Day 11 - Click on Map
Day 11 (August 5). Scott's Birthday. Happy Birthday Scott! Today was going to be a pretty heavy day, climbing about 3,000 feet over about 5 miles up to Silver Pass and then working our way over to Lake Virginia. We woke up to dew on the ground from all of the rain the day before. At least it was clear this morning! We had breakfast and packed up the camp and did our morning ritual of moleskin and duct tape. My blisters weren't that bad, but still hurt. It was my toe nail that was really acting up. My toe was starting to swell with the cut. Mike's feet were getting worse and the blisters were rather large. We taped up and finished packing up and made our way up the canyon along Mono Creek. Within a half hour we came across our first creek crossing of the day. We were not mentally prepared to take our shoes off and ford the creek, so we took our chances with the log that crossed the creek. It was a little dicey but we both made it over just fine, much to the chagrin of the crowd of people fording the creek the traditional way. I think some of them were mentally cheering for a fall! But not today my friends! We were determined not to have to tape up again so early in the day!

We made our way up the canyon and reached Pocket Meadow early. This would be our second crossing of Mono Creek and this one was a little more challenging. We were able to find some rocks to hop over the creek above the trail junction, but it was a bit of a feat to cross. Again we were determined to not tape up again, so we both made over just fine. At this point the trail climbs steeply up the wall towards Silver Pass Creek. This crossing was much less than expected and way less than the PCT through hikers had to endure about a month or so ago. The creek was actually running in the trail for a ways so we were able to hike on the rocks that formed the edges of the trail and keep our feet dry. It is amazing what one can do when properly motivated.

At the top of the climb, we stopped along Silver Pass Creek where the meadow is below the lakes. We fished for about an hour to try our luck and to rest along the way. This was good, as I was experiencing difficulties with blood in my urine again. The rest let it subside for a while. We both had good luck in the creek, but the fish were very spooky in the meadow portion of the creek. We both caught a number of fish, mostly goldens. After the fish, we headed up towards the pass and the final ascent. Just after Silver Pass Lake I was having more difficulties with my condition and it was definitely getting worse. I told Mike about the problem and we took it easy up the final climb. It is pretty scary being 30 plus miles from medical help knowing something is not quite right. After a brief rest, we made the final slog up to the pass. Now Silver Pass is unique in that the actual pass is not the top of the hill! Some demented trail crews formed this section of the trail! After you reach the pass, you still have another 100 feet or so of climb to the saddle that takes you over to Squaw Lake. In my condition, this was not a very nice thing to go through! But we made it to the top of the pass, and I posed for my obligatory top of pass picture and boy did it turn out nice! My god, do I look exhausted!

At the top of the pass we had spectacular views of the Minarets to the north and what looked to be Mt. Ritter and Banner Peak. It was nice to see some familiar looking terrain. The views to the south were just as nice, but to the north was home. By this time we had made the decision to stop when we got to Red's Meadow due to my condition and I think Mike was just as happy since his feet were getting more torn up with every mile we hiked. But I'm sure if you asked him now, he would say he was ready for the rest of the hike to Tuolumne Meadows. Kind of guy he is. Must be the mule in him! On the way down to Squaw Lake, we were treated with yet another snow patch to make our way down. As with all of the ones before, it proved to be no problem, just getting the shoes a little wet. We stopped for lunch near the outlet of Squaw Lake and took a break for about an hour. It was good for me as it helped stem the blood and allowed me to start clearing things up for a while.

We made it down the canyon towards Fish Creek and crossed the creek at the bridge and headed towards Tully Hole. I was a little concerned with my ability to make the climb up to Lake Virginia, but the climb up the canyon to Tully Hole was easy. The trail follows the creek up canyon in a gradual ascent. When we reached Tully Hole I was feeling fine but still a little apprehensive once I looked at the wall we had to climb up to Lake Virginia. The campsites at Tully Hole started looking really nice at this point. In fact, the one site that was occupied had a nice camp chair and I was trying to figure out how much it would cost me to buy that chair for tonight! That's one thing about a camp chair, you never want to carry the extra weight, but it sure is comfortable in the woods!

We made our way up the hill taking it very easy and with a slow pace so as to avoid over stressing my body. It actually paid off as we made it up the hill in good time (must have been the fact we had fewer stops) and reached the saddle to Lake Virginia. Upon coming into view of the lake, I was glad we made the extra climb that day. We dropped down to the lake and found a nice campsite on the knoll near the northwest side of the lake. It was protected in the trees and made for a very nice camp. We hiked over to the inlet to fill up the water bottles and while it was a long and painful walk, we saw some really nice golden trout feeding on the bugs dropping into the creek from the cascades at the inlet. We saw three goldens that were about 12 to 14 inches long in these parts of the creek. Since we left our rods back at camp and were in no mood to go back and get them to fish here, we just filled up the bottles and watched them swim around. They sure looked pretty. The wildflowers in the meadow around the lake were also beautiful. The colors on the Indian Paintbrushes were amazing. I had not seen the deep and rich colors like these anywhere along the trail. The reds and oranges were amazing!

We headed back to camp and Mike went fishing in the lake but got skunked. I stayed back at camp and rested taking in the views of the lake. I can see why Mike wanted to push ahead to this lake for the night. At sunset we were rewarded with a beautiful view of the red glow on the mountains around us and a half moon glowing in the sky. Quite a sight.

To view photos of our trip please refer to the Photo Albums section of this site!