Muir Shelter to Bushcamp
24.1 miles
Mile 862.5
I woke up alarmed by the lack of stars before remembering where I was. Warm inside the Muir Shelter on top of Muir Pass at about 12,000 ft of elevation, I fumbled with my watch until it glowed 2am at me. Fug that, I’m getting another hour.
That hour came and went. By 3:30am I was latching the outer lock on the shelter before heading out into the darkness trailing Spikes.
It was a cold night, Spikes’ InReach unit quoted us 18 degrees, but somehow we managed to keep warm as we trudged down the icy Pass. The snow flurry earlier that night had erased any footprints that may have guided our descent, so I walked for most of it with my phone in hand, constantly checking our progress. Apparently we walked between a few lakes, but they were masked by the night, so we never saw them.
The sun finally rose to revel awesome snow covered mountains, frozen lakes and colorful clouds.
As we descended below tree line and into the valley, the snow receded making the trail visible once again.
We took an alternative route to bypass a hazardous river crossing here.
For the next 6 miles we followed a large river rushing down the valley, constantly growing from the hundreds of tributaries snaking down the snowy mountains.
Around noon grey ominous clouds began to fill the sky. Before long it began to rain, which shortly turned into snow. I spent the final couple hours rushing towards our camp grounds while snow continued falling.
I stopped briefly at a stream to fill my bottles and begin cold soaking a bag of Knorrs rice sides that I’d be eating later for dinner before crushing the final 3 miles to camp.
I threw up my tent in the first flat spot I came upon and crawled inside to finish my chores. After dinner, I laid warmly wrapped in my quilt listening to the sound of the snow hitting my tent with the occasional boom of thunder.
Cheers!
P.s. and here’s my toe…
