COMMITTED

DAY 9 - August 16, 2010: Over the hump again
Once again dawn broke clear and bright. Didn’t get up early, wanted to feel as rested as possible. I was ready to go on. Whatever had happened yesterday, it couldn’t have been that serious. My heart was beating at an easy rate, I was breathing fine, and I was definitely strong. Whatever weight the new supplies had added, it must be less than the amount I’d lost since the beginning of the trip! After all, I was taking in not much more than a thousand calories a day, and burning what must have been five thousand, I could feel the fat shrinking off. Hey, I needed that!
Fixed a big breakfast, big as I could anyhow—I was getting creative with these—of mashed potatoes and corn, with mushroom gravy mixed in. Actually one of the tastiest meals I had the whole trip, and I planned to repeat it as often as I could. I did theoretically have 12 days of food in the bear canister, but it was going to be tight.

Started up the grade, comfortably and slowly. Again, I’d been over this terrain before, so I knew what was coming. I was planning to make nearly ten miles, 2000 feet up and over Muir Pass. Hard going, but it would be some of the most beautiful country on the entire trail, all the way to the top. And so I went up the easy grade of the valley, passing more beautiful meadows, with peaks and domes in the background. Took a planned stop at a confluence of streams below the ridge I’d have to climb to reach Evolution Lake. Filled my bottles with water again.
At this point, I’m going to repeat something I wrote in the account of my abortive attempt three years ago: I’ve been drinking water straight from these streams and lakes since I was 11 years old, using no filters, no little purification tablets, no radiation wands, nada. There has been far too much made of the possibilities of Sierra water being unsafe. There is an article you should read, if you are really wondering about this: Giardia In The Sierra. It speaks for itself.
While I was parked at this little rest stop, a regular cavalcade of people and animals pulled in, looked to be a couple of families with . . . llamas! Or some sort of miniature llama, I guess . . . several animals carrying packs, with child seats on them. Never seen anything like it! The adults were carrying full packs, but the kids certainly seemed to have it easy!
I let them move on, then started up the switchbacks. Today I seemed to be having a lot easier time, only stopped a few times on the way up, and kept up a reasonable pace. Maybe yesterday’s weakness was just a minor aberration. Still not at full strength, but not suffering too much. And the stops I made were comfortable, and made for great photo-taking.

From here on it was just a question of plodding steadily forward. The grades weren’t impossibly steep, and while the trail at some points was annoyingly rock-strewn, it wasn’t too hard to negotiate.

Evolution Lake and, just above it, Sapphire Lake, were spectacular, just as I'd remembered. If I come this way again, it will be to come here and spend some serious relaxing time. Maybe the hike up will be easier if I'm not thinking all the time that I have twelve more days to go!
After another nice long break I just took it easy and moved on up, finding my own pace. Before long I’d reached the Wanda Lake, the last significant body of water before Muir Pass, and stopped awhile to enjoy it.
I’d taken about seven hours to get to this point, though, and was starting to feel really fatigued again. From Wanda Lake I could actually see the top of Muir Pass—there’s a stone hut up there, built in the 1930’s by the Sierra Club—but it got closer very, very slowly.
Suddenly I was, again, feeling more tired than I thought I should. Oh, well, just a
question of a couple of miles. Was I just babying myself, psyching myself out, or was something else going on? No matter, onward and upward. Made it up to the top a lot later than I’d wanted, but with plenty of time to get down and set up camp at Helen Lake on the other side. Once over, I’d be really committed to completing the trail: the easiest way out would be just to run the course, go over all those passes—three down now, four to go before Whitney, each higher than the last, still over a hundred miles to go, but there would be no quick way back to a road, and even if I could get to a road, no easy way to get from the trailhead back to my car, back at Mammoth Lakes.
Going over the pass, it was a steep drop into Lyell Canyon. Quite a contrast from the Evolution side, too. The canyon still had lots of snow, and was quickly darkening with the late afternoon shadows, curving down narrow and forbidding. But I found a flat space near the lake to set up the tent, and climbed inside to get a rest before dinner. For the first time in quite some time, there were no bugs. Did nothing live here? Aha, something must . . . just heard a frog.

Life is so simple. Days are walking. Nights are sleeping. For brief moments I eat, never very much. I drink lots of water. Life is so simple.Next Entry: through the canyons of Mordor