John Muir Trail Trip, Summer 2005

Day 7: Wallace Creek to Rock Creek

Day 6: Diamond Mesa to Wallace Creek

Day 8: Rock Creek to Lone Pine, CA

The Great Western Divide and some worrisome clouds

Today was supposed to be a more restful day - only it wasn't! Our last day on the John Muir Trail was full of surprises. We slept late, and I woke only twice in the night (very restful considering we were in wilderness, where I normally wake up every hour or so). My final awakening showed clouds in every direction on the horizon, which was very worrisome with regard to rainstorms. They are rare in the Sierra (this was my first time seeing this much cloud cover here in the 15 or so years I've been hiking here) but can be very deadly when they strike; only last week a Boy Scout troop was hit by lightning at Crabtree Meadows, one of our landmarks today.

We headed off upwards towards the top of the ridge, then descended a long way down into the Meadows themselves. Crabtree Meadows is a very special place - green grass (very green, for once!), a very blue sky with puffy white lamb clouds, whitish-gray granite to sit on, and green forest and mountains all around us.

Crabtree Meadows, backside of Mt. Whitney, and a jagged spire

Crabtree Creek in front of us was brown and rich with trouth, who seemed to be laughing at us after lunch as we attempted to ford the Creek. Just across the Meadows were two landmarks of interest: Mt. Whitney's backside and a pyramid-shaped spire.

We headed up a steep divide from the Meadows. Before we'd reached the Meadows we'd left the John Muir Trail and were now solely on the Pacific Crest Trail. The trail condition worsened significantly after the Meadows - very steep, rocky, and extremely hard on knees, ankles, and hips. Worst, however was summiting and descending from the small ridge/saddle between two peaks further down the trail. We descended over 600 feet along a very bad trail into Rock Creek, where we set up camp near some Boy Scouts. The trail wasn't terribly steep itself, but had some nasty dropoffs and was of poor enough quality to make my knees very sad.

Crabtree Meadows again, with Crabtree Creek

The meadows here are lovely, but nothing compared to Crabtree, sadly. Thankfully, there are few mosquitos and plenty of fresh water from the Creek; there are even camping spaces from the large number of campers who've camped here. It made me sad to see the large number of "wilderness restoration area" signs; a clear indication that this particular area has seen too much use.

I made dinner- chicken and noodles, not nearly as tasty as the pasta and meat sauce, sadly. There are still lots of storm clouds around, but no rain or lightning yet. I'm quite a bit worried, though. The moon is now a waxing gibbous - has it really been that long already? - it's almost diffracted through the netting in the tent, giving us moonbows.

Crabtree Meadows; farewell to the JMT

Tomorrow we'll cross the last big pass before our trip ends, then camp before Cottonwood Pass (it's fairly tiny, not even really a pass at all from this side, though it is from the south approach) and leave on the day after. The Boy Scout leaders have advised us to camp at Chicken Spring Lake, right before Cottonwood Pass. It's about 7 miles to the bigger pass from where we are, then another 3 miles further to Chicken Spring Lake - a long day ahead of us tomorrow! It'll only be 4 miles past the Lake to the trailhead, though, and then we'll be out. Alas!

Lots of wildlife today; we saw a lovely mule deer doe at Rock Creek, who was scared off by the regional ranger (they live every 10 miles or so on this stretch of trail and provide emergency services and trail updates) walking through the meadow. The most exciting wildlife sight of today was an ermine in summer coat - he was an amber weasel-shape with black tips on his tail and feet.