Day 80 - Yellowstone Canyon and Tower

Our day began with a long easterly drive through Yellowstone park, past a herd of Bison in the river, past the geyser basins and to Canyon. We had an evening reservation for a stagecoach ride through the sagebrush and a cowboy cookout with all the fixins but no camping reservations, so we drove to a first come first serve campsite in Tower, near the stagecoach ride, while calling for a reservation at a campsite south near Yellowstone lake. Yellowstone has 2000 campsites but we ended up with one of only three left, calming our homeless fears.

We then toured the Canyon area, site of the immensely colorful Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and her two waterfalls. The view from Artist Point was almost spiritual-- your soul was lifted by the calm coloring and elegant 300 foot waterfall beyond. Just lovely. Lanny, Landon and I then hiked down Uncle Toms trail to a powerful view of the large falls, then the full group hiked to the rainbow-filled brink at the top of the smaller falls. A final stop at Inspiration point ended our fun tour of this small but great canyon, a bonus to any Yellowstone trip.

Steve had talked about the stagecoach ride through the sagebrush and cowboy cookout with all the fixins so much that my expectations were frankly low, since I'm not one for touristy things. But the ride and cookout were fantastic. The setting of the Lamar Valley, the powerful horses charging through Bison herds on the wagon trail, the great western singer setting the cowboy mood and the juicy steaks made for the most enjoyable evening. Afterwards, as the sun was setting, we drove south to our campsite, set up our tents and went to sleep, satisfied.

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Day 171 - JMT Guitar Lake

Wow, was it cold this morning. After waking up and eating breakfast, we packed up quickly and found this scenic sunspot to warm our bones. We had a short eight mile hike to Guitar Lake today, the last viable campsite before the five mile hike to the 14,505 foot-high Mount Whitney summit. We stopped at this lovely meadow and looked for bears. We only saw deer but were able to enjoy the incredible peace of the far mountain range. Steady hiker traffic, the most of the entire trip, including one group of twelve elder hikers, passed us as we rested, and jumped! Views of Mount Whitney finally came into view at Timberline Lake, a quaint lake where camping was unfortunately forbidden. We passed a group of twenty Taiwanese hikers. The summit of Mount Whitney looked heavily defended when viewed from below. We were going to wake up tomorrow at 230am and hike up to the summit for sunrise-on-the-top-of-the-world*. The thought of this dark task was a bit foreboding. We made it to Guitar Lake by

Day 172 - JMT Mount Whitney

Our day began in silence, at 315am in pursuit of the summit. We walked carefully, looking for slick, sandy rocks and icy sections--not wanting to fall. Hiking along a cliff edge in total darkness was thrilling, vividly black and white. By 5am, we had reached the three mile marker and the turnoff up to Whitney summit. We removed the heavy items from our bags and set off towards the summit sunrise. The trail was spectacular, a special creation of this nation, winding from one side of the mountain to the other, going down and around one side before coming up to another, creating anticipation with each turn. Looking back, the sloping ridges caught the early sunset delicately. As we hiked along the two mile upper trail, the views east would open up for the narrowest of moments. This opening was my favorite. 14,000 foot cathedrals of nature thrusted towards the heavens at each turn. The summit was almost in sight, the highest peak in the lower 48 states nearly attained, the end of our 2

Day 170 - JMT Forrester Pass

The mountains had a surreal glow this morning as we climbed up towards the 13,200 foot high Forrester Pass. One of the wonderful things about the mountains is that they change appearance as the sun changes height, creating a movie-like experience as you walk. I felt so free and happy this morning--just in love with this light. After sixty minutes of walking, we stopped in the first sunny spot we could find to thaw out and rest. Another hiker came bustling up the trail behind us and stopped at the sunspot to shed a layer of clothing. Sly was a Canadian hiker, just turned 40, who seemed happy to see us. We struck up a conversation about travels and when we pushed off Sly asked if he could join us. We said yes of course. We hiked quickly up the trail, reaching a high plateau with epic alpine views. Selfie time! We skirted around a high alpine lake and then went up a ridge line ever further higher. We were at 12,000+ feet now and the world began to look small yet vast.

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