Date: June 19, 2017
Miles: 1195.4 – 1207.4
“This is freedom.” ~ Roi
It’s not too often that I sleep past 6 am out here, so when I do – like this morning – it is glorious. The only place open for breakfast was a Resort down the road, so we ate there while we waited for the post office to open.
I got my Gossamer Gear pack back in the mail today, and it felt like I got an old friend back. I also sent my bear can, crampons and ice axe home. My pack feels like a daypack now! Around noon, Roi, Matthew and I hitched a ride to the trailhead and started the 8 mile climb into the Sierra Buttes. It was steep and the weather was hot and humid. After a few minutes, my cold shower felt like a very distant memory.
Just after the climb, however, the landscape changed and we ran in to more snow. Roi is really ready to be out of it…he slid into a tree well and broke a hiking pole.
We caught up with Cougar Bait and another hiker who told us that they were so tired of running in to snow again that they were going to skip up to Chester. They also warned us of a bear in the area…good thing we sent our bear cans home. With the possibility of losing our food bags to a hungry bear in the back of our minds, we ate dinner far away from our camp, and then fell asleep overlooking Deer Lake and listening for animal footsteps in the woods.
