Today was a hard day. It wasn't going to be the most miles we would do in a day but it was definitely the most climbing we would do. Our destination this day was Peeler Lake in the Hoover Wilderness 18 miles away. I had read and heard wonderful things about the area we were going to hike through today. The scenery was supposed to be superb. We also had two passes to go over today, both over 10,800 feet, the highest Tammy had ever been.We began the day again filled with excitement.
The hike up Matterhorn Canyon towards Burro Pass lived up to the hype, it was absolutely beautiful. Halfway up the canyon we stopped for a snack break near a stream and watched a Yosemite Search and Rescue team air lift a sick girl we had seen earlier this morning. They are truly Yosemite's finest.
As we continued up the Matterhorn canyon, we could see the Sawtooth range beginning to rise up over us. This is a remarkable collecting of peaks. We could see them off in the distance from Hwy 395 as we drove through Bridgeport CA on our way down to Yosemite a few days earlier. Now however, we were on the 'BACKSIDE" of them. Man, we had come a long way already! Tammy and I eventually made our way up and over Burro Pass, taking in the grand majesty of these granite spires and the far-reaching views.
We joined up with the Eastys for a lunch break in a beautiful high alpine meadow as the Sawtooth Range appeared to almost be falling down on us. The Eastys call this area "The Place". It certainly is.
As we wound our way up, down, around, through and over the next five miles to Mule pass (the second 10,000+ ft pass of the day), Tammy was beginning to wonder what she had signed up for. With some encouragement and a few hugs, she pressed on. I explained to her that EVERYONE was tired, not just her. Christi and Dave were a bit ahead of us and had left us a note at a trail junction with directions to Peeler Lake and some reassuring words. I told Tammy to keep going as I was going to stop and get some water for the both of us. Stopping anywhere in the Hoover Wilderness is a bad idea, a VERY BAD IDEA. In the short time it took to fill our water bladders, I was nearly eaten alive by mosquitoes. Easty had warned me about these bloodsuckers. He wasn't kidding. I rejoined Tammy and we made our snails pace climb up the last mile to Peeler Lake.
The Eastys had found two great campsites at the west end of the lake. They had their shelter set up but had waited for us for dinner. I really appreciated that. Christi helped Tam clean up as Dave and I cooked some dinner and talked about the day. We all ate dinner together and then fell into bed. The hard day was done.
No comments:
Post a Comment