day 20: 11th day on the JMT, Marie Lake to just below Muir Pass

I'm sorry that it's taken me awhile to post.  My in-laws were in town and we were busy, busy, busy with lots of house renovations!  Pictures will be coming for that soon too!

Today we started the day by breaking camp, shoveling down Clif bars and setting out to summit Selden Pass.  This is the easiest pass we've done because we only had to climb 300 feet, yay for that!

Heading towards Selden Pass

Going up Selden

Panoramic at the top of Selden

Then we went downhill and passed some beautiful lakes.  We went on and down until lunchtime.  I was so ready for lunch because my feet were really hurting and I really needed some water. I'm pretty sure I could've fallen asleep right there on the ground.  After an hour long lunch break we continued on rolling terrain and slightly uphill for a long time.  Also, it was not shaded by trees so it felt super hot.

Descending Selden

One of the many beautiful lakes

Ahh, flat land :)

Vegas/Dan hiked with us throughout the day.  Hike, hike, hike.  I sang songs in my head (Jesus Loves Me, Come Thou Fount, Amazing Grace and Wagon Wheel) and prayed while we hiked. Then we got closer to Evolution Meadow which we heard was pretty cool.  We hiked way up to get to that (1,000 ft?) and I was counting 1-20 the whole way.  Then we had the joy of crossing Evolution Creek where the water came up about 2 inches above my knees.  Thank goodness for John and his encouragement.

Beautiful mountains

Hike, hike, hike.  We see Evolution Meadow and it was very peaceful and pretty.  Something nice to look at since I'm almost in tears because my feet hurt so bad. We find a ranger station, unoccupied, as they haven't manned their posts yet for the season.  We consider camping there but Vegas said there's supposed to be better sites in 0.1 miles.  So we walk for a few minutes and find a good site.

Evolution Meadow

More of Evolution Meadow

(trail to the left)

Thank goodness because I was really pushing my limit for a meltdown (completely from foot pain).  We set up camp, put on warmer clothes, eat dinner, pop new blisters (2 new ones), write in journal and now I'm going to bed because I'm exhausted.  While we ate dinner we all talked about the food we fantasized about eating.  Mine was Mexican food, sweet tea and a Krispy Kreme doughnut.  John wanted pizza.  I anticipate another restless night of sleep as all my nights on the trail have been.  But we hiked 17 miles today so yay!  Muir Pass is tomorrow, may the Lord help us...

Our campsite a couple of miles from Muir Pass

What hurts: feet, left calf muscle hurt earlier in the day but feels better now.  John is fine, of course.

Total JMT miles: 117