backpacking

Day 12: Evolution Valley to Evolution Lake
After a few challenging days I was very grateful to have a “near-0” day. We woke up early, struck camp, had a Clif bar for breakfast and hit the trail to climb 1.7 miles and 900 feet up to Evolution Lake, where we would relax for the rest of the day.

Day 11: MTR South Junction to Evolution Valley
​Looking back on my trail experience I can only be amazed at my progression along the trail. I had to face many personal obstacles before even getting to the trail and then had more mental and physical obstacles as I walked my 200-mile journey.

Day 10: Bear Creek to South Fork of the San Joaquin
The morning after my worst day on trail started out buggy. Out came the bug nets as we hurriedly ate our oatmeal breakfasts. We hit the trail and made it to the crossing of Bear Creek just as the sun crested the ridge.

Day 9 – VVR to Bear Creek
The day following our relaxing and social zero day was my worst day on trail.
We made the most of our last morning at VVR and treated ourselves to a full and hearty breakfast in their restaurant. We got the last of our gear squared away, weighed our packs and hit the dirt road out of the resort.

Day 6-7: Deer Creek to Vermillion Valley Resort
​While eating breakfast at Red’s Meadow Resort, I had grabbed a copy of Elizabeth Wenk’s “John Muir Trail” to read up on Devil’s Postpile as well as the next section of the trail. The guidebook declared that the first 5.5 miles of our 6th day on trail are considered “[…] the most monotonous on the JMT.”

Day 5: Minaret Creek Junction to Deer Creek
Our first stop for day 5 was a visit to Devil’s Postpile National Monument. ​We were there early enough to beat the regular tourist crowd and we also got to see the sun rise over the odd columnar rock formations.

Day 3-4: Gem Lake to Minaret Creek Junction
On our third day on trail we joined up with the JMT.
We were up and out of camp nice and early, taking advantage of the cool morning air as we climbed up through the forest to nearby Agnew Pass. We especially enjoyed crossing through the meadows beside Clark Lakes.

Day 1-2: ​Tioga Road Trailhead to Gem Lake
After nearly a year of planning, we made it to our start day.
We woke up in Yosemite Valley and took the time to enjoy breakfast, a last shower and to do one last check on all of our gear. Then my father-in-law drove us up to our trailhead, a couple hours away near Tioga Pass.

What an awesome send-off before we venture down to California! We spent this past Saturday night in the Park Butte lookout tower on the South-West side of Mt. Baker and the mountain was an amazing sight! Our last training hike ended up being one of the better ones, thanks to a few different factors.

We’re getting down to the wire, which means down to the nitty-gritty bits of preparation. My biggest focus these past couple weeks has been on our resupply package. This is my first long trail, which means my first time using a resupply system. A few months back, as we were figuring out our itinerary, we made the decision of how best to resupply ourselves. Being Canadian, we’re struggling with the problem of our dollar being rather low.