This morning I turned a bend in the train and saw what looked like a giant fat mangy dog bolting away from me at a lightning pace. A bear! I saw a bear! The first time in my life. It wanted nothing to do with me. We have begun to discover what lower elevations bring;…

Oh did I wake up in a foul foul mood this morning. It seemed way too early for Dylan to be rolling up his pad. I languished in my bag. The ascent back up into the snow and up Muir Pass was, although reported to be easy, very daunting. Totally sick of snow, I bemoaned…

We treaded softly past Yogi curled up in his sleeping bag at a time that qualified as a late start for us. The river didn’t give up anything less than waist deep roaring torrents. Eventually, up river, Dyl spied a large half submerged log spanning the entire breadth. It was ice slick, of coarse. The…

William had a better quote I remembered today. “You guys are learning what little you need to survive on, and how much you need that little.” True true. Right after breaking camp we set out, Dyl in front, across hard frozen snowfields. It occurred to me, looking at him up ahead, that this is really…

I wrote an entry early this morning at the Pines Cafe and I think the day number was forty three. We finished our breakfast, which was excellent, and set about our business. I got Siri on the phone and we had a good conversation. Dylan went to the PO and got our box. We sorted…

Instead of writing anything last night, I decided to hold out for the luxury of a table at the Pines Cafe here in Independence. The Cafe is closed. That means it’s before six thirty in the morning. We are sitting and waiting and this fills the time nicely. Yesterday was easy. We had to climb…

I was wrong about two things. The climb was 8.7 miles and a 4,150 ft. altitude gain. That’s one. Sneaking past the ranger station wasn’t the crux of the day. It did, however, come right off. The prospect of wading icy cold Whitney creek and clambering up on to the frost caked far bank at…

Well no bears last night after all that anxiety building. Tonight’s camp, in Crabtree Meadow, has a big metal box to store food in. We had to go by map and compass once today. Snow cover was about 85%. Often we could find our way by spying the little five and ten foot trail sections…

The first day out from Kennedy Meadows we have hit snow as expected. It is not, however, as all encompassing or as ominous as we expected. Toward 10,000 ft. it gets patchy. The trail is still quite easy to follow. Even on north facing slopes, which see little sun, the coverage is broken into small…

Its funny how Dylan and I live in the woods and went into a town, sat around, and watched T.V. for the Memorial day weekend. I couldn’t really say at this point how many days we have been doing this. Usually I can tell by referencing the other side of the paper or perhaps the…