About 19 miles with roughly 2000 feet of elevation gain.
We awoke early the next morning with a solid couple of plans in hand. Plan A -- If Sage's oxygen saturation was high, and if she showed no signs of impending demise, then we would hike up and over Mono Pass (the route suggested by the doctor) and head toward Lake Edison. This plan would put us very high very fast, since the trailhead rests at 10,000 feet and Mono Pass is at 12,045 feet. However, the high altitude hiking occurs only in the first 3.5 miles, and the rest of the day is a descent to 7700 feet. If Sage did well, but showed signs of weakness later in the day, well...we'd be descending at that point anyway, and we'd be heading toward Vermilion Valley Resort. Plan B -- If Sage's oxygen saturation was low, or if we began the hike and she looked/felt awful at high altitude, then we'd spend another day in Mammoth Lakes.
Few people were at the hospital when we arrived at 6am.
The kind ER folks let us in and checked Sage's oxygen saturation. 98%. That, plus her cheery disposition and general health, tipped the scales in favor of us getting back on the trail.
I called a cab and we waited in the empty hospital...
The cab ride was half an hour long and cost about $55 -- again, if any of you folks need to visit Mammoth Lakes, and you need to get back on the trail quickly, then this is the way to do it. It's not for the purists -- you will skip a bit of the official JMT. However, if you find yourself in the same position we were in -- needing time off, but also needing to stay on schedule because of paid-for, nonrefundable reservations -- then this is the route to take. Read on...
The taxi dropped us off at Mosquito Flats (near Rock Creek, south of Mammoth Lakes) and we began our ascent. Sage seemed fine, though her cough persisted a bit. There were no other symptoms, however, and she looked and felt good. Up we went.
Mono Creek Trail ascends past beautiful Ruby Lake...
...and then continues up switchbacks toward the pass. I made sure we stopped often to drink plenty of water. Both girls seemed fine. Sage acted like she was back in tip-top hiking shape (though she did cough every once in a while).
The path ahead looked very different from the path we had just traveled. As you can see in the photo below, the color green showed up...our descent would take us into the valley's forest, and we'd continue to hike down through that forest for the rest of the day.
 |
| Feelin' fine. |
We walked at a steady pace down, down, down, toward the intersection with the JMT, toward Lake Edison. Most of the path looked like the scene in the photo above. Every once in a while, we'd come across a massive tree...
We reached the intersection with the JMT around 5pm -- Sage felt great, and we were thrilled to be back on the official trail.
Once on the John Muir Trail, we found ourselves within a bubble of thru-hikers who were planning on staying at a nearby camping area. These folks weren't visiting Vermilion Valley Resort, so there was no reason for them to hike the 1.4 additional miles to the lake. The girls and I decided to continue onward and camp close to the ferry landing, so we could get to VVR first thing the following morning. We'd then be almost a full day ahead of schedule, thanks to our 19-mile day on the Mono Creek Trail. We'd then have two days to rest at VVR (where we had reservations) before heading back out on the JMT.
(I heard later that two bears roam that camping area at the JMT/Lake Edison intersection...one tried to intimidate some hikers into giving it food...so backpackers, beware).
The California drought is so bad that the lake now looks like this...here's where the ferry landing used to be...
Hikers now need to walk across the dry lake bed for what feels like a mile or so. We finally found water and the American flag that marks the pick-up point. We picked a flat-ish section of sand on the lake bed, not too far from the pick-up spot, and set up the tent.
Here's the view from our campsite, toward what's left of the lake...
It had been a long day, but both girls felt strong and Sage showed no signs of imminent demise. We ate, got ready for bed, watched the sunset, and retired for the evening.
Next post -- Vermilion Valley Resort.
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