September 16th, 2018
Lost Lakes mm 1070 to Asa Lake mm 1041.5
Distance: 28.5 miles
0640 – 1800
I slept so good overnight, except for one interruption. It’s still a little unclear how it all went down but I seemed to wake up in automatic mode, bolt upright yelling “Get, get!” and seconds or minutes later it materialized that there were dogs sniffing around my tent. Then I heard someone say, “it’s ok, it’s just huskies.” Whip had at first thought they were wolves when he saw their dark figures running through the trees.
Apparently the revelers down at the lake were letting their dogs run around loose all night. I must have woken up thinking it was a bear, at first. You’d think this might have kept me awake for awhile but I went right back to sleep.
The most important thing is that I stayed very warm all night. I love my new quilt. I woke up feeling very confident in my ability to survive the Sierra. I also enjoyed my extra layers for the first couple miles. I quickly climbed onto a ridgeline where the wind was really biting. Soon enough, the sun came up and it warmed up pretty quickly. I took in the view of “the Nipple” with the sun rising over it.
The trail wound round a lot of cool bluffs, pinnacles and cliffs all day. The wind died a bit and it finally got warm enough for me to strip down to my t-shirt. I was even sweating going up the last hill. The pack still felt really heavy but at least I was comfortable.
There were lots of day hikers and backpackers about, mostly near Ebbetts pass. One guy gave me a protein bar, which actually tasted really good. I also ran into Comrade. She was hiking this section north, after visiting Yosemite with a friend. She will flip back to go south at Sonora pass. She told us that News Feed was just ahead, so then I tried hard to catch him all day…no luck.
I pushed past the 25 mile mark in order to make up for some of the 5 mile deficit from the first day. I needed to average 25 miles to make it to Tuolumne Meadows in 6 days. There was a spring running into the lake where I stopped, plus no wind. It was a perfect spot. Dorothy made it there too but Whip probably stopped at the lake before. It was nice to have company again.