Day 7: Quail Meadows to Marie Lake

I woke up early before the sun had completely risen over the peaks above us. I wanted to get an early start so I could tackle Bear Ridge before it got too hot out.

I packed up camp quickly, refilled my water supply and set off on the trail. I figured I would wait at the top of the ridge for Erica and Jeff. The trail was soft with dew on this brisk morning, a light amount of fog rising through the trees as the sun began to climb. The trail started to weave its way up the hill rather steeply.. Then each switchback became longer and longer, traversing the side of the ridge.

For the past few days I had stopped singing "Mr. Blue Sky" in my head and had moved on to another form of entertainment, film. To help pass the time during rough spots on the trail I would try to replay films in my head. I would run through them over and over, trying to think of scenes I had missed and how characters got into certain predicaments. Today it was "The Bourne Identity", the infamous Matt Damon spy thriller. This was a good film to analyze, due to it's complexity in plot, so time seemed to cruising right along.

At about every other turn in the trail I stop to take a quick breath. I was moving rather quickly and was starting to feel a bit winded. It must have been thinking of all those Bourne fight scenes! I slowed my pace down and continued back and forth up the ridge. That Russian was right! These switchbacks never seemed to end, but they weren't too difficult. The switchbacks began to shorten again as I got higher up on the ridge. I was getting excited, thinking I was almost at the top. But when hiking, when you think you are at the top, you never are.

The switchbacks stopped, and the trailed climbed slightly though the trees to a large opening in the forest. Here I found a sign for the Bear Creek junction, I had made it to the top of Bear Ridge. It wasn't too terrible but I am very glad that I climbed it early in the morning.

I sat down and enjoyed a nice granola bar and some water, while waiting for Jeff and Erica. I waited almost an hour before Jeff came strolling along the trail, not too long after, Erica appeared. They both were feeling great and didn't think Bear Ridge was too tall of a challenge for the morning.

I enjoyed these times waiting by myself for Friz and Erica. I kept thinking "I could continue down the trail and get to camp earlier." but something in me wanted to wait for my trail friends. Something about doing this hike with them was special, so often times I happily decided to wait.

We only had another 7.3 miles to Marie Lakes, not to hard to tackle in the afternoon. We stopped and rested along Bear Creek. The creek was roaring with water, it was a great place to bask in the sun and relax for a while. Of course, I took this time to soak my feet in cold waters.

I would say that this was my second favorite lunch spot next so far on the trail. The weather was fantastic and nothing could diminish our groups spirits.

Bear Creek

About to soak my feet in Bear Creek

Jeff with a nice lunch spot along the creek

Erica catching some Z's along the creek.

                     

We set back out on the trail shortly after noon. The sun was out in full force now, pounding down on the trail. We meandered through meadows and across some small creeks. There were many junctions for other trails that lead to Lake Italy, Rose Lake and Sandpiper Lake. Each, only a few miles off the trail.

The trail rose a few hundred feet through Rosemarie Meadow and up to Marie Lake. These last few miles were pretty tough for me. I was low on water and was feeling pretty tired, must have been the sun beating down on me all day, but eventually, I reached the lake. Erica flagged me down and showed me where her and Friz found a spot to camp.

The campsite had a perfect view of the lake and the peaks above. The site had very little wind protection however, which made it a tough task to set up our tents.

Marie Lake

The wind would howl across the lake and the breeze was very frigid. I quickly put some warm clothes on. The campsite was beautiful along the shore of the lake with Selden Pass right above us. I was washing my feet in the lake when I decided that I had to take a dip, I just had to!

Marie Lake campsite

Jeff preparing dinner at Marie Lake.

I convinced Jeff  to take a swim with me. We both gingerly walked in to the water before submerging into the icy lake. Marie Lake rests at 10,551 feet above sea level, so it was pretty cold! But it was really refreshing and felt great. We later convinced Erica to jump in as well! I dried off and prepared for dinner with the others. Erica brought it to our attention that we had just eclipsed 100 miles on the John Muir Trail! This really pumped the group up and allowed us to reflect on all that we had accomplished to this point.

We enjoyed our meals and had a hot beverage before retiring to our tents. The wind was blowing so hard at times that it was difficult to stay outside of the tent for long. Like two nights before, it would get very cold at night, so I layered up and crawled into my sleeping bag. Tomorrow, we had a short day down to Muir Trail Ranch for a resupply and hot springs!

Day Summary:

Miles Hiked: 13.0  mi
Total Miles on JMT: 100.6 mi                                           Day 8: Marie Lake to Muir Trail Ranch