The morning started out damp and still overcast. We knew the weather had improved because the mosquitos were starting to work their way in under the edges of our tent. We packed up and hiked for most of the morning in our (dry) sleep clothes since we planned to reach town this evening. We had two climbs to overcome early in the day, then flat or downhill trail the rest of the way into Reds Meadow.

We were up and on our way quickly. After a short descent to Fish Creek and a bridge crossing, we attacked the side of a ridge on a long switchbacking climb up to Lake Virginia. The skies started to clear and we saw patches of blue for the first time in nearly two days. By the time we reached Purple Lake and the beginning of our next climb, it was warm enough to change into our damp clothes. We rushed up the next climb and then started our long, gradual drop. We could see the ridge across the valley floating in and out of view behind the fog. Eventually we stopped for a cold lunch, scrounging some remaining food out of our bear cans, and rushed on our way.

We were in a hurry to reach Reds Meadow, a campground and resort in the mountains, in time to catch the bus that was the first step in getting down to town. We had another 10 miles to go at lunch and a little over four hours to do them. We could make it but it didn’t leave a lot of time for dawdling. We set off through the sparse pine forest on good trail, making good time for a few miles until I managed to trip over nothing and roll my ankle in a tough fall. It wouldn’t bother me much until a botched stream crossing on slippery rocks a few miles later, but after that it did really start to slow me down. By that point we were close enough to the trailhead to be confident in making the bus. As we neared the meadow we started to see more and more downed trees. Lots of the debris had obviously been cleared off the trail itself and was piled off to the side. This area experienced a record-breaking wind storm in the spring of 2012 and the forests were devastated. Last year’s crop of thruhikers had a lot of trouble getting through this section since it was necessary to climb over all the blowdowns and dead lumber piled over the trail. We felt very thankful for all the volunteers that had cleaned up this stretch – we certainly wouldn’t have made the shuttle in time if not for their efforts.

As we came nearer to the spur trail to the meadow the damage got worse. Whole hillsides were cleared of trees, populated only with five-foot-tall trunks of snapped wood. It was as though they had been scraped off by a massive hand. The trees seemed to start again right where the spur trail peeled off the PCT, and in a few minutes we were back under towering pines at the Reds Meadow store. I sat down to rest my increasingly painful ankle and Keith went to go get us some drinks and snacks. While I waited I wrote up a note about my glasses to post back on the sign for the turnoff. I had some hope that the group carrying them might catch up while we were in town, but there are so many exit points from the trail in this area that it would be easy to miss each other.

Suddenly it was time to catch the last bus of the day down from the resort. This bus is an arm of the same transportation system that shuttled us between Bishop and Independence a week ago and it is amazing. It runs among a number of popular national forest facilities in the mountains before bringing passengers down to the Mammoth Mountain ski area. From there we were supposed to be able to catch a bike shuttle to the town of Mammoth Lakes. The bike shuttle wasn’t running by now but we didn’t need to worry – since the driver from Reds Meadow was heading back to the garage anyway, she dropped us right in town after gliding the huge vehicle effortlessly over the curvy mountain roads. Along the way she gave us a bunch of good info on different restaurants and hotels around town and even offered to let us stay at her house. Not bad for a couple of stinky, scruffy hikers! We politely declined, since we were planning to take a few days off here, but it was incredibly nice of her. She was a heck of a driver, too.

Before long we were holed up in a hotel room, pizza in hand and a bag of ice on my ankle. I’m sure it’ll feel better with a day or two of rest. Tomorrow we’ll resupply for a short hike to Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite NP. Once we get there we’ll have some choices to make about what we want to do. We’ll have the chance to hike down into the Yosemite Valley itself and finish the John Muir Trail if we want, but we need to understand the logistics of getting around a little better before we can decide.

– Posted from the PCT

Location:Pct mile 907