August 23rd - Day 1
Happy Isles > Sunrise High Sierra Camp
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Parking car at Whitney Portal and getting ready to catch ride to Tuolumne Meadows
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Top of Mt. Whitney is only 211 miles away. Adam is wondering exactly how Jasmine developed her strange definition of "vacation". She blames her parents.
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| Vernal Falls |
This was a stressful start to the trip. By the time we got out permit it was 1:30 and we had 13 miles to hike with 5,000 feet elevation gain. Poor planning on our part...There were so many people the first few miles and it was very hot. We both prefer hiking in the alpine environmental, rather than a hot, dusty forest.
|  | | Little Yosemite Valley |
 | | Half Dome |
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| En route to Sunrise Camp |
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| Barely escaping the smoky, wildfire haze |
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| Last view of Half Dome |
Day 2
Sunrise High Sierra Camp > Evelyn Lake Jct.
We were excited about seeing some old climbing routes today and to see Lyell canyon.
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| Packing up from our late night campsite |
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| In front of Cathedral Peak |
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| Cathedral and Echo Peaks |
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| Nice view of Eichorn Pinnacle |
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| Burger and Beer at Tuolumne Store |
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| Leaving Tuolumne Meadows |
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| Lyell Canyon |
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| Lyell Fork |
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| Riverbench |
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| Heading towards Donahue Pass |
Day 3
Evelyn Lake Jct. > Garnet Lake
Up and over two passes today, Donahue and Island Pass. Beautiful day.
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This turned out to be the most exotic animal we saw on the entire trip, a brown Fox in Lyell canyon. As everyone knows, foxes are very exotic. We watched it hunt for a while and it was amazing to see it pounce and jump in the meadow grass. Need a better camera in the future...
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| Alpine creek crossing en route to Donahue Pass |
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| Getting closer to the top |
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| View north from our first Pass at 11,056 ft |
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| View South |
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| On way to Island Pass, Banner Peak in the background |
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| Nice rack |
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| Atop Island Pass |
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| Tired on our descent into Garnet Lake |
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| Thousand Island Lake |
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| Sunrise on Banner and Ritter Peaks |
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| View from campsite on Garnet Lake |
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Day 4
Garnet Lake > Red's Meadow Resort
This was the hardest day for Jasmine, with a long descent and many, many blisters formed. It was a beautiful start though.
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| Morning View of Garnet Lake from our campsite |
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| Garnet Lake |
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| Devil Rocks! We thought these were so cool |
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| Devil's Postpile National Monument |
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| Devilish Columns |
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| Crazy top view |
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| Jasmine was obsessed with the top of the Devil Rocks. |
Reds Meadow Resort. Best vanilla milkshake we ever tasted. Jasmine's poor feet. Luckily, they had an extra cabin for the night for us to re-energize, take a hot shower, and re-evaluate our trip itinerary. Worth every dollar.
Day 5
Red's Meadow Resort > Tully Hole
We got an early start today (6:30) and the hike was much prettier than we expected, our goal today was the home of Catelyn Stark. Hike was 18 plus miles today.
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| Remnant of the 1992 Rainbow Fire |
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| View of the Mineretts |
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| Descending into Duck Creek Junction |
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| Purple Lake |
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| Huge rock glacier - the core is pure ice. |
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| TRÈS BIEN view at Virginia Lake. We were really ready to stop here, but had four more miles to go. |
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| On our way to Tully Hole! That's right GOT fans |
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| Descending to Tully Hole. |
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Adam found us a sweet campspot this night, but it was pretty cold. He had to pull out his beard face cover.
Day 6
Tully Hole > Bear Creek Trail Junction
Today we went up and over Silver Pass, and up and over Bear Ridge. Bear Ridge was Adam's most hated part of the trail. He stopped taking pictures, started muttering threats under his breath, and almost left his altitmeter watch crushed on the side of the trail. Suunto (the altimeter watch) was rudely showing us how slow our progress was as we went up Bear Ridge.
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| On way up to Silver Pass |
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| Squaw Lake |
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Views on the way up Silver Pass
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| Silver Pass |
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| On top of Silver Pass |
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| View south, to wherence we are heading |
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| View back North, from whence we came |
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And that is all the pictures we have of Day 6, because Bear Ridge.
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Day 7
Bear Creek Trail Jct. > Muir Trail Ranch
Today we picked up our resuppply bucket (thanks Erin!) at Muir Trail Ranch. We hiked up and over Selden Pass and then had a long 4,000 ft descent to the Ranch. When we got there we rushed to take care of our resupply, do some laundry (in 1950's machine), and take a shower. Then we had an amazing dinner and soaked in the private hot springs. It was a nice break!
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| At Marie Lakes |
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| Taking a break before Seldon Pass |
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| Totally candid action shot |
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| South side of Seldon Pass |
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Mountain Chickens! We filled up our water next to this family and Adam generally freaked them out as he chased them to get good pictures. This is also the last time we saw a couple of hikers we called "The Robots". Those two didn't seem to have any trouble with the crazy elevation gains and descents of the JMT. They probably even liked Bear Ridge.
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| Sallie Keys Lakes |
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| Descending to Muir Trail Ranch |
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| We made it! |
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| Chillin' on the front porch |
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| Our Cabin |
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| View from the front door |
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| Private Hot Springs! |
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| This felt so amazing to our feet and legs! |
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