Our 2007 John Muir Trail Attempt (Day 8)
Day 6 and 7 examined our trek from Garnet Lake to Reds Meadow and our stay over there.
Day 8: Reds Meadow Resort to Duck Lake Junction [Pictures]
Distance: 13 Miles
Elevation Changes: 7,580 - 10,480
After a calorie-laden day with no backpacking at all, we were well rested and ready for the next leg of our journey. Rather than start out bright and early, we decided to first enjoy one last civilized meal at the restaurant and slurped up some greasy eggs, bacon, hash browns, and orange juice. Yum!
At 7,580 feet, Reds Meadow is one of the lowest points on the entire JMT. Not surprisingly, the trip out of Reds is a pretty constant uphill. Due to its low elevation, the terrain around Reds Meadow - and most of today's hike - was through tall trees that hid any sort of mountain scenery, making today one of the least scenic ones of the entire voyage. In addition to the lack of scenery, there are few water sources along this portion of the trail. From Reds Meadow it's about 5.5 miles to the first water source. And after that, it's another 6 miles to the next water source, making this one of the driest stretches of the entire JMT.
About a half mile out of Reds there is a stretch of forest that was set ablaze by lightning back in 1992. The forest is still in the process of regrowing, providing some views of the mountains in the distance.
This morning's hike was a bit hindered by some sort of cross country training. There were probably a couple hundred high school students running on this trail toward Reds Meadow. I assume they started at Reds Meadow bright and early, had ran to some way point, and then doubled back, seeing as the nearest road is about 30 miles further along on the JMT, and then another 5 miles off a side trail, and that road is a one-way gravel road at that! In any event, the runners were a little annoying because the trail was not wide enough for two people coming both ways at the same time. Invariably, one of us had to stop, and we usually pulled aside for the runners. But that wasn't too bad; the real annoyance was the dust that these runners kicked up. In short, we were inhaling dust the first mile and change of our hike this day.
We made good progress in the morning, but began slowing down in the afternoon as we tired from the hot and continuous uphill trail. Eventually we broke through the forest cover and were rewarded with some classic Sierra Nevada mountain and valley views. From the picture below you can see our route for the next two days. It's hard to describe without being able to point at the picture, but the JMT winds along the ridges on the left until close to the horizon and then drops down into a deep valley known as Tulley hole. It then traverses a river for a mile and change, and then comes back up the mountains in the distance and over Silver Pass (elevation 10,895).
Around 4:00 PM we reach the Duck Lake Junction, one of the places we had considered setting up camp. Our ideal destination was Purple Lake, another two miles beyond the junction, but one that entailed a steep climb and then a sharp descent. By this point we were pretty pooped and since this junction was the last water source until Purple Lake, we decided to pitch camp here and call it a night.
Today's hike was long and tiring, and whatever energy reserves we had accumulated from our rest day at Reds Meadow were now spent. After pitching our tents, we eat, do some laundry, and are fast asleep by 8:00. Tomorrow's hike took us past two scenic lakes (Purple Lake and Lake Virginia), down into the impressive Tulley Hole, and up to Squaw Lake at the base of Silver Pass. I'll cover this leg of the journey in a future post. Until then...
UPDATE [2007-11-07]: Read about Day 9.