John Muir Trail Trip, Summer 2005

Day 6: Diamond Mesa to Wallace Creek

Day 5: Upper Vidette Meadows to Diamond Mesa

Day 7: Wallace Creek to Rock Creek

Tyndall Creek and the Great Western Divide

I woke quote frequently during the night; the stars were quite lovely, so it was worth it. At various points I saw Sagittarius, Scorpio, the Summer Triangle, and other constellations. We finally got out of bed at around 0700 - late, but we were luxuriating in the warmth of our bags. It was still very cold, as the sun was being blocked by the ridge just to the east of the basin. We forewent breakfast- it was too cold to cook the freeze-dried bacon and eggs, so we ate energy bars instead.

We started down towards Tyndall Creek, which is the headwaters of the Kern River, one of the most dangerous rivers in the United States due to its violent rapids farther west of us. The Kern is formed by the joining of Tyndall Creek with the Kaweah River in the Kern Trench just below the Great Western Divide.

Alpine meadows - beautiful scenery but full of mosquitos

We started down towards Tyndall Creek. It was a long way down to the actual creek, and very lovely and full of trees. I almost twisted my ankle in the loose scree on the trail, but my poles saved me there; had I not had them the twist would have been almost certain. We had to remove socks and shoes to cross the creek - hooray for water shoes! We shared stories with a fellow hiker on the other side of the creek. Earlier we'd met a man doing the PCT in 500-mile segments, which seemed like a good way to hike it.

After crossing the creek, we headed up towards Bighorn Plateau, a fairly strenuous climb. At the top we were rewarded by a beautiful alpine meadow with a lake and spectacular views of the back side of Mt. Whitney; I'd only ever seen it from the front before, so this was quite nice. We then headed down, and down, and down some more until we crossed Wright Creek (again with water shoes). We then went repeatedly up and down across small ridges with spectacular views of the Divide and the Trench. Near the day's end we reached Wallace Creek and crossed it. I was very tired, but we pressed 300 feet up the next ridge to a more mosquito- and human-free campsite.

A better view of the Kern Trench and the Divide

I took a sponge bath with some water from the river - hooray for biodegradable soap - the water was cold but worth it for the cleanliness and the clean clothes. Dinner was nice as well - spaghetti with meat sauce, another big winner even though it was freeze-dried. The meat stew and related dishes seem to be only okay, but the pasta dishes with dried meat and cheese are phenomenal - the cheese reconsistutes as a nice stringy substance which is really quite tasty.

Tomorrow we'll continue up this ridge, pass Crabtree Meadows, and head down towards the Cottonwood Lakes district. It will be our last day on the John Muir Trail, which goes back across Mt. Whitney to Lone Pine. We'll be heading south on the PCT alone and will bypass Mt. Whitney. It will be interesting to see how many fewer people there are on the trail after the JMT turns off; many people seem to like Whitney as an exit point from the PCT as well, so I predict we'll be pretty much alone after tonight.