day 16: 7th day on the JMT, Red's Meadow Resort to Purple Lake

It was very hard to get out of bed at Red's this morning.  It's amazing how much better you sleep in a bed rather than in a sleeping bag on the ground.  But we did get up, we got ready and packed all of our things up.  We left Red's around 9:30 a.m., a very late start for us but at least we were well rested.

Since we had our resupply we were weighted down with packs full of food and we had to hike 1,400 ft up and out of Red's Meadow.  Way to start the day.  We walked through a forest that clearly had caught on fire at some point, it looked very sad.  We are now reconnected with the Pacific Crest Trail and saw many PCT hikers throughout the day.  John helped a lot of them figure out where they were going with his maps.

burned out section

Today we moved from Ansel Adams Wilderness to the John Muir Wilderness.  The weather was nice; sunny, warmish and breezy.  Perfect for hiking.  We went up a lot ascents, down a few descents and through lots of rolling terrain.  I was very tired of the ascents and was about to lose it at some points but kept it together.  Oh John, he sure did choose a diva to join him on the trail.

The trail starting to get a little sandier

beautiful mountains

look at all of those trees

John on the trail

To pass the time today I prayed, thought about people in my life, sang hymns, Christmas carols and Wagon Wheel (all in my head, of course).  I also sang 100 Bottles of Beer on the Wall, I hate that song but I was desperate to occupy my thoughts with something other than pain or exhaustion.  And I did the count to 20 over and over thing again on an extremely long ascent. 

lots of rocks along the way

more beautiful mountains and trees

We are currently camping at Purple Lake and it is very cold.  We hiked 13.8 miles today, yippee!  I do feel like I'm getting stronger although I'm still getting pretty winded on some of those ascents. 

Purple Lake

What hurts: my feet, more blisters are showing up and my shoulders.  John's feet are feeling better.

our campsite at Purple Lake

Total JMT miles: 73