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Day 53 (Tape)
Friday June 7th, early in the morning. I’m walkin along the San Joaquin River. Very low elevation. We dipped below 8000 feet here, just barely. At the bottom of this ah, descent. And I find myself, I mean, the walking is easy, the environment is nice. The trail has not even a hint of snow.…
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Day 53
After the hellish snow on Muir Pass, we are dreading Seldon Pass. But it turns out to be fun, we don’t even change out of our running shoes. Next we start to dread the crossing of Bear Creek, which I’ve heard frightening tales about. But we avoid the ford by going cross-country higher up. We’re…
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Day 52 (Pete)
Oh did I wake up in a foul foul mood this morning. It seemed way too early for Dylan to be rolling up his pad. I languished in my bag. The ascent back up into the snow and up Muir Pass was, although reported to be easy, very daunting. Totally sick of snow, I bemoaned…
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Day 52 (Tape)
It’s late in the day, June 6th, Thurday. We are contemplating THE BIGGEST, BY FAR ford that we’ve done. Pete’s doing a dry run without a backpack right now. He’s in to his waist, about. Not even halfway across, he’s having trouble walking. He’s turning around. Looks like the water’s too fast, gets too deep.…
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Day 52
Pete is not in the mood for snow today. I love this terrain, and maintain some enthusiasm for us up Muir Pass. On the other side, though, my force runs out. The snow becomes a patient assailant bent on slowly, unstoppably driving us mad. There is nothing but whiteness around us, no sound but the…
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Day 51 (Pete)
We treaded softly past Yogi curled up in his sleeping bag at a time that qualified as a late start for us. The river didn’t give up anything less than waist deep roaring torrents. Eventually, up river, Dyl spied a large half submerged log spanning the entire breadth. It was ice slick, of coarse. The…
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Day 51 (Tape)
Okay! Wednesday, June… 5th, I think. Ah, the first thing that happened to us in the morning was waltzed over and I took a look at that little old river we had to cross. And I believe my eyes did get a little wide when I saw it. It was ah, a big river. Rushing.…
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Day 51
After half an hour of bank-searching, we crawl across King’s River on an icy log. The snow on Mather Pass is already slushy when we arrive, but Pete finds a way up some exposed rocks. This world is amazing to both of us, but it seemed especially foreign at first to him. Essentially being his…
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Day 50 (Pete)
William had a better quote I remembered today. “You guys are learning what little you need to survive on, and how much you need that little.” True true. Right after breaking camp we set out, Dyl in front, across hard frozen snowfields. It occurred to me, looking at him up ahead, that this is really…
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Day 50 (Tape)
Yeah I guess then it turns into June 4 today. We woke up at Rae Lakes this morning. Covered with frost. But warm and toasty nonetheless. And ah, just started to head down. And we went past other lakes, and the snow was a pain in the butt. There were these sun cups. The sun…