Tyndall Creek

I wake up late. I blew it again for an early start, the game plan was to be up and out of camp by 4AM. 5:15AM hits and I’m like WTF, my alarm didn’t go off and I didn’t naturally wake up? I was really tired. Yesterday was tough.

I pack up as fast as possible and get going. The others are waiting for me and today’s a slog. It’s mostly uphill to get to the base of Forrester pass. We got an early start to beat the post holing and to be able to cruise on hard packed snow. It’s nice when the snows firm and you can walk normal without fear of falling through.

We start the day off with a water crossing, over a big log onto the other side. Then the first mile is all up hill right into the snow, then a bit of patchy sections on the south side of the mountain. Got to love that sun power, as we keep moving snow snow snow.

We take some sketchy down hills followed by some wide open meadows. We get a nice look at Mt Whitney and see the fighter jets flying over it. How awesome of a view those pilots must have of the Sierras. At one point they’re beneath us.

As we cross the second water crossing it’s time to get my feet wet, oh well. We move through the icy cold water and keep going, I don’t fill up my water bottles because I’m carrying 2 liters of water already. Trying to drink as much as I can at altitude. As we turn into the next water crossing it is raging. Actually sketchy.

Seven first, then me, then Pine Cone, then Wolf Slayer, the water is ice cold and my legs and feet are stinging. As we get across it’s only another 1000 feet up to camp. We get a move on to get warm and get in the sun. I get to camp, setup my stuff, let my shoes, socks, gaiters and shorts dry out and I start to cook dinner. I really have no food left and I’m cooking anything at this point.

After eating dinner I head down to the crossing when I see some others crossing. The waters raging now and they luckily made too. Now it’s a 7PM, bedtime because tomorrow is another early start. Tomorrow I am waking up at 1AM for a 2AM start to crush mileage while the snow is still frozen.