From our campsite at 10,000 feet we couldn’t see far enough up the canyon to tell how much snow we would face today. I slept fairly well under my dense canopy, despite the continuing problem with a sinus infection of some sort. I got packed fairly quickly and began the climb with Mountain Goat to Muir Pass. He quickly outpaced me and it wasn’t until I reached a major stream ford that I caught up with him since he had taken the time to remove shoes and socks and cross barefooted.
By the time he had his shoes back on Batteries, Bloody Knuckles, Pepper Jack, Intruder and Freight Train had caught up. We were at about 10,500 feet, the apparent magic elevation at which snow becomes the dominant terrain feature and the trail disappears. Sure enough, the trail disappeared and Mountain Goat and Batteries took the lead. I had left camp at 6:55am; it was 11am when we reached the summit of Muir Pass. Four hours to cover a little over 4 miles. It was a long traverse in deep snow to the pass.
Once there, we sat and ate lunch just outside Muir Hut, a stone hut available to hikers in an emergency to get out of a storm. There was about a 10 foot clearance of bare ground encircling the hut, with 6 feet of snow everywhere else. No one but Mountain Goat was anxious to leave to start down (he sunburns easily) so we relaxed there for an hour and a half. We lost Mountain Goat who couldn’t wait that long and took off ahead of us. Down we started. Unlike all the other major passes we’ve crossed, the Muir Pass had a very gentle slope, especially on the north side going down.
There was nothing but snow as far as we could see and we knew it would be a long afternoon hiking in soft, deep snow. Hard to believe it’s July first and we spent all day in snow. We had to take several breaks on small occasional rock islands to give ourselves a break from the intense focus on each step we took for miles. Finally around 4:30pm we reached lower Evolution Lake, altitude 10,850, some 5 miles from Muir Pass and the snow began to give way to bare but very wet ground. We stopped at the outlet side of the lake for dinner, then around 6pm planned to hike as far as we could since we had a major down and the trail would soon be clear of snow.
Off we went and within a half mile hit almost completely clear trail, except for lots of water runoff crossings and water running down the trail at times. At about 10,000 feet we ran into the first real mosquitoes we’ve seen in days. At first they were annoying as we hiked, with a couple landing on my arms every minute or two. Things got worse and soon there was a swarm of them following us through the forest. I thought we might hike out of the swarm, but to no avail. Finally I stopped, along with Intruder and Batteries, and hurriedly threw off the pack and flung open the lid and got out my wind jacket and rain pants. As I was taking off my shoes to put on the rain pants I swatted 50 to 100 mosquitoes at a time landing on my legs. After donning the long clothes I covered my exposed hands, neck and face with Deet and started hiking.
We hiked until nearly 8:15pm, when we stopped because the huge Evolution Creek is a major ford and we want to cross it in the morning when the water level is, uh, lower than now, which is … totally out of its banks, rushing whitewater. This will be tomorrow morning’s big challenge. One additional problem … I have some type of deep blister or bunion or infection or bruise on the ball of my left big toe; it hurts like hell and it just started hurting so bad once we got out of the snow. I feel like I can barely walk on it. It should make the next 30 miles into Vermillion Valley Resort very difficult. We’re out of the high Sierra passes thankfully, there is only one more tomorrow (Selden Pass) and supposedly it’s no big deal to get over.
As I lay here in my sleeping bag writing, trying to hurry so I can get some sleep, the left foot is really throbbing and after further inspection, I am convinced that it is an infection under an otherwise healed blister. Time for sleep and I hope I can do so successfully. I am worn to the bone and between the sinus infection and now the foot infection, I am in pain even when not hiking.
Today’s weather: sunny. Low: 35, high 85 (and hotter on all that snow which reflects 95% of the sun’s radiation back up). Today’s tough miles to McClure Meadow: 15.0; cumulative mileage: 848.4.