We did a lot of silent climbing today following Carson River multiple times & little snow melt creeks up the saddle & around Sonora Peak -- what a beautiful view! We hiked 8 miles to Wolf Creek Lake, met a nice day hiker named Eric & had lunch with him there, took a dip (pretty cold water up @ 10,000 ft) and rinsed our clothes a little bit -- I think we have a new standard of clean now -- "clean-er" -- less dirt than before, looks great.
We had a nice conversation w/ Eric & he gave us a piece of rotisserie chicken to share -- what a treat! Everything tastes so much better out here! We saw our first view of the High Sierras in the distance, Yosemite here we come! We're half way to Tuolumne Meadows & everyone we pass on the trail says it gets better & better from here! We saw another maybe 15 thru-hikers today -- I liked what one guy said, "We're just doing a long series of day hikes."
Really, thru-hikers are normal people who have a large goal, but just take it one day & one step at a time...One of them said it was easy to hitch down to Kennedy Meadows for a cold drink & hot grub, so we took their advice. A nice old couple just returning from a backpacking trip picked us up & we had a delightful 11 mile drive in the back of their truck. Cars are so amazing -- you can sit & move at the same time -- how great!
It was strange to be back to "civilization" if you want to call Kennedy Meadows Resort civilized. Families car camping w/ [something], fishing poles, tents, coolers, the works -- lined the river up to the resort, lots of young teenagers showing off for each other [something something] stereotype "red-neck" guys about our age made our [something] meal a little less appetizing, but there were also a lot of really friendly, nice, considerate people too that respected & appreciated smelly hikers like us.
Anyways, we had a filling meal (I got grilled chicken salad) which came w/ soup, bread & dessert. Nothing fancy, but fresh & different & we didn't have to cook it :)
To stay on schedule we wanted to make it back to the trail tonight and fortunately were told by the cashier to ask for a guy named "No Sweat" at the [something]. Sure enough we found an old friendly guy that agreed to take us back up the pass this evening in his old Subaru. At about 9,000 ft we were going about 10-15 mi per hour, the temp gauge was up to red & the car started hissing, but "No Sweat" assured us his little baby would make it, and amazingly enough, we all made it to Sonora Pass in one piece, no sweat.
We only hiked maybe 1/2 mile in by a creek & are camping on another windy bluff [?] with an expansive [?] view of [something...sorry, I can't read this section very well --Cass] of mountains rising the the distance. A slight breeze, the stars are emerging, & no mosquitoes! Tomorrow is another day.
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