Day 41 - Monday, June 7

Cowboy camping at Chicken Spring Lake (mile 750.8).  Walked 15.4 miles today.

Woke up to a very cold morning but one of the mosr beautiful sunrises that I think I've ever seen.  I was the only one brave (foolish?) enough to leave their sleeping bag as I ran quickly over to the edge of the mountain to get a few pictures and then ran back.

AB played "Here Comes The Sun" as the sun rose across the Owens Valley.  I made some hot chocolate for breakfast and then we rolled out of camp about 7 am.  We all spread out while hiking and after a couple miles, I came upon Sure Foot and Hot Pink.  After discussing their successes with their backcountry bidets, we hiked together and chatted about the trail and gear.

When I reached Diaz Creek, I peeled off from them to get water.  Nice little flowing stream here.  It's overcast today so it's on the cooler side temperature-wise.  After water, we began a long climb up and passed Trail Pass (which goes into the town of Lone Pine).  Continued climbing and stopped for lunch near Poison Meadow Spring (who names these places?  Yesterday we had Death Canyon Creek...).

Ate lunch here then did another three miles to Cottonwood Pass for a great view.

Then we did another mile to Chicken Spring Lake, arriving about 2 pm.  It was a beautiful lake and our first (sub) alpine lake of the trail.

All day we had been talking about swimming in the lake and I wasn't going to miss this opportunity.  Shortly after we arrived, I stripped down to my underwear and Recon and I dove into the freezing water (yes, I have a video).  The water was cold but it was colder once I got out (the occasional breeze made it so much colder).  I then quickly dried off and got dressed in my strategically placed clothes and warmed up surprisingly quickly.

Then Jedi went in followed shortly by Microbe and Magnet.  We then went to hang out a little way away from the water.  A little while later, the sun came out which warmed things up nicely.  That would have been helpful when I was in the water...I guess it's more of an experience.

AB pulled out her deck of cards and she, Jedi, and I played a few rounds of Go Fish.  Then Lefty joined us to play Hearts and promptly cleaned up.  Now that it was warmer, Frank decided to go for a swim in the lake.   We then decided to move our camp about 100 feet away from the lake to a more sheltered location.  It was odd to have so much time at camp, but really nice to relax in such a beautiful place.  We're camped at 11,200 feet tonight and looks like it might get cold.