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Aug 13 -- The first JMT mile -- horses run wild -- blissful meadows

We wake up to a cool morning in the backpacker's campground in Tuolumne Meadows and first thing I fired up my gas stove and heated up some water. I ate only a bar for breakfast and some hot chocolate. And the three women neighbors had a fire going so we went over and talked to them for a bit and enjoyed the warmth. Some stories about bears emerged as well. Putting away my extended collection of material goodies into my pack slowed me down.

What surprised me is that we have to walk back almost to the lodge again, rather than just heading out the trail from our campground. It is the odd routing of the JMT in this section, and someone needed to visit their car one last time. What it means is that we have already walked a number of miles in our full packs before even passing the official trailhead marker that signifies we have begun our adventure!

We finally are headed south on the John Muir Trail -- thank goodness! Only it quickly became a constant battle with that 57 pound monkey on my back. My stubbed toe seemed OK but after awhile my shoulders are way too painful. I try adjusting straps but nothing seems to make it any better.

The Lyell segment seems like one of the most pleasant stretches of the entire JMT. It's fairly level and parallels many wonderful meadows, appealing rock ridgelines, and a fabulous stream. It was along here that I smacked my boot into a rock and noticed the rubber seam at the tip beginning to separate from the sole. Just great!

Much of Lyell Canyon seemed to pass in a blur of green meadow grasses and twists and turns of the stream. We came to one agglomeration of rocks, forest, meadow and view which was too much to pass up. We stopped to take a break and I broke out my photo gear to shoot the first pano of our joint expedition.

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We evolved into a pattern of taking short breaks and never a long lunch. One such break alongside the trail was interrupted when we heard horses coming. We all sat still and the lead horse advanced to a spot abreast of us and froze. The rider urged him on and finally with eyes affright he bolted ahead and off the trail, and for a second I thought the rider was going to be thrown off in a wild ride, but she managed to slow the horse down before going under a low tree branch. We then realized that David's blue pack was resting on a rock very close to the trail and probably spooked the horse. David picked up his brand new aluminum hiking stick and noticed that the horse had trampled it, bending the tip. We couldn't bend it back. We all agreed that this unfortunate incident was particularly unfair to David.

We noticed a cluster of tents on the other side of a meadow which must be the popular campsite for Lyell Canyon. At a point an hour later in the afternoon I spotted a beautiful meadow with an inviting panoramic spot streamside, with distant mountain tops beckoning to the south. I broke out of the trail ruts to reach it and Zach joined me to filter some water.

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My boots seem to be compressing my stubbed toe and I wished I had brought my bigger, heavier Vasque boots I had worn to Mt. Whitney previously. We begin to run out of meadow, and see the generally flat Lyell valley coming to an end with a steep upslope.

We all change positions for the ascent and perhaps with the knowledge from being here before, I push all out to get to the top of the grade. We pass out of the forest and into a barren belt of destruction apparently caused by a mammoth avalanche. I don't recall this being here many years ago. It is grueling but not as steep as I recall from years ago. At the top of the trail's granite stairs a fine view of Lyell canyon and Tuolumne awaits us. Beyond this I charge down into a "bench" area where we will camp. We cross a rickety but big-beamed bridge over the Lyell fork and make camp. A number of other people arrive after we do and fill up the remaining few spaces. There is still some delicate sunlight left in the day and I wander over in the middle of the stream where there were a number of lupines in bloom.

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To be free of the pack is such a miraculous transformation. Walking around the camp in my running shoes, I feel light as an astronaut. When I sat down to eat, I was quite tired but not dead tired. I offered miso soup as an appetizer to everyone, and Zach quickly became a big fan. My favorite on this trip is the "Hearty Red."

There are quite a few mosquitos here, so I try out my bug netting hat, and it worked pretty well. You just have to remember to raise the netting up before you eat dinner! We compared our various entrees and marvel at Zach's 22 oz. dinner. We talk about what we would do if a bear appears, as I expect will happen as this general area is where I had an encounter with a bear on the last trip. No bears visit, and I sleep pretty well.