8 August 2022
Bishop Pass Trail to Lake 10742
(8 miles, +2,400/-1,400 feet).

Two summers ago, Ultrashuffle and some other friends joined Half Cookie and me to hike about 2/3 of the John Muir Trail, starting at South Lake and ending in Yosemite.

Well, today, Ultrashuffle, Half Cookie, and I finally have a chance to pick up where we left off.

This time the destination is Mount Whitney!

The plan is to enter at South Lake again, but this time head south instead of north. Unlike last time, this time we have a very long food carry: 8 days!

It’s going to be rough at first.

Plus, it looks like that pesky monsoon we had so much trouble with last week is still swirling around the Sierra.

But after a quick drive up from San Diego, everyone is in good spirits and we are ready to give it a try.

We got a shuttle driver to pick us up at Whitney Portal and take us to South Lake. The sky REALLY opened up for the last 20 minutes of the drive. We were even talking about possibly delaying the trip. But then it stopped and we decided to give it a go.

The rain stayed mostly subdued the rest of the afternoon with nothing more than sprinkles now and then.

Every time we do the switchbacks over Bishop Pass we look for the spot where dozens of mule deer mysteriously died a few years ago. There’s not much left but bones now.

Soon we were at the pass. And we were still (mostly) dry!

It was getting late, but we really wanted to get to our intended stopping point because tomorrow is going to be a very long day.

Just before we got down to Lake 10742 where we wanted to camp, Half Cookie twisted her ankle!

It was bad. It’s now quite swollen.

This might be the end of the trip.

We took Half Cookie’s stuff, set up camp as best we could (the ground everywhere is soaking wet!), and we got her situated where she could rest.

We then went to get some water at a nearby spring.

I’m really hoping Half Cookie’s foot gets better. There’s really no way out of here other than another big rocky climb out the way we came.

We’ll see.