Epilogue to the 50 mile hike

The music for this blog will be Rocky Mountain High by John Denver and the wine will be a Cabernet by Kirkland. I know what you are thinking. Why a song from the Rockies when you just finished walking in the Sierras? Well, the song is about mountains and sunshine and no one has written a song about the Sierra’s. And what is Costco doing in the wine business? You should try it. It is pretty good for $9 a bottle.

Ok, so I write my blogs and I really don’t get many comments. I get the auto bots that ask me to follow somebody else’s blogs and an occasional friend may say something. If you remember on my last blog I ended it with the question “Would you do it again?” Well guess who asked me that question the very next morning after I sent out the blog….My wife and daughter. I guess I hit a nerve.

So we finished the adventure. 58 miles over 6 days. It was absolutely beautiful and all worth it. You have to get back into the back country to see some of these vistas. Each day has a different terrain and a different feel. The stars at night were amazing but hard to stay up till 9:30 to see them. It gets cold and you are tired.

Lessons learned:
1) If you are going to hike with a 30 pound backpack. Train with a 30 pound backpack.

2) Elevation change is not the problem. It is the rate of elevation change. The 1400 ft down and up day was harder than the 3000 vertical foot up day.

3) With beautiful vistas you can stop on switchbacks and look like you are admiring the view but you are really resting.

4) Hiking is a solitary sport. You are walking in a line at different speeds. Not a lot of talking going on.

5) I have determined the hierarchy of hikers.

a. Top of the list are the backpackers who carry everything who don’t use trails and camp in the wild.

b. Next are backpackers who carry everything and camp in the camps near the high sierra camps.

c. Then there are the people like us. We carried our clothes, water and lunch during the  day and slept in the beds in the tent cabins.

d. Below us are the mule people. They rode mules from camp to camp.

e. Day hikers.

6) 8 miles is a long way. Not that it was hard. But when you look back across the expanse to see where you started that day it is impressive.

7) It would be hard to try to escape into the mountains if the law is chasing you. You really can’t go that fast.

8) It does get cold at night. Most nights were in the 30’s with one down into the low 20’s.

9) Wool socks take 2 days to dry not one.

10) Country music is not good for hiking. You need something with a beat. My boys were listening to the sound track to the movie Lord of the Rings. Nothing like armies marching into battle when you are going uphill.

So to answer the question, would I do this again? Yes, I don’t need to do the whole circuit. We met some people older than us doing this so age is not the issue. I would do Tuolumne Meadows, Sunset, Merced and down into the valley. I would love to have this at other national parks but the park system is considering closing these down due to environmental damage caused by the weekly mule supply trains needed to restock them.

And yes, honey I would marry you again.

Now for the pictures:

There are lot of these pictures. The long line…

The uphill would be worth the view!

We started our day at the tree line just under the rocky twin peaks in the distant.

Just a happy deer.

A coyote sunning himself. Never stirred as we walked by.

Looking out at half dome from Cloud’s rest overlook.

This is home for the night.

Watching the sunset on a ridge above May Lake

Ben run’s into one his college professors!

This was the finish line!