Over Selden Pass to Sally Keyes Lake

Wild Berries for our Oatmeal Brekkie
No hurry today, we're taking it easy to get to MTR, it's 4.6 miles and 1,500' up to Selden Pass, a nice long and gradual climb. It's a blueberry and oatmeal brekkie for us, really makes the porridge taste much better, and we can use the Vitamin C.

We pass some beautiful meadows along the way, and Elena finds wild strawberries trailside, they give an amazing boost to tired hikers.

Buddha comes by as we pick and eat, and then we come to a stream crossing, he seems determined not to take his shoes off and marches away upstream to look for a crossing, we just take our shoes off and cross, nice and simple.

Maybe it wasn't such a great idea, the other side is plagued with mozzies, it's a scramble to dry feet, put shoes back on and get outa the way.

There's a tricky stream crossing by a lake, there's a couple going Northbound sitting by the side, the guy has his shoes off, the woman points to the best crossing and says "You can do it shoes on with minimal wetness" and that's exactly what we do, just a splash of water on the outside of shoes.

It's cloudy, windy and cool on the pass, not very pleasant place so it's a quick stop, the wind blows up from the next valley and whistles through the pass.

Sally Keyes looks great, actually 2 lakes and lotsa campers, we hunt around for the best spot with an overview of both lakes, no go there, we find a nice spot anyway with a view of one lake and close to the water.

We set up the tent and wander around to check the area out, there are some blueberries by the lake, not as many as this morning though. Another group of hikers has camped in a spot that's not visible from the trail above the first lake, looks like a nice spot.

Sally Keyes Lakes
It starts to get a bit late as the clouds darken and then we gotta scramble inside as the thunder builds up and gets closer, it rains a bit then more thunder and rain, take a bit of a nap till the storm passes.

It's dark and a bit cold and wet now, we can't cook inside the tent so it's a cold dinner, munchies which are really our lunches, almonds, chocolate, dried beans, can't seem to stop, makes a nice change from freeze dried, we'll have to eat our dinner for lunch the next day.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

At the Start-Waltzing Along the Meadows

Image
Selfie in Tuolumne Meadows Igor dropped us off at the Rangers Station after a beautiful drive up Tioga Pass from June Lake. A long line of people stood between us and a permit, as it turned out most were waiting for a walk permit, that line opened at 11. We still waited for a while to get to the permit counter, everyone in line seemed in very good spirits and there was a definite air of excitement about it. After a friendly quizz by the ranger (no failing grade) we had our piece of bureaucratic paper. Alcohol and toothpaste in the bear canister seemed a little over the top and we knew already that it wouldn't fit. Our next problem was to find the trail, it was reported to be close to the Rangers Station but there were trails and hikers going everywhere and we were a bit disorientated so had to ask directions, a bit embarrassing. Beautiful Colored Pool in the Stream Soon we were off through the meadows, at first it looks very well worn, as we pulled away from the Rang...
Read more

To Guitar Lake, In Site of Mt Whitney

Image
Frosty Ground Near Our Campsite  No early rise today, should be an easier day, our strategy was to pass Crabtree Meadows where a lot of hikers go, that would put us closer to Mt Whitney for the next day, then an easy hike out to complete the journey, as well as giving more time on the peak. We're at a fairly high camp, our highest yet (that's gonna be every night now) and it's frosty in the am, there's grass by the ponds behind us covered in ice and it's cold in the woods minus sunshine. Gloves and hat go on, all the little campsite chores now take much longer, just getting the stove to light isn't easy in this kinda weather, one reason I gave up really cold weather backpacking. We keep running out into patches of sunshine through the trees to warm up a bit. The campsite is empty, the brother and sister crew hauled out early. We come to Bighorn Plateau fairly quickly, a wide flat area that looks like a great place to camp, other hikers had mentioned it...
Read more

Tough Day Over Forester Pass, Highest Pass on JMT

Image
Stream Gurgling Down Off Forester Pass Gonna be a tough day, another long climb making 2 days in a row, even though only 8.6 miles, so we're up and out relatively early. It's 6.8 miles up to the pass and it starts off relatively easy and get's steeper as we go up. We can see that the trail is getting ready to pop outa the trees and get steeper so stop for 15 minutes to calorie up with a car for 15 minutes before attempting. It's steeper and winds around and I'm already feeling tired, we pass a couple stopped to rest trailside, we'll see them again a few times. The trail twists and turns around small peaks on the way up, then we're suddenly at the bottom of a large snow bank, we can see tracks leading up in the snow and also some off to the side, the treadway on the bank looks kinda tricky to me so off to the side and stay on a bit of slope, one foot on the dirt and one on the snow bank, makes it a little easier. Majestic Views On the Way Up to F...
Read more