by allysonshelden | Oct 8, 2014 | Hiking
Bench Lake Ranger Station to home… The morning was very surreal. I heard Omar get up at our normal early hour, but I stayed in my tent. I didn’t need the time to pack up. The trail workers would be back around 8am to reassess and the call for a helicopter...
by allysonshelden | Sep 18, 2014 | Hiking
Lower Palisade Lake to Bench Lake Ranger Station Great start to the day. The first thing to tackle was Mather Pass – another 4 miles and 1500 feet in elevation gain with lots of switchbacks and rough, talus terrain. When Omar started to pull ahead we decided to...
by allysonshelden | Sep 18, 2014 | Hiking
Le Conte Canyon to Lower Palisade Lake After the great flood of Ally’s tent, I woke up with my feet still in a lot of pain. Even stretching them while laying in the tent was extremely uncomfortable. But feeling around inside the tent, I was relieved to find that...
by allysonshelden | Aug 24, 2014 | Hiking
Evolution Lake to Rock Monster, LeConte CanyonWaking up, the first thing I did was test my feet, stretching them out. Yes, they still hurt quite a bit, but were marginally better than when I’d gone to sleep the night before. Well, nothing to do but to get up and...
by allysonshelden | Aug 23, 2014 | Hiking
Muir Trail Ranch to Evolution LakeWaking up, the rest of the trip settled in, heavy on my shoulders. I was excited, but our wiggle room was gone. We had heavy packs, with 9 days worth of food. We didn’t have room to not make our mileage on any day, and our...
by allysonshelden | Aug 23, 2014 | Hiking
Marie Lake to Muir Trail RanchAlthough we started the day only 300 feet from Selden Pass, it certainly felt like more than that! Still not a terribly difficult pass, but definitely a harsh wake-up call! Looking back at Marie Lake, it was as gorgeous as ever, and I...
by allysonshelden | Aug 4, 2014 | Hiking
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...
by allysonshelden | Aug 2, 2014 | Hiking
Below Silver Pass to Lake Edison JunctionToday’s climb up Silver Pass actually wasn’t bad at all, compared to some others. To date, Donohue Pass had still been the toughest, mentally and physically. The climb from our campsite to Squaw Lake was a little...
by allysonshelden | Aug 2, 2014 | Hiking
Duck Creek to Unnamed river 3 miles below Silver PassToday would be a little bit of elevation gain, and a heck of a lot of descending. Moving on from Duck Creek, we passed by Purple Lake, and then Lake Virginia. Lake Virginia was easily my favorite of the two. The...
by allysonshelden | Jul 29, 2014 | Hiking
Red’s Meadow Resort to Duck Creek crossing. 18 miles.Waking up after a night in a real bed was both easier and supremely more difficult. We felt refreshed, but it was hard to walk away from some of the comforts of home, knowing what we were walking back out...
