Evolution Lake Junction to Marie Lake
We woke up early, as usual, ready to get into a full day of climbing. Bear Ridge would be our first beast to conquer. About 2000 feet of elevation gain first thing in the morning, up several monotonous, forested switchbacks. I started the day with a pretty serious determination – I wanted to get this dry, no water section done and over with. Even though Omar was ahead of me, I actually made really great time, relatively speaking. Also, I decided on this segment of trail that I hate any climbs that involve ridges – they tend to be super misleading. You think you’re at the top, come over a crest, only to realize there was another ridge hiding behind it, with another climb anywhere between 100 feet and 1000 feet. Not cool mountains, not cool.
When I made it to the top, Omar was waiting. He was surprised to see me! He’d only gotten there about 10-15 minutes earlier, and had suspected he’d have at least a 30 minute wait for me – definitely a good way to start the morning!
Next we descended about 1500 feet, roughly paralleled the raging Bear Creek. I think this was the largest rapid river we’d seen so far – at least we didn’t need to cross it! We found a nice spot to sit for lunch, and soak our feet for a while – mine were definitely starting to protest a bit, the bottoms having a dull ache that I was able to numb for a while with the freezing water. It was also a perfect place for my daily afternoon nap! It was perfect, laying in the sun. Until Omar decided to wake me up by splashing water on me. Ever the gentleman that one. Though, in his defense, I have a habit of NOT wanting to wake up, so I guess he decided to resort to increasingly drastic measures to make sure I regained consciousness.
By now, the afternoon heat was hitting us full force. And of course this was right when the trail became mostly exposed. It immediately drained our energy. I was used to moving slowly, but Omar all of a sudden wasn’t that far ahead of me anymore. We had gotten so used to forested areas, and getting most of our climbing done in the morning, or being stuck in overcast or rainy weather, we’d forgotten what it was like to be in the direct sun. Miserable. I felt like Goldilocks. On rainy days we mourned the loss of the warm sunny weather. Now, when we finally had clear blue skies, I found myself scanning for clouds that would hopefully cover the sun and give us a brief respite. Alas, it was a beautiful, cloudless afternoon!
At one point we needed to stop to filter water, and take a bathroom break. Of course, we were completely out of water, so we had to stop at the first river we found. I finally had some shade. But only because as soon as I bent down towards the water I was attacked by a WALL of mosquitoes. It was horrendous. But with my UV light water filtration, my hands were full so I couldn’t do much to avoid them. And the only reason I mention the bathroom break is that these damned mosquitoes lie in wait, when you’re at your most vulnerable. When filtering water and walking off trail to take a ‘bio break’, they attacked. Kick ’em while they’re down! So now in about a 15-20 minute span I probably got about 20+ mosquito bites. Time to get the hell out of this area!
We kept climbing in the heat, and although we were walking apart, we later discussed feeling the exact same way about the climb. Every time we would near the top of a set of switchbacks, we were sure we would see the lake. Nope. Just more switchbacks, or a ridge further ahead. Finally, we reached camp. Marie lake was absolutely gorgeous. The sun was still out, but of course the wind had kicked up, so taking a real swim in the lake was out of the question. But we at least rinsed off and wrung out some clothes. Again, I made sure that pink top was highly visible for when Joey made it to camp! I soaked my feet for a while, and more or less hobbled around camp for most of the night. I looked at our itinerary and realized that we had climbed about 4000 feet and gone down about 1500. This had been our single biggest day of elevation change so far, including our Day 1 climb out of Yosemite Valley. No wonder my feet were so sore! But boy, did we earn our campsite for the night. Not only would we be treated to a full moon, but we had a great spot close to the water, and now that we weren’t hiking, it was nice to have the sun on us for a few hours before the sun set.
Joey eventually caught up (since he tended to start much later in the morning, he usually showed up about 2-3 hours after we did), and set up camp nearby. While we ate dinner, the mosquitoes started coming out. Of course, Omar and I had commented that we didn’t have any mosquito problems at the lake when we finally arrived – obviously the kiss of death to mention such a thing out loud, and now we were paying the price.
We all set ourselves up along the water’s edge to wait for the moon to come out. After the gazillion bites I had gotten earlier in the day, I was completely over the mosquitoes, so I went to hide in my tent. The guys promised they’d wake me up for the full moon in case I fell asleep. Which, being me, a great lover and aficionado of sleep, did almost immediately. When they woke me up, it looked like sunrise. You could see the wispy clouds lit up by the moon, still hiding behind one of the peaks along the lake. I thought about getting out of the tent, but it was just so warm. The rain fly was off for the night, so I settled for watching it from inside the tent. When the moon finally came up it really looked like daylight. At one point, Omar was probably standing about 25 feet away from my tent, and I could see clearly enough that I could tell if his jacket was zipped up or not, and could actually distinguish colors on his clothing. At about 11pm. I still can’t quite wrap my head around it. We could clearly see the lake, as well as any ripples on the surface. We could see granite walls on the opposite side of the valley we were in. Amazing to see, but of course it made sleep a little more difficult, especially with the fly off – it felt like there was a spotlight in the tent.
Tomorrow we would go over Seldon Pass, which we were only about 300′ below, so it was shaping up to be an easy day. We would then do a lot of descending down to Muir Trail Ranch. Our final resupply, and rumors of nearby natural hot springs! And, although this was day 10, half way through our journey, Muir Trail Ranch basically marks the half way point in terms of mileage. Now that was something I was looking forward to accomplishing. That would mean we’d gone over 100 miles.
