Day 65

South fork jaquin river to Maria lake - 14 miles

Total - 867.6 miles

I had a rough night as my throat was dry from the lack of water I drank the day before and my nose was clogged to the nines. I swear I snored last night which I don’t think I normally do. At least I’ve never been told I do. I also know I drooled everywhere breathing out of my mouth for majority of the night. I blew my nose at some point, half awake, half asleep, and the shit that came out of it would give people nightmares. Helped tho. We got a later start this morning aka 6:30am. Crazy I know. I personally woke up, sat straight up in bed, noticed and girl starting to hike, felt my hair and realized that it was sticking in every direction. I should’ve taken a picture. We slowly got ready and then hit the 5 mile downhill before we got to the climb. All in a row we hiked along a river chatting it up. So cute. After that last pass it has felt like a whole new sierras. The vegetation has changed which I don’t know how to explain as I am not knowledgeable on plants but it has changed I swear. We then hit the uphill which was long steep switchbacks going in and out of the trees. Dad and I hiked together while the guys blazed ahead. Everytime we would enter a shaded area, millions of mosquitos would attack like air ships trying to reach their target aka us. It was brutal trying to filter water and whack away the mosquitos from your shoulders, arms, and hands. I didn’t take my pack off so my back could get a break but somehow there are still new itchy bites back there. We orginally planned at camping at the lake before the pass but FarOut comments stated that there were minimum snow levels so that influenced us to go to the lake just after the pass. The other influence were the mosquitos. After crossing the lake inlet and looking at all the cutthroat and rainbow trout swimming around, we caught up to Caleb and Marc, both looking miserable. I swear 50 mosquitos were attempting a blood heist on each other them. Caleb was in the water trying to convince to get in but with that many mosquitos around I wasn’t going to get undressed to expose more skin for them to prey on. I put my pack back on after contemplating and got moving while Caleb ran for safety in his clothes, completing failing. Put socks on a wet body slowed him down as mosquitos went in for a kill. In the mistake of screaming out, he swallowed probably three mosquitos and proceed to choke, hack, and gag while trying to put his pants on. I was giggling and gagging as I left the scene. We crossed another inlet also filled with trout and then climbed the last 1.5 miles of steep uphill to the pass top. Brutal but we had to in order to flee to bugs to eat lunch. After huffing and puffing our way to the top, we were greeted with views and most importantly marmots and pot guts aka ground squirrels. There were two marmots, one larger than the other, and they were not shy. You know hikers feed these guys, not because they were fat (they weren’t) but because they got in a foot of us every 5 minutes putting their noses to the air to sniff out the food. They were the cutest things ever. So fluffy, mischievous, and adorable. Dad dropped a bit of tortilla on the ground and one of them got the piece and was munching right there in front of us. They would go away, come back, and then get scared again. Same with the pot guts. Back and forth they went. The bigger one would go on the high rock and view his kingdom occasionally. At one point, the bigger marmot was sitting by a rock in the shade of the bushes before turning and slamming its jaw into the boulder with a thunk and flinching out of pain. It was a very human reaction of slamming your face into and object, hurting yourself, and looking around to see if anyone saw it. Everyone saw it. Everyone laughed. The Marmot proceeded to then get on top of the boulder and lay down as if embarrassed and needed to reevaluate its life. Chin down and everything. We were dying at the chain of events knowing that no one would think it’s funny as you truly just had to be there to watch a marmot slam its head against a rock. Giggling right now about the memory of it. The other part was 5 minutes later it tried to have sex with the smaller marmot and got completely swerved. Bet the reason why was from that embarrassing head slam. It was easily one of my favorite lunch spots. Views were spectacular, temperature was perfect, and the entertainment was out of this world. I also remember reading a comment somewhere that a marmot would snatch your stuff if you weren’t paying attention on a pass or a campsite. That made it even better. We then had a whopping 0.6 miles down to the lake. We crossed slushy snowfields, postholing some times, and got our feet wet from the melting snow. I don’t remember if I had mentioned this but pretty much 40% of the trails in the sierras are soaking wet from all the melting snow. Feet are always a little soggy. We found camp in a great spot, close to the lake, again amazing views, and somewhat flat. I only had one thing in mind which was to go swimming especially as there were huge ice chunks floating from one side to the other as the wind pushed them. I wanted to experience my first polar plunge in the sierras in an alpine lake. Dad went first and dove into the little cove that we found having a lack luster reaction than I would’ve expected. Caleb went next as I followed. He dove while I screamed I can’t do it as my feet turned red and the pin began to set in from the cold. I think I got a count down or it was the bullying from dad to just do it, that I plunged down into the cold water. Truly think I lost my breathe and sight as I came up gasping for air, no sound to leave my lips. I ran for shore but every rock hurt x10 more from the freezing water, slowing me down significantly as I tried to find my footing. Got to shore (like 2 feet away) and dried off with my bandana. The wind was warmer than what I was feeling in that moment. Marc then was next but he chose a different route. I had mentioned earlier how I wanted a picture with the ice floating as I needed proof that I actually did it. Marc went over to sit on the ice and fell through (intentionally). This made it look like he was just chilling out like he was in a hot tub. I had his camera and I snapped a great shot of him (his words and Caleb’s). I thought it was so cool, Caleb thought it was so cool so like sheep we recreated his iconic pic for ourselves on Marc’s camera. They were a little more relaxed in their photos and I looked tense as fuck trying to not suffer any more than I had to. We lounged in the sun with the wind coming in gusts taking in the view and trying to figure out what other American things Marc hasn’t tried yet that we need to force him to try. A lot of fried food is coming his way. Same with pop rocks. Gonna blow his mind. After getting too chilly, we went to go set up. After we lounged and talked while waiting for just the right time for dinner as if we do it too early we get too hungry throughout the night. We started around 5:15. It was very windy as well around dinner so I was LAYERED up with puffy and rain jacket. Haven’t had that combo in awhile. Dinner was a tortilla with ranch pouch meat and Kraft single cheese product (first time trying an individually plastic wrapped cheese (product*)). Lowkey kinda good but I think now I am just desperate. Anything will taste good as long as it’s something new. I also made ramen and chili with chicken. That was good but I think 7 nights of camping food is getting to me. All day we were talking about town food from ravioli to burgers to baked goods to bread and cheese. I’m feining for real food. I’m about to go crazy in VVR and mammoth. So excited. Caleb and I smoked a lil as well. Lovely as always. Then we headed to bed after making the plan tomorrow for a late start to get into VVR. While I was getting set up to write this, I heard a hissing sound. I found the fucking hole in my sleeping pad right under my ass that has been ruining my nights sleep for a whole week. I patched that thing right up and hopefully it does the trick for tonight. I’m so hyped about it. I tried to find it in town with the water method but I didn’t see anything so this was a huge win for me. I didn’t want to buy a whole new pad. Overall, great day. Best camp spot as well!

Also it is Father’s Day! So happy Father’s Day to all the fathers I didnt see or text as I have no service. I love you all! Especially dad as he is out here with me. Going to buy him a beer tomorrow as I didn’t get him anything. Technically I got him outdoors and that’s a good ass present.