Summer Boot Camp Day 5

(click on any photo to enlarge) Today we had a lot of forest walking which was a nice change compared to the above treeline hiking we have had for the last 4 days. Today we started off walking slightly downhill through McLure Meadows and the entire Evolution Valley. It was very quiet and beautiful first thing in the morning. We didn't see anyone until we came to the crossing of Evolution Creek. The crossing wasn't too deep but it was big enough for us to take our shoes and socks off. We waded across and sat on the other side to dry our feet and have a few snacks to get us to Muir Trail Ranch. Once again we mailed a food drop to the Ranch and planned on being there around 2pm.

When we came to the bridge that crosses the S. Fork of the San Juaquin River, we knew we had about an hour to go until we arrived at the Ranch. We rolled in just before 2pm an collected our bucket that we mailed two months ago. Tradition has it that we put in extra goodies for eating while we are resupplying. Christi always has Pringles and this year I went for Honey Mustard Pretzels. Oh my- were they great! We stuffed ourselves while we got rid of our garbage, refilled our sunscreen, deet, hand sanitzer, water treatment drops, ibuprofen and our TP kits. With full bellies and heavy packs we set off up the climb to Sallie Keys Lakes. In the years past we have stayed across the river from Muir Trail Ranch, gone to the natural hot springs and made it a destination. This year we are on a mileage kick so we had 5 miles to go after picking up our food. MTR sits at 7790ft, the lowest altitude of our whole trip, and was easily 10 degrees warmer then what we have had the last few days. We immediately started climbing, after resupply and lunch break, and had a little over 2500ft to climb before we could stop for the night. I really suffered this afternoon. Maybe I ate too much at lunch or the heat got to me, I don't know, but I was immediately dragging ass.

Christi left me for dead on the climb as I was left in my own personal purgatory. Notice the lack of photos from the afternoon/evening hike as I was in no mood to take any! I was so thankful after three hours of climbing when we came up on the first of the Sallie Keys Lakes. We walked all the way to the end of the furthest lake and made camp less than a mile below Seldon Pass. Today was my worst day as I really was slow after lunch. Hopefully I can get some sleep and feel better in the morning. Two more long days and with any luck we'll be in Mammoth on Friday night!