Day 86: Irish Cowboys

June 21

Mileage 24

Mile 1042 to mile 1066

Late nights make for lazy starts, especially when the weather is so nice and you’re comfortably laying around enjoying coffee and breakfast. We had cowboy camped right next to each other and so coffee was passed around without anyone coming out of their sleeping bags, then we slowly got up, packed and left one by one.  
The morning began with a climb up to a saddle looking into yet another watershed. The top of this saddle was only around 9,300 ft yet the north side still had considerable snowfields to cross, patchy fields but still time and energy sapping. The weather was incredible and when I ran into two day-hikers coming the other direction from Ebbett’s Pass they told me temperatures were 112 degrees Fahrenheit in the Central Valley. Up here it was probably only pushing 80, very pleasant conditions to hike in and a welcome change from some of the cold weather we had last week.

The trail didn’t dive down into any particular valley, instead cutting across several ridges with broad, green, rolling valleys in between. The peaks rising above these valleys were not granite, they were dark, mixed volcanic outcroppings that through weathering had formed into blocky, vertical spires rising out of scree slopes – a classic cowboy movie set up high offset by the rolling green meadows that would feel more at home in the hills of Ireland. Irish cowboys would have become homesick when and if they ever rode this part of the Sierras.

I had a quick snack with Smilin’ at Ebbett’s Pass and then continued the routine of crossing ridge into drainage, ridge into drainage. These were low ridges and broad drainages though and the going wasn’t tough. We were not moving fast though and despite this being the longest day of the year we once again ran out of daylight. The last four miles were done in dark, the sun gone and the full moon yet to get high enough to offer much substitution. I hiked alone and resisted putting on my headlamp, enjoying the eerie feeling of hiking through woods dark enough to obscure the trail. The small creek crossings felt like big rivers as I struggled to find rocks and trees to cross on. Eventually with a mile to go I put on my headlamp to re-find the trail and hiked the last mile in light. I hit the paved Blue Lakes Road and found the others camped right on the shoulder of the road. Off to sleep quickly only disturbed by the very occasional car.