Southern California tries to crush your spirit with its long stretches devoid of shade and water. The high Sierra tries to wear out your body with its high elevations and daily climbing. Yosemite is different. Yosemite tries to crush every last fiber of your being with every resource at its disposal.
I woke to a fine layer of frost, which I was expecting. However, the morning felt much warmer, and I figured the worst of the cold front was over. By the time I was packed up it was shorts and t-shirt weather. Early on in the day the trail was pleasant, almost easy aside from the constant water on the trail. I wound through meadows, up rocky trails, and between granite blocks the size of cars, houses, and the occasional apartment building. All around were sheer granite cliffs and pine forests. I saw an abundance of deer, 12 total throughout the day.
Now, here's the thing about those beautiful granite cliffs; they are stunning to see, but you pay for the view. Yosemite is beautiful to see but a bitch to hike through, because the trail has to get over those soaring mountain faces somehow. I imagine someone looked at each ridge and said "here's a small space where the cliff doesn't drop off at a sheer vertical angle for hundreds of feet, let's put the trail here." The result is a trail that is 90% switchbacks, and is often at slopes of 30 to 40 degrees. I began up Benson Pass (view from top looking west pictured), which was steep but manageable. Coming down the other side, however, was a whole different story.
I stopped for lunch at a lake just on the other side of the pass. Here I began to wonder about my food supply. It just seemed too heavy. I did a full inventory and discovered my mistake. I needed enough food to get me to Echo Lake, but packed enough to get me to Highway 80, a full two days further. Rather than carry the extra food another 120 miles, I decided to eat as much as possible to lighten my pack and reduce my calorie deficit. I tried shoving down crackers with cheese and peanut butter, pringles, goldfish crackers, cookies and candy bars. I felt gross and still didn't notice much weight difference in my pack. And I know what you're thinking, that it would be nice to "have to" eat junk food. Well, just try it once and I promise you'll change your mind. Sure, the first few go down easy, but 2000 calories later you'll be at the toilet with a finger down your throat like a 19 year old swedish underwear model. Oh, and enjoy the worst gas of your life to boot.
Despite the disgusting binge, I enjoyed the lake (pictured). Selburg I think was the name of the lake. Anyway, I was packing to go when a large bald eagle flew over, which was a highlight. Thus ends the fun part of the day. The trail from there dropped 2000 feet in 3 miles, jarring every joint in my body along the way. I got to the bottom, which is deep forest adjacent to lake Benson. The tree falls were horrible here, and everything was marshy from snow melt. Worse, it was at 7600 feet and surrounded by vegetation, so it was humid. Then there were the mosquitoes. I slogged off trail trying to find a passable route, but each tree down led to another. Soon I was nowhere near the trail and operating by map and dead reckoning. Somehow I cleared the edge of the marsh and found myself right next to the trail. The mosquitoes were bad, so I started up the trail, which was a 1600 foot climb, despite jello legs from the recent descent and bushwhacking. The climb was exhausting, being almost as steep as the descent had been. Finally I was near the top when I reached a lake. I contemplated a rest when, out of the undergrowth, there came a swarm of mosquitoes. I'm not exaggerating when I say this was the largest swarm I have ever seen. There had to be a thousand easy. My fatigue forgotten, I ran down the trail (well, jogged... walked quickly). I repeated this performance at two more small lakes before Seavey Pass was finally behind me.
I descended into Kerrick Canyon and slogged through mud and snow until I reached a river crossing. This was about 28 miles in, but I wanted out of this cold and narrow canyon before setting up camp. Of course, late in the day the water was high with snow melt, well over my hip, so I had to walk upstream to find a place I could ford. Even so, the water was still above my knee. It was cold too, but I took my time because on wrong footstep could mean a dunk in the river. Pulling a soaked bag out of that strong current would not be easy either.
The cold water helped refresh my legs, so I was able to push on despite the 800 foot climb out of the canyon. I made to ridge and started part way down the other side, into the wider Stubblefield Canyon. Halfway down I was exhausted and looking for a level tent spot. Everything seemed sloped, covered in debris, soaked, or all three. I ended up finding a granite knob protruding out from the main body of the slope. The top has a flat spot, about three feet from a 40 foot drop. But as long as I'm careful not to take a swan dive the space is good enough for me. To the east and west I have views of the canyon, north of me is another ridge I will probably be climbing tomorrow, and behind me is a waterfall that I hiked down past. Not bad.
I ended the day on a down note. My water filtration system sprung a leak. I can make do without the clean water reservoir, but this is in the dirty water reservoir. I figure I can patch it up or jerry-rig a solution, but after 30 miles and at least 4000 feet up today, it's going to have to wait until morning.
