Day 27 - Last Full Day

Thursday, August 12, 2010 - Day 27
Stats for the day: started at Cascade Lake (10,340') at 9:00 - ended at Soldier Lake (10,650') at 3:20pm. Total ascent 2641'. Total descent 2508'. Total Distance 5.71 miles. 3 hrs 46 mins walking.

This is a bittersweet day. It is the last full day of the SHR. Tomorrow we do about ten miles, finishing at Twin Lakes where the car is sitting. Although I should be brimming with gratitude at having the opportunity to spend 28 days in this incredible wilderness I am feeling sorry for myself at having to have the trip end. Extending it would be no good, because we have accomplished what we came for, to traverse the length of the High Sierra from Kings Canyon to Twin Lakes, doing as much cross country travel as possible. Mission accomplished. As I have repeated many times in this blog, it has been spectacular. And it has been fun.

The side benefit is the shape I am now in, probably the best since my Sheppard days in the early 70's. Today we ascended 1200' to Sky Pilot Pass (11,600) in an hour's travel, descended 2500' to Virginia Canyon and then ascended 1400' (from 9200' to 10,600') in an hour twenty with full packs and no tired legs, no sore muscles and little fatigue. As Gary and I discussed today, it is a downhill slide from this point. There is no way to maintain this level of fitness while working eight hours a day at sea level. What can we do with it before it slips away? A one day climb of Rainier? Perhaps. So if the goal had been to get in shape, it is done. To lose weight? Done. We will know the final tally when we step on the scales tomorrow. To have a great time with good friends? Excelled.

With all the goals met, there is an extreme feeling of accomplishment. To dispel the empty coming-to-an-end feeling the solution is the next event to look forward to, and hopefully something is cooking in the hopper for the future.

The Sierra is beckoning us to stay with a perfect evening and night. It is eight as I write this. The crescent moon is on the horizon above the sun who is making all the mountains around us shimmer in alpenglow. There is not a

breath of wind. The air is still and not a sound is heard, not even that of running water. Not a mosquito. It is warm enough to sit half out of the sleeping bag in total comfort. The first stars of the evening are beginning to appear. It is as peaceful a place on earth as can be imagined. The most spectacular evening of the trip. The Sierra is saying, "I have more of these if you will just come back." Indeed we will.

Notes of interest about the day:

Coming up out of Virginia Canyon I flushed three fawns out of the bed in the brush, the last one jumping up no more than five feet in front of me.

At lunch at Shepherd Lake we spent time watching juncos, finches and ouzels feeding in insects at the outlet.

Sky Pilot Pass was talus on the south side, quite steep at the top and on the north we found it easier to traverse east out of the pass and then descend the talus.

The north side of Sky Pilot was geologically fascinating. The west side was white granite. The east side was black metamorphic rock. They met exactly at the bottom of the ravine which was a very sharp v shaped valley. Black and white.