Aug 19: Dollar Lake -- Incomparable Rae Lakes -- Glen Pass -- Off the JMT

Our packs are finally getting lighter and off we go to Arrow Lake. I love this lake--it would have made a great campsite.

Now I’m behind everyone, but I don’t care--the Rae Lakes are beautiful and I stop to capture a bit of the view:

I amble on down the trail and reach the last Rae Lake. It’s most beautiful with incredible mountains behind it.

David and I head out behind Susan. The trail appears to go straight up the side of the mountains. We run into several groups of people coming down. I keep looking for small streams of water to top off my filter-canteen. The trail actually levels out for a bit in an alpine lake setting before heading up nearly vertical. I’m killing myself to keep going but I catch up to Susan and we reach the top together. Finally the cellphone shows it is receiving a signal, although it seems to vary from analog to digital based on what direction I’m facing. However despite this, no calls could be made. I suspect it didn’t have enough power to transmit all the way to the nearest cell tower, which is probably 20 miles away.

Glen Pass (11978') feels like the top of this world. There are so many peaks to be seen both near and far that it overwhelms the senses. A quick survey yields notables like Mt. Rixford, Painted Lady, Diamond Peak, Mt. Cotter, Mt. Clarence King, South Guard, Mt. Brewer, North Guard, Mt. Farquhar, and either East Vidette, or Mt. Stanford. These features are clearly visible in these scenes.

I wait for David and he arrives but is pretty tired. I head down the rocky trail. I have next to no water and there is none close to the trail for many miles. I run into a guy who is looking for water. The trail descends through rock moonscapes.

Finally a great view emerges overlooking Charlotte Lake:

I keep on trucking and hoping to find water but don’t. I pass the trails to Kearsarge Pass. I get to the top of a descending section but the view towards Forester Pass is too great and I slip off the trail to capture this scene:

I overhear a lot of conversations from people along this section. On the way down a steep descent I run into two people who are the most amazingly attired; the guy is wearing a starched white outfit and in his pack are various bottles sticking out of pockets and a melon. They listen in wonder at how many miles we’ve come since Lake Edison.
Finally I practically fall into the stream coming down from Bullfrog Lake. I’m so thirsty I drink a quart at once. David and Susan arrive and we descend to Bubbs Creek together. Although I wanted to shoot a pano at the turnoff from the JMT, there were some Russian or German-speaking guys having an argument there and the vibes were not good.

We keep going down, down, down until we reach Junction Meadow. I cannot believe the incredible mountains surrounding us, which remind me of mountains in China:

We find a camp that has been used by horses or pack animals and settle in. I hurredly fire up my dinner as I sense that there are bears nearby. It turns out that there were bears up by Kearsarge Pass who were in the news for injuring a hiker who tried to take food away from the bear. But we ended up having a bear-free evening.

Bubbs Creek is a lush moist cool place at Junction Meadows. I spend a lot of time removing the horsepoop from my campspot, a feature of all the spaces here. We are watched by a huge marmot. Eventually I comment on his odd grin and he scurries away as if understanding every word. The fire is so great and we are enjoying the final night on the trail, knowing we will be eating real food and hot showers tomorrow. I burn a few disposable items in the coals.

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