a thin shirt with very comfortable temperatures and early afternoon
means profuse sweating if you are working you way uphill. Not so this
hike. We awoke at Kearsage lake to a thick coating of frost on
everything. We slept late, 7:30, to let the sun rise above the eastern
ridge and thaw the ice on the tent. We cooked breakfast wrapped in our
fleece noticing it was severly colder than normal. Ordinarily, we
strip to light weight clothes to begin hiking. Not so this morning. I
left camp with fleece tights and a fleece pullover on. Sally did the
same. The snow they had predicted did not show, but the cold air did.
We descended to Bullfrog Lake, then to the lower lake. A man came
running out of the bushes near the lake to inquire if he was at
Bullfrog Lake and how to get to the John Muir trail. We answered his
questions, reassured him he was at the right spot and went on our way.
It occurred to me a minute or two later that he was not to be camping
there as all camping near Bullfrog Lake is banned due to overuse and
meadow destruction. A few hundred yards down the trail a sign
reinforced my thoughts.
We intersected the JMT and turned south, dropping into Bubbs Creek and
Vidette Meadows about 800' below us. At the valley bottom a trail
headed right 13 miles to the end of the road in Kings Canyon National
Park. We turned left and began climbing up the Bubbs Creek drainage.
We hoped to get a few miles up the valley, staging us for the grunt
coming tomorrow when we hike over Forester Pass at 13,200'. We set up
camp at about 10,200' in the early afternoon in a secluded grove of
trees, hopeful no one would spot us and camp next to us. Sally napped
while I read and explored the area. It was very cold in the shade, so
I moved my slinglite chair out in the sun to stay warm.
The GPS says we hiked 5.35 miles for the day, a nice non push day.
This meant tomorrow we would have to hike 5 miles and gain 3000' feet
to clear Forester Pass.
Chuck
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