Day 12 - Click on Map
Day 12 (August 6) we woke up to a beautiful day at Lake Virginia and were not in a big hurry to get on our way. Knowing the trip was a cut short made the day's start more relaxing. We made the short and easy climb up to the saddlle over to Purple Lake and started down the trail. Purple Lake is very nice, but I was glad we stayed at Lake Virginia, as I think it is much prettier. And it is also a long slog down the hill from the saddle when your feet are full of blisters. The trail from Lake Virginia to Deer Creek reminds me of part of the Tioga Pass road. That part of the road that winds down one side of a draw to the creek and then back up the other side of the draw and around the bend to do it all over again. On this trail you drop down into Purple Lake, over the outlet and then back up the other side towards Duck Creek. Looking at the map, the day did not seem very strenuous as we were only going about 12 miles and the climbs and drops did not seem that bad. Profiling it on Topo seems to contradict this as the climb is about 1,300 feet and the drop about 3,00 over to Crater Meadow. Maybe that is why my feet felt a little sore at the end of the day!

We stopped to fish the Duck Creek drainage just below the trail crossing. The creek was flowing pretty fast but we found enough slower pockets and pools to make it worth while. We both caught several fish each and had a great time. We caught rainbows, brookies and what appeared to be a cutthroat, but is probably just a duller looking hybrid. It had all of the par marks like a Piute Cutt would have, as well as a golden, but had the rainbow spots and no golden stripe that are earmarks for goldens and rainbows. In any event, it was a nice looking fish. We fished for about an hour and then had lunch. We dined on Top Ramen and tortillas with chicken with mustard and mayonnaise. Boy that added mix of condiments really makes the dish! We figured we had the extra food so why not splurge a little!

After the lunch we headed up the draw out of Duck Creek towards Deer Creek on our way to Crater Meadow. The pull and drop between Duck and Deer Creeks is dry and long. It is good thing we filled up our water bottles, because even in this wet year, there was no water along the way. We had some nice views of the Fish Creek drainage and the canyon and valleys to the south. We also had great views of Silver Pass on the canyon to the south and could see the snow patches we had to cross on the way down. As we turned the corner and headed to Deer Creek, we knew it was not much longer to Crater Meadow. Deer Creek was an easy crossing and the creek was flowing a little low to stop and fish, so we made our way over to Crater Meadow.

We started looking for sites as we hit Upper Crater Meadow, but did not seem to find anything that good. So we headed down the creek and canyon a ways and found ourselves at a point of not wanting to climb back up to find a flat spot so continued to Crater Meadow where the trail crosses the creek near Red Cones. While the area did not seem to have many established sites, we were able to find some good ones up on the hill above the creek to the south of the trail. This put us above the marsh of the meadow and somewhat away from the mosquitoes. But it did put us at the top of the draw where the winds were blowing up and down the canyon. We made camp and proceeded to wash out our clothes to be somewhat presentable for the patrons of the Mulehouse Cafe for breakfast in the morning at Red's Meadow. We hung the clothes on the line and took the opportunity to fish the creek in the meadow. The fishing was good, but the mosquitoes were a little thick down there. When we did our wash we also washed off our face, legs, arms and neck, and we fogot to DEET back up before the fish. So the mosquitoes had a good feast for awhile!

Dinner that night was a salmon pasta with pesto that Mike packed in the re-supply bucket. I think it is a Mary Jane product and you get a foil pack of salmon along with a foil pack of olive oil to add to the pasta pesto mix. The addition of the oil really did the trick. It was one of the best meals we had on the trip. We also dined on some apple crisp type dessert after dinner treating ourselves to the last trail meal of the trip. Tomorrow would bring table food back to our stomachs! It was all I good do to fall asleep thinking about real food for breakfast in the morning. Fresh coffee, instead of instant! Would I get the eggs, bacon, hash browns and toast, or the pancakes and eggs and bacon? Or should I get both? Large orange juice or two? Mike was set on the pancakes and toast with a large orange juice! With the Advil PM that night, we seemed to dream about many things. The only thing I really remember is the fresh cooked breakfast choices for the morning!

We hit the sack fairly early that night watching the dusk sky turn to stars during the night. My blood condition was abating, but had acted up again during the day. Mike's feet were beginning to really blister up and we were both glad that tomorrow was the final drop and we'd be hopefully sitting on the deck tomorrow night at the cabin! Logistics of getting a ride back to the cabin were all that needed to be worked out. My feet were doing okay as far as the blisters were concerned, but the toe nail was flaring up due to the rather long descents we made today. The hard part about a 3/4 length sleeping pad and blisters is no padding on the heels of your feet at night! I was glad that the trip was nearing it's end, mainly due to the blood condition I was experiencing and that it was getting worse with the strenuous parts fo the day. I knew I could not last much longer. But I was a little sad that the trip was coming to an end.

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