N of Bear Creek (873.6) to S of Duck Pass Tr. (895)
Miles today - 21.4
I started hiking early this morning thinking I would find Fairway camped somewhere up the trail. After a couple hours I still hadn't seen him. Either he was up early as well, or he ended up hiking really far last night. I asked a few people going the other direction if they had seen anyone in front of me, but I was the first person they'd seen. Weird. I was pretty sure he couldn't be behind me. I kept seeing shoe prints that I thought were his.
On my way up Silver Pass there was a bit of a sketchy creek crossing. The only way across I could find without getting my feet wet involved a 3-4 foot leap between two large, wet, sloped boulders over some rapids. Luckily my shoes found some traction and I made it safely.
At the top of the pass I sat down for a lunch break and ten minutes later I heard some people coming up. It was Fairway and Houdini, aka Matt, who we've hiked with occasionally for the last 500 miles. Apparently Fairway was camped just a few minutes below me last night and I hiked on by without seeing him.
We took a long break at Lake Virginia where the mosquitoes were surprisingly not bad. If I was sitting on the porch at home I'd say the bugs are terrible and go inside, but here it was a welcome break from the swarms. Anyway, we saw a bald eagle soaring around, which was perhaps the highlight of the day.
Fairway asked me if I'd rather be hiking in the Sierra with the mosquitoes, or be back in the desert. I told him it was one of the dumbest questions ever.
I will say this though; one of the things I miss about the desert is laying in my tent and being able to look out and see all the stars at night. Here in the Sierra I'm usually camped in the trees, blocking my view of the night sky. Although tonight I'm out of the trees.
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