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