The John Muir Trail part 7…long hot dry stretch!
There was very little of the JMT we had not hiked before in other journeys. We had criss-crossed the Sierra many times in the last 40-50 years and hiked almost all of the JMT in pieces. What came next then was a total surprise!
In our JMT journey prep, we had made no itinerary. Knowing we had plenty of time to hike the whole trail, we didn’t stress how much we hiked each day, nor about where we would end up. Figuring to hike about 8-9 miles per day…maybe less the first few days and a bit more the last days when we were stronger and our packs lighter, we just hiked each day enjoying each and every new sight, not worrying about our pace, and stopping when a spot we both like appeared in front of us.
From experience, we know the JMT has constant frequent reliable water sources. Well…most of it anyway. We found out on our next section, that water is not always completely a given, and that we don’t always get to stop when we want to for the day!
Leaving Red’s fairly early in the morning after a wonderful meal, shower and good night sleep in our new tent, we were ready to get back on the gorgeous trail! Morning took us through a very old burn area that seemed to be in a state of non recovery. There were delightful wildflowers dotted throughout. But it was obvious we were walking where once also stood large trees covering the hillside around us, and that for some reason they had not been able to make a comeback yet...hopefully soon. The burned out snags were all that was left and they left a somewhat sad picture of what had once existed there. We continued to walk in the increasingly warm sun with no trees for shade. And, no water sources appeared yet. Enjoying the volcanic change in scenery from what we had been experiencing was a delight nevertheless, and we still had plenty of water in our packs from Red’s so all was well.
Red Cones were fun to hike around and we had quite a discussion about the geology of the fun peaks. We stopped for lunch after awhile and remarked it would be nice to get to the next stream crossing marked on the map. We had wanted to lunch near a stream, but had given up finally. So, after a dry lunch, we donned packs and hiked on and went around shoulder after shoulder after shoulder of the mountains. We came to one and then another of the marked creek crossings only to find them completely dried up. We were hiking in a not so dry year so were quite puzzled, but the creeks were simply not running even so. We had anticipated water for sure at Deer Creek, but alas, completely dry. So…we kept hiking!
Red Cones
Down to our last few ounces of water, it was clear this was going to be a long day of hiking as we now could not stop til we got to water! I am not sure how many miles this day ended up being, but we were foot sore and weary and hiking slow by the time we finally heard the sounds of rushing water!
This was the only camp in the backcountry we ended up camping near other hikers. Everyone had found what we had found, that this stretch of trail was simply dried up except for this lovely oasis. Luckily we were able to stretch out a bit and not have to camp on top of each other, so we cleaned up and enjoyed a night listening to the water splashing and gurgling as it made it’s way down the little canyon we found ourselves in.
Night Four-Duck Creek
Waking up in the morning hydrated and well rested, we looked forward to the next section of our southbound journey!
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