The mountains are calling – The Trek

Another day, another pass. Today we were tackling Muir Pass. I couldn’t find many details about this pass other than it’s long and snowy.

At some point last night Straight Up must have entered camp! I caught up with him just as we were snowing pretty early in the day. The texture of the snow was enough that I didn’t feel the need to use spikes. There were a couple of areas that were somewhat sketchy. At one point we crossed a suspiciously thin snow bridge directly over a gushing waterfall. Another route find at the time led to some rock climbing that took a couple of climbing moves to get back to solid snow.

Once we established the path, we found a definite trailhead to follow that kept going up and up. I was so focused on keeping my head down to concentrate on the next steps that I didn’t realize we had reached the top until Muir Hut was right in front of me. The cabin was a well-kept stone structure with a fireplace and a nice perimeter bench inside. You’re not supposed to sleep in the cabin unless it’s an emergency, but we estimate that about 20 people could fit like sardines in there. It would be a stinky sleepover though.

I ate my daily assigned brown sugar cinnamon pop tart, put on some music, and began the long, snowy descent. The descent wasn’t very steep and again the obvious boot track really helped with route finding in the snow. He was following Dromedary and Bubbles until they reached Evolution Lake.

Looking at the ice on the lake surface from a warm, sunny rock turned out to be the most impressive place to have lunch. I had lunch with Dromedary and Bubbles, where we had a special little heart-to-heart moment. And over lunch we agreed that Muir Pass might have been our favorite so far, offering just enough of a challenge with a bit of rock climbing, route finding, snow traversing, it had it all!

I walked with Dromedary and Bubbles for the rest of the day. We were able to talk about life at home, what jobs we’d do if money wasn’t a factor, whether or not we’d go to space and why, and more. The boys are so sweet.

Towards the end of our day we had to cross Evolution Creek. The creek can be waist deep with a strong current this time of season. As a result, there is an alternative path that has a much quieter crossing. Since I’m only 5’4″ on a good day, I convinced the kids to do the alternate crossing. We turned left at the crossing and crossed the turquoise blue water that was up to our thighs. The current was strong, but we were all able to cross safely and easily.

Immediately adjacent to the stream was a huge field of lupins. Against the green of the forest floor and the teal water, the bright purple meadow might have been the prettiest sight I have ever seen. We all stood in stunned silence.

We left the meadow and rejoined the PCT to finish the last few kilometers to camp. Fortunately, the mosquitoes were good and we were all able to sit in a circle and enjoy dinner. Today was absolutely one of those days that reminds me how grateful I am to be here.

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