7p: It's been a couple of days since I've really taken the time to write. My excuse is that I'm tired. Which I really am and I've really gotten into the book I brought along. Mugs and I have been doing really well with getting up at 6a and on the trail by 7:30. We usually hike until 6p, so about 10 hours of hiking if you figure in the breaks we take during the day. Lately I haven't been sleeping through the night. I'm tired, but I still wake up two to three times. I just lay there and look at the stars. There are so many out here. It's surprising how much more you can see when there is no civilization. The only bad thing was that last night I could here airplanes all night long. We must have been in a flight path and being at an elevation over 10,000 ft probably makes a difference too.
Last night we slept on granite slabs about a mile below donohue pass. A wonderful experience and not many bugs. Always a plus in my book. Tonight is a different story. We are sleeping in a cess pool. The mosquitoes are so thick you can see them. We barely had time to eat and get settled before we were in the tent just to get away from them. Other then the mosquitoes we have some cool views of Banner Peak.
As for me, well I made it through day 5. Still liking the hike. Not what I thought it would be...I guess I really didn't know what to expect. My only complaint are the fact I'm covered in mosquito bites (deet is great but wears off, and the bear stole our other bottle so we are trying to make this one last), the blister on my right heal is getting larger, and I will lose the two toe nails on my right foot and possibly one on my left. But I'm a quarter of the way done! YAY I made it this far.
Tomorrow we are going to try and push for a 13 mile day. It's mostly down hill and if we can make it to Reds Meadow we'll be a day ahead, which means we can spend an extra day at Lake Edison, Vermilion Valley Resort, if we want. A day off is looking really good right now. It will also be nice to get out of my boots for a while and let my feet rest. I'm looking forward to eating real food also. Yes I know rice is real food but it gets old. Mugs and I also figured out that we are only consuming about 1000 calories during the day and spending about 3000. So we really need to get some more food or should I say higher calorie food. We have noticed that we are slowing down a bit and it's probably because we aren't eating enough. Now if I only had this problem when I'm at home I wouldn't have to worry about getting out to exercise.
Pictures:
1. Donohue Pass (11,060 ft) looking towards the northwest
2. Me in the snow on the south side of donohue pass
3. Mugs taking in the views of Banner Peak and Mt. Ritter
4. looking back at Donohue Pass
5. Banner Peak and Thousand Island Lake
mileage: 8.9 miles/ 45.3 miles
elevation: 10205 ft to 9680 ft + 855 ft/ -1420 ft
2 comments:
This is great, Rosa! Love the details and the pics! Thanks for sharing.
Say also, can you explain your elevation tracking? Sometimes it says (-) before a number...are you going up and down? I figure you can't mean that far below sea level...thanks!
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