6/11/20, mile: 760, elevation: 9,688 ft.
I wasn’t the quickest to get up in the morning since this was going to be a relatively short day. The base camp for the Mt. Whitney summit is too far for me to reach in one day, so I might as well split the difference and make them both kinda easy. But first, it’s time for the first of many many lakes to come. I stop at Chicken Spring Lake and decide to take a snack break. It’s warm in the sun, but slightly cool in the shade, especially when the wind blows. The water is quite cold, as well. After leaving the lake, the trail climbs more and we top out over 11.4k feet today. More of that to come, as well. Though climbs are involved today, the slope isn’t too bad. The pack is already giving me grief, making my shoulders quite red and sore. 12-ish days of food will do that to a guy.
Later in the day, the trail enters Sequoia National Park, the first national park for us on this journey. And soon after that, the trail descends down to Rock Creek. There’s a camp site there, but I choose to visit the Rock Creek Ranger cabin that isn’t too far off the trail. It’s empty, so I decide to make camp there. Having a clean flat spot to sit, cook and eat is just plain heaven. The flowing creek nearby is quite soothing, reminding of the Stuart Fork of the Trinity River up north. Despite being in the trees, mosquitos still aren’t much of an issue yet. Maybe it’s just been too cold for them as of yet….no worries, that will certainly change.
Savior out.