Yesterday we made the decision to carry on from Red’s, so we collected our resupply from the store, crammed some into our bear canisters and gave all the excess away. By 4:45pm we headed out through an old burned area that to me held a strange kind of stark beauty, then up and up through forest switchbacks. Heavily laden with all our new food it was slow going but we found a perfect solitary camp spot just past Red Cones on a hillside looking across at the buildings atop Mammoth Ski Mountains. Total miles: 12.7

Today’s hike was pretty much just a grind. The first 6 miles were a steady dusty up through a sparse forest with lots of dead wood. It was overcast, which kept it cool, but also dimmed the beauty of the scenery. We tried to find some salvation in the beauty of the wildflowers so we concentrated on getting some great close ups of them.

We had a little descent down to Duck Creek right about lunchtime so we stopped and tended to our burgeoning blisters and had a little rest.

The sun came out just as we made camp at Purple Lake and suddenly all was good with the world again. Amazing what a little blue sky can do for your mood!
Today’s miles: 10.1