So, we're back from our John Muir Trail hike with stories to tell and muscles to rest. Our eyes could not hold the scenery and the camera could definitely not capture it. We ended up staying on the trail for 7 days and went 110 miles, which is about 15 miles a day - a lot when you're carrying 40-50 pound packs in high elevations!
In a paradoxical sorta way, we're tired and yet refreshed. The wilderness changes you like that. Drinking out of fresh streams, cooking over a fire, going to the bathroom in a hole you just dug 10 seconds previously, only hearing sounds of nature, jumping into clear lakes, sleeping to the sound of a waterfall - ah, yes!!
Well, enjoy the pics and the quotes by John Muir himself, the man who fought to preserve our national parks (and for whom the trail is named after...obviously). (Click on the photos to enlarge, if you'd like.)
The polite farewell...
The angry, wild, barbaric farewell!!
"Don't leave me!"
Airplanes force you to sit and go nowhere (except to the lavatory). This is where I can think about life, almost outside of normal life. Clarity, and clouds.
On the first day, we meet my dad (Owen) and some gigantic sequoia trees.
I hope Old Dan and Little Ann d0n't chase a coon up this tree (a "Where the Red Fern Grows" reference. Ignore if you've never read it. Laugh if you have)
Our first day on the trail is the day known affectionately as "Death by hiking." We're smiling in this picture, but do not let it fool you. We went from 4,000 feet to over 9,000 feet in elevation. Our legs were not smiling.
At the top of Vernal Falls, where only a month earlier 3 people climbed over that railing and fell off. We decided to stay on this side.
A nice patch of chicken mushrooms. I ate these all summer in Vermont. Robert, if you somehow find our blog and have made it this far, this one's for you.
Doe, a deer, a female deer.
People talk about the mountaintop as the pinnacle of success, joy, etc. and the valley as dreary, lifeless and failure. I found the valleys to be quite beautiful and demand an explanation for this faulty logic!
Lynea did this a lot.
Lynea's dad and mom did a superb job preparing the food for our trip. They cooked the meals, dehydrated them and then vacuum sealed them. Delish.
Getting into the snow. This was right before we went over Donahue Pass - over 11,000 feet!
"Going to the mountains is going home." - John Muir
"This rock looks comfy."
Can you find Lynea and her dad? (Click to enlarge)
We had lunch here (the 3rd day) and coined the place "Eden", for obvious reasons if you're familiar with the biblical narrative. Luckily we did not have to face a talking snake or make a really big decision.
We just crossed into the Ansel Adams Wilderness, the place named after the photographer who made this very picture famous (we were not in his original photo).
"How glorious a greeting the sun gives the mountains! To behold this alone is worth the pains of any excursion a thousand times over. The hightest peaks burned like islands in the sea of liquid shade. Then the lower peaks and spires caught the glow, and long lances of light, streaming through many a notch and pass, fell thick on the frozen meadows." - John Muir
Met very interesting people on the trail. 2 guys we met were riding llamas on the trail.
One of the plethora of stream crossings.
"We are now in the mountains and they are in us, kindling enthusiasm, making every nerve quiver, filling every pore and cell of us." - John Muir
Resting at the top of Silver Pass with some friends we made along the way (day 5). Remember the Ansel Adams Wilderness photo? That's the mountain range in the back ground of this picture that we were on the other side of in that other picture. We walked far.
Lunch break.
Foot rubs all around.
"I'm tellin' ya, when I was younger I could swim across that river and climb over that mountain in 90 seconds flat."
The only shower I had.
