Day 21: An Uphill Day

Start: Mile 668.7

End: Mile 689.2

Miles Hiked = 20.5

I camped at Spanish Needle Creek last night and slept well. As is typical, there were many other hikers camped nearby because of the water availability. I was up at dawn and hiking by 6:30. The skies were clear and it was cool, probably in the mid-40’s.

Usually I have an Pro Bar or Bobo’s Bar for my breakfast but when I was off the trail last week I picked up a Blueberry granola freeze-dried breakfast that I cold-soaked as I hiked. About two hours later, I stopped for a rest and ate it. It was OK – I think I put a little too much water in it. I’ll go back to my breakfast bars when I resupply.

I knew today’s hike was going to be challenging. I wanted to go about twenty miles so that I would have an easy hike tomorrow morning into Kennedy Meadows. The first five miles today were a steady uphill climb of about 2000 feet. Later this afternoon, after descending 1500 feet, I would have another climb of 2500 feet.

As I hiked this morning I enjoyed the views to the north and west – it was starting to feel like the Sierras.

When I reached the top there were nice views to the east.

Just prior to reaching Chimney Creek, where I would stop for lunch, the trail passed above a pretty meadow

I wasn’t looking forward to the 2500 foot climb this afternoon, but my legs felt felt stronger today and the afternoon’s hike went well. I stopped for water at Fox Mill Spring and filtered my water as usual, despite the warning.

Clouds rolled in but there wasn’t any rain today.

Finally I reached a nice place to camp which was about 2000 feet higher than yesterday’s camp, set up my tent and enjoyed a beautiful sunset.

Thanks for reading.