Glen Pass - High Sierra's - Part II

The plan for hiking pass after pass is to ascend a pass early in the morning.  The reason for this is that if there is snow, we cross it while it is still hard, avoiding post-holing (falling through the crust up to you ankles, knees, waist, or however deep it is).  This is not our issue as the snow is nearly all gone.  However, we don't want to be caught on a ridge during a storm.  In these high mountains, the mornings are glorious, with clear blue skies.  Most afternoons, the clouds roll in and the thunder begins, followed by rain showers.  This is the case every single day for us.  When we get up to climb the rest of Glen Pass, we are only about one mile from the top.  Not that this is a piece of cake.  In that one mile, we climb 937 feet in elevation to a total pass elevation of 11,948 ft.  Then the entire rest of the day is down, down, down!  This ends up being a killer day for Marv as his right knee begins acting up despite faithfully wearing his knee brace.  He can climb all day, but downhill is painful!

The views partly make up for his pain.  We see lots of beautiful alpine lakes.  We have several river and creek crossings, but each of them have enough rocks or logs that we make it across without having to change into our water shoes.  The Rae Lakes area (elevation 10,556 ft) is breathtaking and there are lots of folks swimming in the frigid water and fishing. We watched a young boy catch a fish as we cross a connection between two lakes.  The water is so clear, we watch the fish swim up and take the bait.  We see a few thru-hikers who are hiking through late in the season like we are, but most of the people we see are families or folks out for a few days only.

We stop a little early in the day.  Marv is limping in pain and it starts to seriously rain.  According to my Guthook's app, there is a nice camp area in the trees in a mile or so.  I have taken some of Marv's pack load to help with his knee pain, so I have the tent.  I leave Marv to limp along while I hike quickly ahead to get the tent set up.  While I am setting up the tent, a doe walks within a few feet of me.  She does not seem to be at all scared of me.  She grazes about 10 feet away while I set up the tent.  When Marv arrives, we crawl in and wait until the rain slows before we make dinner and arrange ourselves for the night.  This camp is at 9470 ft.  Part III of the High Sierra's will post tomorrow.

Every lake and stream is crystal clear.

Steep climb up Glenn's Pass

We are not the only ones at the top.

Having a veggie snack of wild greens from the trail.

Met this lady & her dog at top of Glen Pass.   The dog has hiking shoes and his own pack

A look at the backside of Glen Pass.

Miner's Lettuce.   Tart, but delicious!

 

Marv at water duty again, while I do laundry.

Drying socks and underwear on a rock.

Pictures don't do justice to the breathtaking views!

Now there's a hunk of granite!

Rae Lakes - again, the water is so clear!

Crossing between Rae Lakes

 

Crossing without a splash!

Dollar Lake

Marmot's everywhere.