John Muir Trail - Day Ten

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We left Marie Lake right around 8AM which was a new record for our group! It was one of my favorite campsites ever so it was hard to leave but we got a really nice birds eye view as we climbed the last few hundred feet to the top of Selden Pass [101.7 mi, 10900’]. Since we were only a mile away from the top it was a fairly easy start to the morning.

On the way down the other side we passed Heart Lake (which was actually heart shaped) and Sallie Keyes Lakes [103.6 mi, 10180’] – a foresty pair of lakes. Sallie Keyes was beautiful but I’m glad we spent the night at Marie Lake instead. There were a few groups at VVR who planned to pass it by. We met the group at Sallie Keyes before continuing all the way down to the Muir Trail Ranch (MTR) Junction [107.9 mi, 8410’]. On the way down I talked to a group of deer hunters who were bummed out at the lack of bucks. We’ve seen tons of does but no bucks. They thought it might be due to the drought. It made me wonder where you are actually allowed to hunt along the JMT!

We followed the MTR junctions past hot springs and other side trails until we reached a quaint ranch whose front yard was covered with a hoard of thru hikers. We rang a bell and a woman helped locate our resupply buckets, which thankfully were actually there!

The outdoor area was shaded with tents and awnings with benches and tables for sorting supplies. There were rows of buckets for sorted spare food and toiletries as well as trash. We were very conservative with our food so it took a while to sort and re-pack everything. We packed 9 more days of supplies (including a spare) and left everything else. Sadly, I had to leave my brand new jar of Nutella in favor of almond butter but hopefully I made someone else’s day. It was just too heavy. In the end my pack weighed 44lb on the scale not counting my camera, guide book, and poles.

MTR had a small store where I bought super glue and an entire roll of duct tape for my boot. Jason helped me clean and glue my sole and then we wrapped it with tape. The duct tape repair had been working well so far!

Leaving MTR my pack felt incredibly heavy. We stopped only about half a mile away for a late lunch on the San Joaquin River. It didn’t seem like they wanted hikers hanging around the MTR longer than necessary. Once again the trip leaving our re-supply was all uphill and we were at the base of Muir Pass. We covered 5+ miles of hot, dusty trail with heavy backpacks. It was hard to move but 9 days of supplies still seemed like a much better decision than hiking off the JMT down south.

We entered Kings Canyon National Park and it became pretty clear where it got the name. We followed along the South Fork of the San Joaquin River as it carved through a valley of mountains, some so high that the sun was blocked out giving the river a shady sunset feel. We arrived at camp around 5:30PM after a struggle carrying our packs. We stopped at the Goddard Junction [115.0 mi, 8480’] along the river where we bathed and feasted on as much food as possible to reduce weight. I even took a pain killer for the first time since day one!