19 miles of hiking • 4000' elevation gain • 1 night
Our last trip before my wife Christy and I hike the John Muir Trail starting July 7th, this was intended to be a bit of a shakedown hike to ensure we're set up well for three weeks on the trail in California.
We were the only ones at the trailhead Friday morning. It looks like we timed our trip to this wilderness perfectly—both rhododendrons and bear grass were in bloom everywhere we went. The water levels are now at summer levels and the tiny native rainbow trout were plainly visible throughout Elk Lake Creek. We ate lunch at the Battle Creek junction and headed up toward Twin Lakes and, holy shit… the mosquitoes were out in full force near the top of the ridge. A lack of wind, a brutally steep trail, and shallow tarns that make perfect breeding grounds for mosquitoes at the top of the ridge conspired to make the climb hell. Christy and I were both bitten a lot. The mosquitoes were worse than I've seen in Indian Heaven in July. The mosquitoes were mostly gone by the time we made it down to upper Twin Lake though. There was small mounds of snow around upper Twin Lake that are probably gone now.
On the way back Sunday, we found an amazing lunch spot on Mother Lode Creek near the Battle Creek junction—afternoon sun on the creek, two deep pools for swimming, and a small island in the middle of the creek for sun bathing and eating. Other than that, the hike out was mostly uneventful.
As for what we learned for our impending trip, we're going to pack some Body Glide and extra snacks. Other than that, all of our gear worked perfectly and we're just conditioned enough to push through the average of 12 mile days on the JMT.
Chris
June 17, 2013
The mosquitos in BOTW are brutal.
Here's a helpful link for the JMT re mosquitos: http://www.highsierratopix.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=9131&start=24 (Although the info won't be that helpful later in the trip). Also, it might be worth picking up some headnets—at 1 oz, it was nice added comfort in case the skeeters were really bad.
So jealous about your JMT trip.