informed that my grandma had to be taken to ER. My cousin was driving in from W. VA to help out and my aunt was doing everything she could for the two of them. Things seemed to be falling apart back home and there was nothing I could do but just sit and wait for updates. Chris and I both remained quiet throughout most of the day. We were both floating, thinking of what we could/should do. He was so supportive as always and gladly agreed to do whatever we needed to do. He told me his ideas on getting home and how we could start over from there. In my mind, I was prepared to head back tomorrow and be there for my mom and grandma. -KB

Sardine Creek - Bridgeport 7/15/10 0.5 miles

Woke up about 6:30am to get to the road at Sonora Pass early hoping to catch some commuters. It was a 31 mile hitch into town. We sat for about an hour. Rick and Julie were there too. A blue Geo Metro pulled up going the wrong way. He turned around and took us all the way nto town. As we were leading up, a truck picked up our friends. "Geeps", our ride, had been hiking, but the trail he was on had river crossing that were too high to do solo. We picked up another hiker on the way down. He then turned around and took two more back to the top. Sixty miles totally out of his way. Got into town, went to the post office and got Mary's awesome box. It had all kinds of toys in it and two magazines for us. Got our room with a beautiful yard at the Silver Maple. Got our laundry and ate lunch at Pop's Gallery. Kristi got some bad news about her Mom and had us both worried for the rest of the day trying to figure out if she would be okay and if we needed to make plans to come home. We went to the library and relaxed some. I drank sic airplane bottles, compliments of Mary, and we had dinner at the Sportsman's Pub. We made many more phone calls and slept well in our cozy hotel room. -CM

Lake Harriet - Sardine Creek 7/14/10 18 miles

Rose with little shine around 6:15am. Had cold oatmeal due to fear of not having sufficient fuel for dinner. Yum. It was chilly out and we were both a little more tired than usual, as a result of our long day yesterday. I talked Chris into going back to sleep for a while. :) WE slept in until about 8ish, and rose again, with plenty of shine this time and mosquitoes to accompany it. We rushed and prepared with Deet to get into the trail. The morning was a chill walk with plenty of shade from the trees in the forest and lots of colorful wildflowers distributed throughout. WE had lunch, tuna wraps with Ranch dressing (thanks Ann), Ramen and trail mix. Rick and Julie stopped by and chatted with us for a few minutes. WE joked about yesterday evening's mudwalk and complained about flying, blood sucking vampires. WE then began our final 11ish miles with hopes of semi-relaxing finale before our departure to Bridgeport for resupply tomorrow. IT was a gorgeous walk with snowy, rigid mountain views on one side and desertous mountain miles on the other. Of course, as always, we hit snow as we came upon the back side of the peaks at 10,600ft. The trail kept surprising us as it dipped down and then kept gaining elevation. Finally, we made it to camp. Town tomorrow!! Looking forward to a good shower, talking to some people I've been missing and a bed! -KB

Kerrick Canyon - Lake harriet 7/13/10 23 miles

Got an early start for our first over 20 day. Slept good and wee on the trail by 7am. Was an easy walk down to the river , but it a was pretty deep crossing. WE took a break on the ridge afterwards. WE were happy to have done 5 miles by 10am. Continued walking, had a long decent and another climb to another ridge. It was nice getting over two big climbs well before lunch. WE took another break and decided to do four more miles before break so we wouldn't have to go long afterwards. We walked down the mountain to Wilma Lake. IT was beautiful and had some really nice trail right at waters edge I asked Kristi if she wanted to take lunch early, but she said we should go on. I agreed. WE came across the spillway and saw three people with their stuff spread out. Safron, Cassandra and Elk. THey said they were getting ready to do some Yoga and Kristi's eyes lit up and I knew there was no passing it up. THey did Yoga for about 30 minutes on a nice grassy spot with water on both sides. I smoked and cooked our lunch. We ate and said our goodbyes. Twelve miles to go and it was 2:30pm. It was a gentle walk for seven miles to a river. I was looking forward to it and it was nice, but the mosquitoes were like nothing you could imagine and the trail was mud and water from all of the snowmelt. We still made good time. We ran into a middle aged couple thru hiking, Rick and Julie. They were very nice and we chatted about mosquitoes and Kristi's new pack (they had the same one.) We also talked about getting rid of our bear canisters, finally! They continued on and we never caught up to them. WE were growing tired and had to take a break at Dorothy Lake (21 mi) as the sun was getting low and the mountains glowed. Two miles to go and the sun hadn't even set. I was proud of the both of us. We went over a low pass through some snow. Kristi said she hoped the campsite wasn't flooded (it was by a lake) and sure it enough it was flooded. haha. Typical end to long day. We went another half mile and found a little spot on the other side of the trail. Good enough. WE got up the tent faster than ever. The mosquitoes were ravenous at dusk. We jumped in and were happy to finally be safe from the mother suckers. Dinner in bed was nice, garlic shells with tuna. Very sleepy. Eighteen miles tomorrow to get us close to the road to Bridgeport. Good day. I am so proud of Kristi. -CM

Miller Lake - Kerrick Canyon 7/12/10 17 miles

Things definitely haven't been easy out here so far. Not on our bodies, our minds, or our relationship. The days are long, you're body is tired, you are a hungry bear all of the time (despite the fact you have eaten like a bear), your mind is usually moving as fast as your feet and sometimes all of these factors mixed together can become overwhelming. ON top of everything, attempting to maintain a healthy relationship with another person can be..difficult. See, normally most couples have lives together, but also very separate lives of their own as well. Out here, as a couple, you are together 24 hours a day. We wake up and have breakfast together and walk (work) together all day. We have lunch and dinner together and go to bed (tent) together at night. WE even use the flipping bathroom within 30 feet from one another. IN addition to all of these things, we sweat up mountains, tromp through mud, swat at mosquitoes, fall down at times and can become fairly irritable (to say it mildly), with no alone time. This can be devastating on a relationship that once had no disagreements or rarely any confrontations. So basically, our morning consisted of discussing these issues and coming very close to leaving the trail, due to fear of being overcome by them. Thankfully, things are okay now, after much needed talking and laying (actually throwing) everything out on the table. WE both realize that this can be hard on our relationship, if we make it hard. I want to be here, but only with Chris. After a long morning on my mind and long day on my body, I'm still thankful to be out here. It was a beautiful walk through two lower passes, more green, trees and gorgeous canyons. We worked for the views today, as we walked uphill most of the day. Seavey Pass was beautiful and we both agreed that it was if it seemed hidden, like a secret place. WE got atop and lots more green and some nice ponds. It didn't even look real. We had a good dinner of broccoli and carrot pasta (thanks Debbie :) with chicken (thanks Ann :) and were both able to agree that we're glad we continued walking together. -KB

Tuolumne Meadows - Miller Lake 7/11/10 18 miles

Long day with a late start. We got and said our goodbyes to Mover and Fester at the campsite. We decided to stop by the store for more fuel, but it was $10 for 24 oz. and I only needed like a fifth of that, so we decided to wing it. I talked Kristi into some pancakes and scrambled eggs, even though we had already had breakfast. We met a nice couple that talked to us while we ate. It actually got kind of annoying. We ran into Franbough and live Yeast on their way out and traded some funny couples stories. We finally made it to the trail after debating on staying in civilization for awhile longer, haha. Walked fast to a nice bridge over the Tuolumne River, which runs into Hetch Hetchy Resorvior, a very controversial Dam project of American politics. Had a break and started a discussion about budgeting and some frustrations, it lead nowhere. We continued walking, passing some pretty falls and into a mosquito jungle. WE were still frustrated with one another when we stopped for lunch and tried to start the discussion over. Still, nowhere. Left full and unhappy with one another. Waled and took a break, with more words and lots of them. Nasty mosquitoes, more words. Bad words. We walked way up for two miles that thought they would never end to a pretty lake with no campsite and set up, then jumped into the tent to escape from the vampires. We were speechless and had no clue what to say about our discussions. I ate Ramen and Kristi had a monster muffin. Got some big miles ahead of us. Shew. Hope we can hold up, physically and mentally. -CM

Lyell Creek - Tuolumne Campground 7/10/10 12.4 miles

Started out the morning in a great mood, knowing that we would have a chill walking day and pick up our box from Bob and Ann. The walk was great. We along the Tuolumne River all day in a green grassy meadow. WE took some breaks along the river, sat out on some rocks and munched down on some chocolate and peanut butter. WE continued walking and thinking. The two really seem to go hand in hand out here. Today I thought alot about family and friends, but I as lo thought about more than ever, of how lucky I am to have the opportunity to be out here. This place is amazing and just seems to get better everyday. They guy we spoke with yesterday, Oh Nature, described the Sierras as a "sanctuary." We laughed about it, but he was right. He have had challenge after challenge while taking in her beauty, but nothing good comes easy (as my dad actually quoted to me :) and it is worth it 100 times again. As we took another break, many day and section hikers passed by. The most memorable was a dad with his very young son, who had to have only been about 7 years old (carrying a good-sized pack.) I commented to his dad on what a cutie his son was and he informed us that their total hike would be about 35 miles. Amazing! I would love to see more parents with their young kids outdoors more often! I had a good feeling that the little guy would make it, with many more to come. We arrived at the store/post office in Tuolumne and picked up our package. Thanks Bob and Ann! We were in hiker heaven with all of our delicious treats-and even ranch dressing packets...yum! With intentions on hiking 4 miles to another spot, we stayed at Tuolumne for the remainder of the day. WE ate burgers and ice cream and caught up with some of our buddies we'd seen along the way. We saw sky, Marianne and Pony, as they had been hanging out here for a couple of day, doing some hiking to Half Dome and river floating. WE then hung out with Choc Bandito, Your Mom, Fester and a few new faces - Double Check, Mover and others. A random older man by the name of Vince striked up conversation and told us many stories. He had been everywhere! He was into Old Time music and even sang us a tune. He was just so enthusiastic and interested in telling his stories and hearing others. AS soon as we knew it, we had sat at a picnic table under some shade trees, talking and munching, for five hours! It was 6pm and we decided to stick around and camp at the campground with some familiar faces. It was worth losing our 4 planned extra miles. -KB

Agnew Meadows - Lyle Creek 7/9/10 16 miles

Got up kind of late. Fought mosquitoes for breakfast and got started about 8:45. had a pretty good climb in the morning, but the view front he top was great. I felt pretty good walking, but my stomach was a little sore from the night before. The next section was really pretty grassy and flat along the side of the ridge. We took a break at Thousand Island Lake, which Kristi said was one of her favorites. IT had a beautiful back drop of some huge peaks. Island pass was a piece of cake. We met an older man doing the JMT who was having a great time and was really excited to see us. HE talk us his real name, but said that from now on, he was going to be "Oh Nature." He continued on down the mountain pass. Davis Lakes Trail and we took lunch on a long about 2pm. WE still had a ways to go. We passed many people today, which was nice for a change. This a popular section of the trail between Yosemite and Mammoth. We asked about Donahue pass and they all agreed that it was pretty snowy and half of them said they couldn't believe we were going across so late. WE got to the top around 6pm. It was one of the easiest climbs/passes we had had. They have no clue what they have in store for them to the south. WE came down off the pass and skipped some switchbacks covered in snow and went straight down. We had a couple of creek crossings that got our feet nice and cold. We're camped on a nice grassy spot that looked like a golf course when we walked with the sun setting on it. Had a good dinner of couscous and stove top stuffing. Chocolate Bandito walked up. We hadn't seen her for almost 200 miles. Cold night, but we have a beautiful river walk ahead of us tomorrow. PS-Kristi's pack is working like a dream and she couldn't be happier. -CM

Motel 6 - Agnuew Meadows 7/8/10 0 miles

Chris didn't exactly get a good night's rest last night. He was up and down all night with an upset stomach, throwing up and obviously had a fever. This was a rare occurrence since he had not been sick in the two years we had been together. We had planned on leaving the room around 8am, but he needed as much rest as possible and definitely didn't need to go back into the woods if he continued to feel bad. He slept in and then ate some breakfast. HE had st oped throwing up and didn't seem to have a fever anymore. We checked out at 12pm and headed to the post office to mail home a parie of my pants and sent out some post cards. Chris called Osprey to explain the problems with my pack and we headed to lunch, while waiting on their return call. Chris ate good and said that he was feeling better, although I as hesitant to believe him when he passed up sweets from Schat's Bakery. We then headed to the outdoor store, our final stop. The folks at Osprey called back and had us take some photos of my pack and email them. Afterwards, Chir spent a long while on the phone with them. Thanks to him, Osprey decided to have the store ship the pack to them so they could examine it (it the store agreed0 and give the store credit and allow me to take a new pack. The store agreed!! I was able to get a new Exos 58! This pack was smaller and lighter than my Xenon (it weighs 2lbs 8 oz) and I could fit all of my stuff in it perfectly! It is much more simple, with less straps on the outside and rides to much better and is so comfortable. I absolutely LOVE it and so do my back and shoulders! Chris's hard work paid off and we were very happy not to have to spent $229 for another pack. One more issue to take care of before we left town, my jeep, the only loose end left hanging. I made a phone call to the man interested and gave him the bottom dollar. He was very nice, but didn't seem to have an interest to budge on his offer. Disappointed, we went ahead and caught the trolley to our next bus stop. Ten minutes later, I received a phone call from Kim (the middle woman trying to help me sell my jeep) with good news! The guy had caller her and had decided to buy it! I screamed out with joy at the bus stop, receiving some odd looks, but kept on. I'm not a fan of leaving things undone, especially while losing money. Thanks so much Kim for all your help!! This day had turned out to be a good one and things had worked out in our favor AND the day wasn't over. We caught the bus to head up to the trailhead and began talking with the driver. We had planned on hiking 8 miles to the campsite. The driver informed us that he could actually drop us off there, because it was along the ride! Both of our eyes lit up, but with some shame. We are out here to hike, and that will be taking 8 miles off of the adventure. We discussed what we would miss out on. It is a beautiful section and we would actually miss out on the Devil's Postpile. Whatever! Chris mentioned that we had seen plenty of beautiful things. I agreed :) We cracked up and took the offer. WE got to our campsite around 5pm and the guilt vanished. Chris needed some more rest and I didn't feel a bit convicted for another relaxing day. We set up camp and had a great nap. Had some of Debbie's yummy treats for dinner and bedtime again. Back to the grind tomorrow and excited to get back out there. Hopefully Chris will be 100% tomorrow after antoher semi-restful day. If not, we'll take it slow. -KB

Motel 6 - Motel 6 7/7/10 0 miles

We got up relatively early, having lots to do before we could leave town. We left our packs in the Motel office, thinking we would be back in a couple of hours to hit the trail. WE stopped by the outfitters and got Kristi some new shorts and continued to Rite aid to burn our photos to Cd's so we could add them online. This took a while, so I had an ice cream and Kristi caught up on her real world drama magazines. IT was already lunchtime and we hadn't even made it to the library. WE hard there was a Thai restaurant and could not pass it up. It took us a while to find it, but it was wroth it. We then stopped by Carl Jr's for dessert- cheesecake, milkshake and fries, just to make sure we were full. WE finally got to the library at about 2pm (when we thought we would be leaving town) and got to work. I loaded pictures and did research while Kristi typed her fingers away for the blog. IT was awesome seeing all of our pictures on a big screen, wow. The places we've been. We finally got done around 6pm. Way too much computer time after being in the woods. WE headed back to the Motel 6 in defeat, knowing that it was too late to hit the trail. Took it easy for a while and then we headed back out to the outfitters with Kristi's pack to see if they could help us readjust it. We loaded it up and asked the outfitter to try it on. He agreed that it didn't feel right, bt said that there wasn't much that he could do since nothing was broken. I took it apart and tryed to readjust the frame stay, but it didn't help. We awere disappointed and loaded up a couple of other packs to see if they felt better. Like night and day. This disgusted me even more, since we had gotten the nicest pack initially, thinking it would be the best. We decided we would call Osprey (pack manufacturer) tomorrow and see if they could help us. WE went to Nick and Willy's again for dinner and got a salad, pizza and some bread. Got full and headed back to the room by way of the store for a night cap. Both so tired we could barely finish our drinks before falling asleep. Town isn't as relaxing as it seems. -CM

Duck Lake Trail - Mammoth Lakes 7/6/10 11.6 miles

The three of us sped through the morning walk, dreaming of hot showers, clean laundry, motel beds and town food. The walk was fairly easy with an uphill beginning and level to downhill for the remainder. WE walked from 7am to 11:30am and made it into Red's Meadow just in time to hop on the bus. Chris and I dozed off on the bus ride into town, realizing the extent of our exhaustion. The bus dropped us off at the ski resort on the upper end of town. What a cool place! There was a bike rental facility that allowed folkes to ride the bus up the mountain and ride down onthe many trails. They also had a gandala and a climbing tower. We then caught the free bus closer into town and got off, running into Badger and Sweet Jesus, some guys we had ran into going into Independence as we walked off of Kearsarge. WE hung out with them for a few and then parted with Abby Normal. Checked into our room at the Motel 6 (with a hiker's discount :), paid a long overdue visit to McDonalds and ran a few errands in town. At Rite Aid we bumped into our London Friend Alex (super navigator Forrester Pass guy) and traded pass stories. WE brought some supplies and headed back to do some laundry. Oh yeah, we also saw our Belgian and Oregan friends Chris and Mary and also saw Whitebeard and The Third Monty (the badass 70 and 63 year old couple that are my heros.) Finished up laundry and showers, feeling so fresh and clean, then headed out to Mick and Willy's for dinner-huge salad with ranch and a Thai sub. Made phone calls to family and friends adn got some good rest. -KB

VVR - Duck Lake Trail 7/5/10 19.2 miles

Big day. Had a great night last night and a good breakfast this morning, biscuits and gravy, huge breakfast burrito, pancakes and hashbrowns. It almost made me crippled and unable to walk, but it was worth it. Got our ferry ride back across the lake and took a break before we started walking to try and let our food settle. Got to waking with our heavy resupplied packs and had a pretty huge climb to Silver Pass. Got to the top and had actually passed everyone else. Got down to the next lake and had lunch at about 3pm and watched everyone else come down off the mountain. WE had decided we were going to walk as long as we could to try to get to Mammoth the next day. Continued walking til we got to Lake VA and watched the sunset. Only 9 more miles to go! Ha! Abby Normal walked up and walked with us in the dark, talking about his and our lives both real, and nonthe trail. We hit some snow at about 9:45pm. It's less fun at night. We took our time and make it to a creek crossing at 10:30pm. Abby was tired and we decided we had done enough as well. We set up camp and planned to hit the trail early in the morning. VVR was awesome, but wer are really looking forward to a real town. -CM

Bear Creek - Vermillion Valley Ranch 7/4/10 11 miles

Sleeping in until 8:30am was a treat this morning. It was a good day. We walked into VVR to stay the night and pick up our package from Debbie and Laura. The hike wasn't bad. WE arrived to catch the Ferry around 3:30pm. The ride was accompanied by several others. As soon as we pulled into VVR, there sat a familiar face preparing to catch the Ferry back to the trail, our buddy Pacer. He caught us up on his trail adventures. We'll hopefully catch up with him soon. WE then picked up our HUGE package. Debbie and Laura surprised us with a ton of goodies! We stuffed all of the tuna packets, lepton meals, wraps, chocolate, cereal bars, energy bars, dried fruit, DELICIOUS trail mix, apple pies and more into our bear canisters and had to create an extra "snack bag" for more. Thank so much, you two! We had arrived at VVR onthe right day. Fourth of July barbecue!!! We ate chicken, ribs, tri-tips, sweet potatoes, pasta salad, rolls and pie! YUM! We got to hang out on the outside patio and chat with some other hikers and compare our climbs of passes. Apparently we were not the only one to get a little mixed up on Pinchot and were not alone into our awaiting of the snow to end! on full bellies, we sat around the campfire with our Aussie friends Nick and Nosh, and met some new folks such as Abby Normal, some JMT hikers form New York and NC and were entertained by the hilarious staff. WE laughed alot tonight and were surrounded by great company. A good refresher for several days in the woods. -KB

S. Fork San Joguin - Bear Creek 7/3/10 18.2 miles

Great day. We got up and ate our little bit of breatkfast and got on the trail aroug 7:15am. We took a break and met The Stumbling Norwegian. He videoed us and gave us some good advice. We said we were short on food and he reassured us that some section hikers had just dropped some food there. So happy to hear this we almost ran to the Ranch four miles away. We pulled into the ranch, a beautiful but modest outpost. They do alot of hiker resuppplies. We met an old lady named Pat that showed us the Hiker Box selection and she was so happy to see us, GOLDMINE. We got enough food for today, tommarrow and some more to make up for the last few days of rationing. HAHA. We ate our free lunch right there, Spaghetti Moutain House. SO SO good after sharing Ramen noodles for the last 2 days. There was so much we got some extras for the next leg out of VVR, Cliff Bars, and 2 big bags of trail mix(we already finished one today though). Refreshed we had a pretty brutal climb out of the valley to Selden Pass. We took a break at some beautiful lakes and ate and ate then headed up the pass. The easiest one yet it was still slow going because of the snow. Cold toes and full bellies we continued on to try to make a short day tommarrow into Vermillion Valley Resort. We are so excited after 7 days in the woods. We got to Bear Creek Crossing, one of the bigger ones, and did it! It had a rope across it to hold onto but we both managed to wobble and about loose it. haha. We both laughed. We set up camp and got out of our wet clothes. Had another Mountain House Meal, Stroganoff, not as good as Moms but pretty good for out here. Going to bed feels good to be thawing out after the creek crossing and snow. Vermillion Valley Resort for the 4th of July, Can't Wait. Nine miles tommarrow and a nap while we wait for the ferry to pick us up. Real Food Soon!!!! - CM

Lower Helen Lake - S. Fork San Joquin 7/2/10 15 miles

Much better day today. We headed out early in order to make use of our crampons on the frozen snow and to avoid any postholing in slush. The entire hike up to Muir was covered in snow. No trail, Just footprints. Fortunately, intelligent foot prints. There were several false summits, gut we were prepared for them. We followed the footprints to the top. Not a bad climb at all. It took us about two and a half hours to get there, but compared to the other passes, this one was fairly simple. We reached the top and hung out at the Muir Hut, one of the only shelters on the entire trail. A stone hut with benches on the inside, fire place and wooded door. It was built in 1930 in memory of John Muir. After relaxing, snacking and discussing relief of an easy climb, we made our way to the bottom. Completely snow covered for 5 miles. This was a four hour adventure of carefully watching each step. As you could imagine, we were pretty happy to get to actual trail and remove our crampons. We found a nice spot under a shade tree, by an alpine lake and hung out to eat lunch. We were spectators while a couple of fearless marmots came close in hopes to get a snack. One attempted to munch on the handle of my trekking pole and we had to shew it away. We continued our walk, mostly flat and downhill. We discussed random topics, future plans, our families and kept informing one another of the songs that popped into our heads (which happens frequently.) We arrived at Evolution Creek and the water was currenly chest deep. Not feeling that extreme, so we found an alternate crossing on up the trail, which was only knww deep. After giong through a ton of bug spray and swatting mosquitoes, we arrived at camp. WE will go to Muir Trail Ranch tomorrow in hopes of collecting enough food to get us through an extra unplanned day theat we've been out here. Feels good to have had a good day with more smiles. KB

Grouse Meadow - Lower Helen Lake 7/1/10 7 miles

Two weeks in the woods. They have been long and hard. We thought we'd be in te hiking groove by now, but we are still learning all the passes and the Sierras are our principal. You must do what they say. We started this morning about 7am and had a good 4 miles before break. Break was long and we discussed many stressful topics about the trail, our plans and expectations and how they have panned out. We continued on and took another break at 11:15am. This one lasted for three hours. More stress, figuring out whether we were happy out here and alternate plans if not. The pass was three miles away, but we couldn't bring ourselves to do it. Low on food, energy and motivation, we took naps. Finally got up at 3pm and make it to the campsite before the pass. Turns out, the actual campsite was where we took our break. Ended up in a small patch of dry land "free of snow", and had to move many rock to make space for our tent. Frozen Lake beside us and snow all around. Kristi had to talk me into not backtracking and staying here. We had seriously debated going 4 miles back to the ranger tent and seeing if he could a) get us more food, b) give advice, or c) get us off the trail. Muir Pass, while not the tallest, does have the most miles of snow and we are sick of it. Yogi said if you don't go across it by 2pm, you will be postholing for hours. We're a day and a half behind schedule this week due to the snowy passes. Took another nap. Some friends we met on the top of Kearsarge came in at 5pm and made the push on to Muir. We discussed the trail and our growing tiredness of the snow. They gave us a couple of candy bars to help us out. They're shooting for Mammoth on Sunday and we are on Tuesday, because of our slowed pace. On a lighter note, I built a couple of rock walls on the snowy plateau. One around our tent and made another smaller site too. After dinner and had light conversation. Must get some rest for our long day tomorrow. Wish us luck. CM

S. Fork Kings River - Grouse Meadow 6/30/10 16 miles

The river was flowing hard last night, which made for a very good night's sleep. We were unable to cross the river to get to the trail this morning, we we followed along until the trail reconnected. We moved good and had a breather and a snack before we got deep into the snow prior to Mather Pass. We were able to locate the trail on the way to the pass, for the most part. We finally arrived at the bottom and of course, the pass was snow covered. We observed as two people slowly mad their way up in the footholes of snow left from others. The only way was to go straight up, similar to Forrester. I began to get very nervous as I watched. We put on our crampons and got out our ice axes. The first steps to the bottom of the mountains we postholed. This didn't benefit my building anxiety. We began our climb. Very slowly, I carefully followed behind Chris, trying not to slip. The snow was beginning to become slushy as the sun shined brighter. Nervousness exceeding. WE made it about a third of the way up and rested on a ledge to the side. My crampons were coming off and Chris adjusted them. I complained about the fears of the climb and pessimistically whined of the worse case scenarios. Got my breath and began again. I slipped a few times, got scared and shuffled my feet to a sturdy spot. We rested on another ledge, close to the top. Chris and I got into a disagreement. I broke down with my fears and cried. I said it. No shame. I was scared and had to vent. I was so nervous about the climb so far and was insecure in my abilities to reach the top. Chris and I rested, talked and I calmed down. We found parts of the trail out of the snow and scrambled among the rubble to the snow covered top. Shew! Relief!! I as so glad to have made it. I though Forrester was the most challenging, but for me, this pass was. Next, we made if off the back side and walked in miles of snow to reach the bottom of the valley. I began to transform into a starving, grumpy ol bear, so lunch was a must. We ate and continued on. We came across the Palisade Lakes, which were absolutely amazing and perfect. The gorgeous, clear water surrounded tall cliffs and waterfalls. A nice reward for a stressful morning. Next, we walked on switchbacks for what seemed liked forever on the "Golden Staircase." At our next break, we came across a cool fella by the name of Balls. We compared Mather and Pinchot stories and walked together for the remainder of the evening. Walked along the river and spotted several deep and even a six-pointer. Found an awesome camp spot next to a lake and own own little rock canopy above our tent. Had a nice fire and a tasty dinner. KB

Woods Creek - S. Fork Kings River 6/29/10 11.6 miles

Maybe not today, haha! Got out about 7 and had 3500 feet and 7/7 miles to the pass. We can do that by lunch, right/ Not really. I got us lost. I hate the snow. Got within vies of what I though was Pinchot pass at 11am. Lost the trail using the map. Kristi said it looked too easy and I said I was sure four times. We scrambled and climbed way to many rocks and got t the "pass." It looked right on the map, but there was no trail. I got scared. Kristi said to go back to where we lost the trail. I felt like an idiot. She knew we were going the wrong way the whole time, but I refused to listen. Navigator Kristi to the rescue. We backtracked and ate lunch, trying to figure things out. It was 1:30pm and we had done 5 miles, thanks to me. We started towards the right pass, slow going in the snow. No trail. Some footprints. We followed them and got to the approach. We felt better knowing we were going the right way. Sketchy trail, snow and loose rocks. WE made it to the top, relieved. It was 3:45pm and we were 7.7 miles from campt this morning. Nothing like adding 5 useless miles to the day. Oh yeah, I forgot about the five creek crossings onthe way up. Started down the back side, followed prints and lots of them this time. Got down to a lake where we had planned to camp last night. More snot, lots of water and losing the trail. We gave up on our hopes of 20 miles. Came across a note at a sighn that directed us to not cross the river due to being too high. I looked at it. No way. It looked more like a Calss IV rapid. The note warned us about a waist deep creek ahead as well. Luckily, there was a tree across it, off the trail a bit. made it to our unplanned camp at 7pm. Dead tired. Got set up and warm. Had Mel's couscous for dinner and it was perfect after a long day. Bedtime finally. Twelve-twenty two miles tomorrow, haha. We'll see how the morning goes. CM

Kearsarge Trail - Woods Creek 6/29/10 11 miles

We started out the day with a 19 miler in mind. We didn't realize the length of time it would take us to cross and come down the back side of Glenn pass. If I've realized anything about this trail, it's to never underestimate the Sierras. We partly assumed that there would be little snow. We were wrong. Snot covered most of the trail on the front side and we were forced to scramble up rocks and gravels along the mountain. The back side was completely covered. No postholing (thank God!), but we did have to take our time. The climb down was steep and slick. We finally make it down and had to attempt to find the trail. The downhill resistance caused me some irritating knee pain, therefore I was taking it slower than usual. At the bottom of the mountain, we walked around several crystal clear, sparking lakes, feeling with clean, mountain snow melt. I was tempted to put on my bikini and chill next to one for the rest of the day, but still work to be cone. WE continued walking down, crossing several creeks and making our way as fast as possible with hopes to tackle another pass today. Soon enourgh, 5 o'clock rolled around. We dicided to cut the day short and start early inthe morning and hopefully complete two passes tomorrow instead. I became somewhat bummed due to holding us up today. I felt like I was going as fast as possible, but it just wasn't fast enough to follow our planned schedule. Maybe tomorrow. KB

Independence - Kearsarge Trail 6/27/10 9 miles

Got up and had a good breakfast at the Courthouse Hotel. I think I could live there, haha! Simply a simple clean place. Got packed up and made our final phone calls. Hitching was terrible. We sat in town for two hours, and nothing. Gave up and went and got some ice cream and a local offered to give us a ride up to the trail head for gas money. Bryan/Marmot had hiked from Campo to Kennedy Meadows and stuck around the area when he finished. He had a cool truck. Stopped by to say goodbye to Peanut Eater. Got our rediculously heavy resupplies packs on and started up the mountain. I could feel that we had taken a day off. Took a breart and ate our leftover Pizza and did some testing before we lost signal. Hiked on to the top of Kearsarge pass, not as bad as we thought, but a long process, 52 switchbakcs. Met some hikers at teh top and informed them of Peanut Eater. They were excited and needed the motivation because they had done the 23 mile day that we had hoped to do over Forrester and Kearsarge. Tristan and two guys from Corvalis, OR. We talked for a while and then went our separate ways. Took it easy down the backside of the pass and set up camp just short of the trail intersection. Ate our 90 second rice and it was delicious! Talked and researched our future town stops. Twenty miles tomorrow to catch up for our late start today. hope we can pull it off. CM

Independence 6/26/10 O miles

Took it easy all day, ate some continental breakfast and ate more Subway. Blogged and spent $18 for computer time! CRAZY! Ate dinner at Hooligans and had pizza and fries with lots of Ranch dressing! MMMMM! Talked to all of our friends with updates. Good zero! CM

vidette Meadows - Onion Valley 6/25/10 11 miles

Today was a big day. We were so excited to get to come into town! We jumped out of our warm sleeping bags and hit the trail this morning. The hike up to Kearsarge Pass was a tough one. The trail was so scenic. We got some awesome pics of the lakes on the way up. They didn't even look real! The Kearsarge Trail was still covered with a lot of snow and was really rocky. When we finally made it to the backside of the mountain we caught up with our friends Pacer and Square Peg. We carefully stepped in the slushy snow, trying our best to get to the bottom. Finally, we made it down. Trail Magic appears! A cooler full of beer, bacardi and snacks! A cold beer never tasted so good. There we sat, drank, ate and waited on our trail angel, Peanut Eater, to take us into town. It was a nice 13 mile ride down the ever winding road into town. We parted from Square Peg in Independence, as she went back to Hawaii to spend time with her husband. We will miss you! We appreciated Peanut Eater's generosity and hospitality in dedicating his vacation time to taking care of hikers. From his experience in hiking the PCT last year, he is well aware of the difficulty in getting rides into town. First stop in town, Subway! We had been building subs in our heads for miles and miles along the trail. We ate, checkec into our room, showered, did laundry and rested. We picked up our AWESOME mail drop box from Melanie and received many yummy goodies! Thank you so much! Tonight, we went to dinner with Pacer, Sky, Marianne, Your Mom, Pony and Hui. We ate some good greay food and drank 50 cent beers! Fun times. We made calls to families and realized even more how much we miss them. Sleeping good tonight in a REAL bed and happy about a zero day tomorrow! KB