'No Canister Required' Tour - Day 2 Taboose Pass to Upper Basin

(Click on any photo to enlarge) Up at 6:00am and on the trail by 7:00am. We all were excited to finally be on the trail again. Of course Christi (Trailname 'The Machine") set tempo up the climb and soon Funk and I were relegated to photo taking backmarkers. We were used to her Mexican Death March as she is usually first to the top of all the high passes, but Funk and I were saving a little since Taboose has a reputation for being rude and unwelcoming. (Stats on the climb- 6000ft ascended in 8 miles) We gained the pass sooner than expected and realized that all of the bad stuff we had read about Taboose Pass was over inflated. We found it easier than the North side of Mather or the South side of Muir. Maybe it was because we were so impressed with the scenery. We made the pass in 3hr 40min, stopped for the obligatory high point photo, and started down the other side.
About an hour later we were on the JMT heading North! The weather was fantastic and we were all felling good so we continued up into Upper Basin to camp just below Mather Pass. We were all pretty surprised how far we had made it on our first 'official' day on the trail. We set up camp at 2:00pm (that NEVER happened in the past two years) about 900 vertical feet below Mather Pass.
I forgot to give a route description in the first post, so for those of you that are interested- Start at Taboose Pass Trailhead up and over to JMT North. Mather, Muir, food drop at Muir Trail Ranch, Seldon, Silver, then a little deviation. After our camp at Squaw Lake (our favorite camp on last years JMT trip) we turned and headed for Cascade Valley and Fish Creek. We had heard of some magnificent areas that see seldom use, and possibly had some back country hotsprings. Then finally exiting at Reds Meadows taking the bus to the Mammoth Mtn ski area where our car sits. Not bad for 8 days! I had scheduled a few shorter days in hope that we would relax a little on some afternoons. (Not an easy thing to do with 'The Machine' at the front)
We settled in and were all asleep by hikers midnight (9:00pm). The night was surprisingly warm for our 11,000+ft altitude.