Muir Pass
Today is October 1, three full calendar months since I began this journey, and I still love camping. I love getting to camp and setting up my tent, blowing up my pad and fluffing out my sleeping bag. I love cooking and eating dinner and organizing my gear and tidying my camp and getting everything ready for bed. Most of all I love lying down in my cozy nest to write in my journal, review my maps and wait for sleep to come. I sleep with the tent door open, just the screen zipped closed no matter how cold it is. This gives me fresh air, keeps the condensation to a minimum, and still allows me to feel protected and safe. In the morning, I love boiling water and drinking my coffee-mocha sitting in the doorway of my tent looking out as the night gives way to early dawn. Once coffee has been thoroughly enjoyed, I slowly begin packing up. Everything is fairly ritualized and there is a comfort in the pattern of what gets folded up first. The order of operations is important to stay warm as long as possible and to get my pack loaded correctly so that it carries comfortably. I like to set out just when it’s light enough not to need a headlamp, but well before the sun has risen. The calm hours of the morning are usually my best hiking, cool, shady with my body surprisingly refreshed after only a 12 hour rest. I hike and nibble on my breakfast cookie and sip water and watch the day wake up to itself.
Today I get to hike up and over Muir pass, just 30 feet short of 12,000 vertical feet in elevation, the highest I have been so far. It will be a 4000 foot climb over 15 miles from where I woke up this morning. For the first couple of hours, the way is shady and follows the course of Evolution Creek in the Evolution Canyon. It climbs steadily with a couple of sections of steep trail, but mostly the way is pleasantly moderate. My body feels inexplicably strong after a difficult day yesterday. My breathing is steady and even, my legs feel strong and even my backpack is comfortable as I stride forward up the rocky trail. Soon a series of beautiful alpine lakes begins. Each comes into view at the last minute in sparkling turquoise-blue, one after the other, all connected in this chain of gems strung along Evolution Creek. I stop to have lunch at one shimmering lake around 11am, and plunge into another just before the final two mile climb to the pass. The sun is surprisingly hot at this elevation, even though it is October 1, so the cold water is refreshing and enlivening.
Muir Pass is stunning with jagged granite peaks all around and the most surprising and special handmade stone building, the Muir Hut. Constructed in 1930 by the Sierra Club, it is dedicated to providing temporary shelter for hikers in distress in this exposed, rugged landscape. The stonework is beautifully done, the interior is cozy and welcoming, and with no more than the lift of a tiny hook, the door is open to all visitors. I have the whole place to myself and spend quite a bit of time in silence enjoying the shelter, both inside and out, and feeling no small amount of reverence and gratitude for the amazing person that was John Muir.
The breeze is light, the temperature is perfect, and I really don’t want to leave this magical place, but my limited food supply mandates that I get a few more miles in today. Besides, I want to swim in one more lake before it cools off this afternoon. I will look for a place to camp after descending a couple of thousand feet and prepare to do this all again tomorrow at Mather Pass. Meanwhile, Helen Lake is calling my name.
