day 15: 6th day on the JMT, Ruby Lake to Red's Meadow Resort

 Sunrise at Ruby Lake

We broke camp and hit the trail by 7:40 a.m., our earliest yet because we needed to go 15.8 miles to Red's Meadow Resort to get our first resupply.  There were tons of ups and downs and plenty of snow covering the trail.  Thank goodness John could figure out the general vicinity of the trail each time. 

 Ruby Lake in the morning

Anyway, we were on a mission so we were booking it.  We passed Garnet Lake which was beautiful and continued to pass many more little lakes.  Then came Shadow Lake, also beautiful, and our last major ascent until Red's.  Oh my goodness, it seemed it would never end and it was so steep.  We got to the top (what we thought was the top) and were greeted with a hail and thunderstorm. 

Garnet Lake

 Garnet Lake

We waited 10 minutes until the hail turned to rain and we thought it was clearing up so we booked it out of there.  It rained for 2 hours straight and then on and off for another hour.  There was hail mixed into the 3 hours and thunder the entire time.  Not only did we hike through the storm but we had to pass through creeks of snow melt, hike over snow and through plenty of mud.  We were over it.

 Scenery along the way

Scenery (trail to the left)

We descended a lot (around 2500 feet throughout the day) and I slipped quite a few times.  Again, thank goodness for my trekking poles.  I love them!  Anyway, we continued to go as fast as possible to get to Red's because we'd heard they had great milkshakes and I was craving a cheeseburger (hello, appetite!).  Also, we weren't sure what time they closed up shop and wanted to make sure we got some food while they were still open.

 

 Shadow Lake

A storm's a brewing

Storming

 This section of trail had a ton of trees knocked down, very weird

Burned out section of forest

We arrived at Red's around 4:20 p.m. and saw they stayed open until 7:00 p.m. Because of the rain, the long/tough day and our stinkiness I urged John to get a room as opposed to us camping.  What a great choice!  It was a little expensive but we'll be sleeping in a bed (yay!), we got to wash and dry our clothes (yay!) and we both got showers (double yay!).  We also both had bacon cheeseburgers with chips and milkshakes. 

Devil's Postpile National Monument

We are clean, warm, dry, full and happy.  The day got off to a tough start but we are super happy now!  Also, we walked past Devil's Postpile National Monument and while it was cool we didn't see what the big deal was.

What hurts: both of us have aching feet.  Blisters.  My leg muscles are getting a little sore.

Our room at Red's Meadow.  We set up all of our stuff so that it could dry out.

Total JMT miles: 59