August 6-Getting ready for the mosquitoes

Miles Hiked: 11.05  Total: 15.99
Elevation Gain: 3817 ft

“You may be a little cold some nights, on mountain tops above the timber-line, but you will see the stars, and by and by you can sleep enough in your town bed, or at least in your grave.” ~John Muir 

OUR NATIONAL PARKS - pub. 1901

[John]
We were both anxious to get as far as we could, short of Sunrise Meadow, which we had heard was infested with mosquitoes. We got an early morning start before the heat got too bad and were above 8,000 feet before the mid-afternoon heat set in.

We first met Toshio and Masao, two Japanese hikers from Tokyo and Shirakawa, respectively, during a morning break after Little Yosemite Valley. They were concerned about getting somewhere that had a bear box that night since they had too much food for their canisters. We didn’t know it then, but we’d end up on the summit of Mt. Whitney with them 16 days later.

We actually set up camp twice that afternoon. The first time was about a half mile below the trail summit over Sunrise Mountain, we had spotted the site in the late afternoon and decided to take it since we were tired, having climbed for nearly 11 miles. After we had set up camp, a guy we had passed earlier in the day happened by and appropriately noted we were less than 100 feet from the trail, technically not a camp site. We had completely forgotten that rule, despite having heard it the day before from the ranger who issued our permit, so I decided to scout up ahead to identify some other sites.

I found several that looked promising, including a couple at the summit before the descent into Sunrise Meadows. We decided to move, so we pulled up stakes, loaded our packs and proceeded up the steep trail to the summit. Unfortunately, the guy who had happened by had grabbed the best site south of the trail, but we found something suitable north of the trail.

As always the views were beautiful, but we didn’t appreciate that we were over 3,000 feet higher than the night before and the temperature drops more at night. We left the tent fly off again so we could see the stars and we got cold. I didn’t sleep well and was experiencing some of the “altitude apnea” that would periodically plague me.  There was ice on the tent sack the next morning, but we quickly forgot it after we hit the trail and started sweating.

[Christi]
What a pleasure to awake at sunrise to the sound of deer tramping leisurely past our campsite!  We both slept well...occasionally.  Our bones are cold and the trail beckons.  More climbing today.  I think this will become a common refrain!