Another beautiful night. The weather has been magnificent without a cloud in the sky during the day or night. Even at 10000 feet when in the sun, it was hot enough to seek and enjoy the shade. Got up early and started walked about 5:10 in the morning. Again the day begins with a climb and I am much faster ascending in the morning. I have always been a morning person and that continues while hiking. It feels like I ascend at about half the speed in the afternoon than I do in the mornings and the mornings in the High Sierra’s are perfect for hiking. If you stand still you might want a jacket on but when hiking it is just perfect. After about 1 hour I pass 2 other hikers that are just getting up and one tells me that if I have AT&T there is a small area where you can get service. He shows me where it is. Stand right here he says and point your phone down into the desert below. What a view!!

By the way the next water after 730 was going to be at 741. For me that is a stretch for 3 liters especially when I leave the water source and camp. I tend to drink about a liter of water during the evening meal and during the night. So that leaves me with 2 liters for 11 miles and that is a stretch. That is another good reason for walking early in the morning before it gets hot.

Here are some more early morning views as I am hiking along.

When I get to Diaz Creek at mile 741 there is “Tent Talker” filling up on water as well. She did make her 18 miles but slept later and so our paths cross again but probably for the last time. She is heading over Cottonwood Pass and beyond and I am going down to Horseshoe Meadows to be picked up by Lenora for the weekend. Here is the Diaz Creek water source.

Lenora has been following my progress and gets to Horseshoe Meadows about 30 minutes after I do and she has brought up 4 other hikers with her. “Clark Kent” and “Rock City” are two of them and we have a good reunion. We just sit around and talk for about 40 minutes or so. They are heading back to Cottonwood Pass and are going to climb Mt. Whitney as a PCT diversion. I have not decided if I am going to summit Mt. Whitney or not. That will be a game day decision. Lenora has magic in the car and we feed everyone with oranges and snickers and juice drinks. As we are talking more and more hikers are being brought up by other angels and there are probably 12 or so hikers just sitting in the shade waiting for the heat to die down before they ascend up to Cottonwood Pass. Lenora and I head down into Lone Pine.

Lenora’s Note:
When we started this section and I dropped Don we both remembered the challenge of the training hike last year and we gave him a generous time to reach Cottonwood Pass and Horseshoe Meadow. I expected to be meeting him late Saturday but Friday close to noon I checked on his progress and found he was already on the cut off trail to the campground so I bundled the treats into the car and headed up the mountain road. It is less scary to drive the twisty trail than to be a passenger and I arrive at the campground to find my wandering husband sitting on the ground out of the sun. I brought “magic” so he hauls the cooler out and as hikers arrive several of them enjoy juice drinks, candy bars and the few oranges we have left. It seems to be a really poor citrus year as I shop for oranges everywhere I stop and often cannot find more than a dozen in a store. I love being the “magic” delivery person and this is how I was able to enjoy the ride up the mountain with the company. “Rock City” had actually recognized me from a previous magic delivery at Bird Pass and asked if I was heading up the mountain and if they could get a ride. Their conversation helped distract me from the curves and steep drop-offs on the road. I am reminded how present God is in our everyday lives as we go about our business rarely thinking of how much we are blessed. These hikers were walking up the sidewalk at the very moment I was closing the tailgate to drive up the mountain they needed to get to. A few minutes either way and we would have missed each other.