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Aug 12: Checked out -- Water Taxi -- Back on the JMT -- Bear Ridge We had a lot to do before getting on the boat. We moved my SUV to the long term parking and paid our bill. The Water Taxi ride across the lake was now a bit more routine. I took a few snapshots of David and Susan. At the far end of the lake we got a guy to shoot our picture. One short mile later we reached the bridge across Mono Creek and rejoin the JMT. We topped off our canteens from Mono Creek. Then, up the trail. It was slow going at first, but I was jazzed and not feeling the lethargy I sometimes do on steep morning climbs. Contrary to some reports, I found some water in tiny streamlets at a few places in the lower sections of the ascent. Susan and I alternated
point position going up the much vaunted Bear Ridge. Not many views were
to be had, as the tree cover was no less than 50%. There was one good
view looking back on the descent from Silver Pass which we covered towards
the end of JMT1 (see sidebar). We had a hard time figuring out where the
top was. Susan decided to wait for David and I forged on ahead, making
one last cellphone call. Soon the terrain shifted to downhill and a view
of Bear Valley opened up:
A short distance later I came to a beautiful spring surrounded by wildflowers. While photographing here, my friends came along and passed me up.
I eventually caught up to them on a long downhill slog. We parallelled Bear Creek for several miles. I stop for a rest and cheese and tortilla snack at Upper Bear Creek Meadows, where there’s a side trail to Seven Gable Lakes. Some miles later Susan and I were negotiating the ford of Bear Creek and we spotted someone ahead of us, also going south. It turns out to be a guy I saw at Mono Creek yesterday. He and I talk for awhile; it seems he took a wrong turn and/or went the long way around Lake Edison. I speed along this last steep uphill before our destination, Rosemarie Meadow, at the dual intersection with sidetrails to Rose Lake and Sandpiper Lake. There are good campsites on both sides of the trail, but the better looking one is already taken.
The meadow has lots of mosquitos. And my new “hi-tech” lighter fails to light, despite working fine at sea level. The other equipment failure is my running shoes. They are just too tight for comfort so I end up not using them for lounging around the camp. Major tiredness. Surely one of the most challenging hiking days I’d done. Just enough time to eat and setup our tents. Not the greatest water--pretty murky in places. At about 10PM about 10 Outward Bounders stumbled through the meadow, making a lot of noise before heading up to Rose Lake.
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View the overall trip map Select (non-pano) Views from this trip Other panoramas in this Park
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