Day 60 - Saturday, June 26

Tenting at Kerrick Creek (mile 979.8).  Walked 22.5 miles today.

We got up and out of camp at 6:20 this morning.  Began with our first of three big climbs on the day and passed Boujee and Vagabond on the way up it.  At the top, we had a nice flat section and stopped briefly at Miller Lake.

We hiked down the mountain with some great views.

After a few miles, we came to a creek in a meadow.

After a mile, Frank tells me that when we entered the woods just after the meadow, her sixth sense went off and she felt like we were being watched.  She didn't think it was her bear sense though and she also smelled something musky.  We suspect it was a mountain lion nearby, but never saw it.  Frank is 2 for 2 on her sense picking up bears, so I'll trust her on this.  That's not an animal I want to run into and I'm kind of glad she waited to tell me until she felt we were in the clear.  We began a huge climb here and I hiked ahead of Frank.

About halfway up, I ran into Chaparral and we chatted briefly before continuing on up to Benson Pass.

Chaparral didn't hang out long at the top as there were a ton of mosquitoes here, but I put on my bug net and waited for Frank who turned up a few minutes later.  After a few minutes here, we decided the mosquitoes were too bad and we took aim at a lake 2 miles away for a lunch spot.

Upon arriving at the lake, the mosquitoes weren't bad, but I was exhausted for some reason.  I lay down and dozed on and off while trying to protect my exposed skin from the blood suckers.  After lunch, I had more energy and we hiked on down the mountain.

The tread of the trail here was awful.  I'm eager to leave Yosemite, just to get better maintained trail.  It's like someone built a shitty trail and then never maintained it.

After another permit check by a ranger, we began climbing up a steep hill up toward a small lake.  I put on my music and hiked up it quickly.  When I got there I was sweaty and planned to jump in the lake.  Others were already in there so I joined them, swam out to a small island and then waited until Frank showed up.

She didn't end up getting in, so I got out and dried off to hike the final 5 miles.  We crossed Seavey Pass and then hiked down the other side. It was slow going as we were pretty tired.  We reached Kerrick Creek, set up our tents, and literally collapsed into them.  We were so exhausted.  We ate dinner in our tents due to the mosquitoes and then turned in early, hoping for a good night's rest.