Day 66: dramatic views :)

Saturday 6/23/12
Miles 810-826 (16 miles)
Elevation 8,589'

Of all the days hiking thus far, today has produced the most dramatic views. Wow. Just wow <3 The descent from Mather Pass was incredible. It was almost like in levels: first you come down the steep part of the mountain, then you go around this huge lake (I took a pic of that), then you drop straight down again along a series of switchbacks and you're next to a raging amazing looking river which is what the lake empties out into (I took a pic of this), and there are tons of waterfalls! Then, you drop into this incredible valley where you are flanked on both sides by sheer walls of rock that rise a couple thousand feet above you. And in front of us was another huge mountain. It was absolutely amazing. I felt like I was in a gigantic fortress. :)

By the way, is there a fire somewhere nearby? The last few days it's been really hazy in the afternoons, and I've been smelling smoke. I hope we're not walking into a raging forest fire. O.o. But there are tons of JMT hikers going southbound that we pass everyday and they don't have anything negative to report so I think we're ok. :)

I made a video of Mather pass. Thats the pass we went over today. I think it is the last of the 12,000'+ passes. All the upcoming ones are not that high in elevation. Hopefully I can upload it at the same time I upload this.

I also made a video of our campsite. It was such a cool spot. I got a pic of it. A sweet little site by a river, and no bugs! That was amazing! We camped at under 9,000' which is bug heaven. Somehow we camped at a spot were there were tons of pine needles and pinecones and not a lot of grass, hence no bugs yay!!

We're amongst a pretty awesome clump of people right now. Gecko and Faceplant are just ahead of us. And Panama Red, Maddog, Mismatch, Spatula, Pitstop are just behind us. We all seem to be going a similar pace because we've been in that order for the last 3 days. Lol. Whoo hoo! The new casual club. I have a pic of panama red by a bush with socks on it. When I walked by that huge lake I took a pic of, the 5 of them were at the end of the lake doing laundry. They had all their socks on the bushes to dry, and I said, "hey it looks like a Hiker Trash Xmas tree!" lol. So I took a pic. Two of those guys had fishing piles with them. I wonder if they caught anything.

Tomorrow we go up Muir Pass. It is rumored to be a longass pass where you think you're at the top but you're not. Lol. I guess we'll find out huh? It's a 10 mile ascent just to get to the top. Yowza!

Campfire time!! Goodnight :)