Sore Balls & Showers

Day: 296

Mom woke up with swollen feet and Mike started complaining about his balls (of his feet).

Today we get to resupply, which means last night and this morning we’ve been gorging ourselves on all the food left in our bear canisters.

Mike has a spreadsheet for this entire endeavor laid out; it lists miles per day, altitude gains, where one should sleep, and when our scheduled “Rest Days” are supposed to happen. Unfortunately, for Mom, Mike (and myself on many occasions), I am not very good at things being planned out. A plan just sits there, teasing me, and every fiber in my being wants to do something else just because I planned it. Today was actually scheduled as a “Rest Day” but I talked everyone into a “short walk” out of town after we took care of our resupply business.

First things first, after a late morning of gorging, we made our way a mile and a 1/2 past Devils Postpile (which looked much better in the brochure, I think it was the overcast) and to the thermal showers pumped straight out of the hot spring at Reds Meadow Campground. The weeks worth of mud that ran off me after seven days without a shower was astounding, and now existed a clean and happy Rob.

Second: We headed another mile to Reds Meadow store to pick up our resupply bucket, distribute it amongst our bear cans and rummage through the “hiker-box” to find more fuel for our stove.

Third: and most important, get a six pack and eat patty-melts at the diner across from the store.

Now, with rain starting to fall on our heads, its 3:30pm, we all have a belly full of beer and greasy meat, our packs are full (i.e. heavy), and it’s time to start our “Short walk” that I had sold everyone on. Unbeknownst to me, 15 years ago this whole area was ravaged by fire and campsites were nowhere to be found. The ground was covered in fallen burnt wood.

So we kept hiking… and the rain fell… then we hiked some more… and the rain let up… then hiked… then it rained… this vicious cycle continued until finally, 3 hours/4 miles/1600ft later we found ourselves at Upper Crater Meadow and set up for the night.

Once again I destroyed our plans with my crazy ideas.