07-17-2024 Hike

Woke up, took a shit in the woods, it wasn't too bad. Then I listened to some music before Joe got up, and I started to break my camp. It pays to be organized in laying out all the stuff to be packed up. I had coffee, oatmeal, cheese, and Gorp for breakfast, it was filling. We finished breaking camp and repacking the food and other stuff into our backpacks. Surprising to me, we were on the trail around 7:30. We headed on the Upper Trail along Big Pine Creek. Similar to the previous day, the three of us were out front and Joe trailed. We would stop to let him catch up every 10 minutes or so. Past some really beautiful falls. The trail had some occasional steep sections, including switchbacks. Thankfully, the trail went through shaded areas often enough to keep the sun from being oppressive. We got up to First Lake around 11:00 and had lunch along the shore, with an extended break. This had been our planned first waypoint, and we decided to make the second waypoint near the switchbacks on the trail by Third Lake, where some campers had suggested we look for a campsite overlooking the lake. On this leg, Mike had slowed down, and Jason and I were still walking at close to our original pace. We found the campsite and stopped here for another extended break, to allow for some recovery, especially for Joe, who was pretty wiped out. After we set up camp and Joe had a breather, we walked over to a spot nearby that was by the lake shore. Joe jumped right in and went under and he shouted about the cold. So I walked in and dove into the water. He was right, it was the coldest water I've been in since the bottom of Lake Mead. I got back to the shore, then we talked Jason into going in. He needed some coercion. Later on I went back in and swam over to a sunny rock. That water was truly cold, the sun went behind some clouds and it got chilly. I waited until the sun came back out, then dove to get back to the launch point. After I got out, it took quite a while to warm back up. Meanwhile Mike was busy filtering water and filling bottles. Later on, we headed back to our campsite, chilled for a bit, then Joe and I went for a quick hike up the switchbacks near our campsite and back before dinner. The burritos I made for dinner were better than the pasta, the seasoned TVP worked well. After dinner, we chatted up at the rock promontory by Mike's and Jason's tent. Then after sunset it started to get cool and then the mosquitoes were intense, so I retired to the tent and rested a while before going to sleep.