Grouse meadow. In the morning.
And it's beautiful...
"I think the trail's right up
through here," says Scott.
She'll be coming round the
mountain when she comes...
(What a lame caption!)
Our model poses in the world's
most attractive hat.
A view down to Wanda Lake
as rain clouds form.
Today it was to be Muir Pass.
We had been watching the weather carefully because for the last two days, thunderheads had been building in the afternoon but would continue blowing east in the evening. There is a theory in the Sierras that on the third day of such weather, the clouds stick around and you get a rainstorm. As luck would have it, here we were on day 3, preparing for a climb that was by all accounts time consuming and irritating.
We got an early start and made excellent time. On the ascent, we ran into a troop of boy scouts and their leaders. They had come over Bishop Pass from the east. It appeared to be their first backpack trip and were loaded down with gear. It always seems to follow with groups on the trail that there are always 2 who are gung ho and way ahead, 4 in the middle who are struggling, but hanging in there, and 2 in the back for whom this will be their first and last backpacking adventure. This group followed the pattern exactly and we hadn't even reached the snow yet.
I also could not help but wonder how the scout leader had managed to pick the snowiest and soggiest pass to climb. He had been aware of the snow situation while planning the trip, but didn't think it would be too bad and was also sure there was no snow on the west side of the pass. He must not have been engaging the folks coming the other way down the trail. There had been several that morning who not only talked about the snow on both sides of the pass, but added additional comments like: "I'm soaked and freezing" and "hope you enjoy rock climbing."
As we continued up, we did indeed hike through lots of snow. It was warm enough that the snow wasn't icy, but this meant postholing through the snow every third step into sharp rocks and wet, cold feet. When you were able to find the trail, there was a river of freezing snowmelt running down it. It was also apparent from the footprints, that most everyone had taken a different path to the top (which I guess accounted for the rock climbing comment). We stayed mostly in the snow and felt lucky to be using hiking poles which helped us get to the top fairly quickly. The ascent was better than expected. This pass is not steep like the others. Still, I might have been inclined to kick my scout leader in the shins a few times if I was in that group.
When we reached the pass, clouds had built up and it looked like rain was not far off. We descended as quickly as we could and managed to get several miles down the trail and make camp before the rain started. There is a stone hut on the top of Muir Pass that I hope the scouts reached before the storm hit. It looked like a neat place to spend the night not to mention dry and warm. At least they will have an adventure to talk about.
After all, as I have found, fun is completely overrated.