We didn’t have much morning sun down in our tucked-away campsite. We packed up, scaled the slope back up to the trail, and headed north. The trail seemed to go up and up on our way to Tryon Peak, where we crossed a saddle and started down. It wasn’t a terribly steep climb but it was one where we could see the trail high above us. Sometimes it’s tougher when you can see where you need to end up.
Our reward was crossing over into the Mokelumne Wilderness, where we descended past Noble Lake and skirted the edge of the canyon of the same name. It was choked with flowers of all sorts in between streams that trickled off the red craggy rocks. It was gorgeous. The sheer volume of wild flowers reminded me of be meadows on the Wonderland trail – lupine and scarlet paintbrush as far as the eye could see.
We rounded the head of the canyon and started up the other side on our way to Ebbetts Pass for lunch. Along the way we met a few folks headed southbound. One group shared the good news that there was trail magic at the highway pass. That got our feet moving quickly! We stopped to fill up on water before we reached the road and met a few gentlemen out looking at flowers. They were curious about the trail and the plants we had seen and it was fun to chat with them and answer their questions. It’s always gratifying when people are interested in what we’re doing and we love sharing our experiences with them.
After another easy mile we reached the highway and, sure enough, a trail angel was parked there handing out food. We sat in his chairs, sipping on bottled water so cold that it was partly slush (what a treat!) and chatting. He shared delicious mud pie bars, chunks of frozen fruit, and bags of cereal that were something besides granola. To a couple of hikers developing food fatigue at what’s left in our bear cans, this was heavenly. I foolishly didn’t get his name – blame the distraction of food, I guess – but if you’re reading this right now thank you again for the snacks and the conversation! It was a big morale boost and just what we needed to power through the rest of this long section.
After this wonderful break we headed up the trail a little to Sherrola Lake, where we finished our usual lunch chores of filtering water and doing laundry. As I was wetting down our clothes I noticed that what I had thought were tiny fish were actually tiny shrimp-like swimmers. It was neat to watch them scoot around. We hit the trail again soon after, prepared for what could be a tough afternoon.
In a nice contrast to yesterday, though, what I had though would be difficult terrain turned out to be pleasant. We had some steep ascents but they were mostly brief. The scenery was incredible. We had wonderful views back to the peaks at the pass, and we were hiking nearly in the shadow of a ridge of craggy red pinnacles that stood like towers. The boulders scattered around looked like a huge hand had squeezed a bunch of little rocks together until they fused. Unless I’m misremembering my 8th grade geology, this means that they were sedimentary. A new flower started showing up in big numbers. It was purple and fuzzy and I think it might have been a kind of hyssop, or something else from the mint family. The bees were having a field day with it.
On the horizon we saw a huge plume of smoke towering over a haze. It looked like a volcano erupting. A southbound hiker we passed this morning had made mention of a fire and we’re anxious to learn more about it. Another hiker we passed said it was called the Reno fire, so maybe it’s too far east to affect us.
I had an odd experience at one point this afternoon that underscores how far out of touch we are with normal civilization. As we turned a corner and headed down to a stream I thought I smelled something perfumed – like soap or laundry detergent or deodorant. I didn’t know where it was coming from until we reached the bottom of the hill and heard a bunch of people in a campsite off in the woods. I was actually smelling them from way off! That’s how badly we need showers.
We had nearly reached our goal for the day when we started passing trickles of water coming down off the cliff face. Remembering yesterday evening and how we were a little stranded when we were ready to stop, we decided to end a little early. Below one of the trickles was a nice flat sandy patch in among the wildflowers and we set up camp there. The bugs are almost completely absent, so we decided to cowboy camp again. It’s nice to be back under the stars again!
– Posted from the PCT
Location:Pct mile 1059