Day 164 - JMT Seldon Pass to Muir Trail Ranch

The moon shined bright this morning, adding fantasy to the delightful morning sun's glow.

The reflection of the far sand-like mountains shone wonderfully off Marie Lake's mirror surface. We struck a pose. At the top of Seldon Pass we ran into a group of fifteen Korean hikers, of all ages. As we left the pass and descended down the other side, the Korean group held up their hiking poles to make a wedding tunnel for Bob and I to walk under! How funny?!

This playfulness was cut short at Heart Lake. Bob stepped up on a phonebooth-sized boulder on the side of the trail in order to chat with another hiker below. The boulder gave way under Bob's weight and fell fifty feet to the lake shore. Luckily Bob fell back, weighed by his huge pack, and stuck the landing, landing with both feet and two trekking poles maybe ten feet below. A mild wrist pain was his only injury.

The lake views continued in their excellence as we hiked on. Bob wrapped his wrist with a wet bandanna and continued marching without complaint; and we laughed at our/his luck: that he didn't break his leg was a miracle.

We arrived at midday to Muir Trail Ranch, a resort and resupply station, the last resupply for 120 miles. We organized the contents of our two buckets and counted out one dinner and one breakfast and 2000 calories of snacks per day for eight days. We raided the hiker buckets (unused supplies) for better trail mix, moleskin and tasty protein bars. Friendly hikers like Bellingham Dude, Charleston Couple and Travelin Mike entertained us with stories and surprised us with free food and supplies.

And then we mounted our crazy heavy packs and set off 1.5 miles down trail to a San Joaquin River-side camp. Part Two of our voyage, the famous Kings Canyon-Sequoia section, begins tomorrow!

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Day 161 - JMT Purple Lake and Tully Hole

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