Journal pages, no. 13

July 21, 2012 | Day 13 | 20 miles:

We hiked over Glenn and Forester passes today. In total, we've hiked about 192 miles - 200 if you add the few miles we tacked on by starting at Glacier Point. Whoa. I really didn't know I could do this. Ben said something interesting today about waiting until I can motivate myself. I know I am relying fully on God for strength (mental, physical), but he's still right. I'm not relying on Ben because he gave me several chances to get out. Yet he's wrong because it is paramount that he believe I can do this. He's not dragging me, but he's not hiking all of this for me, either. I get to wash my hands in 2 days (ahem...with real soap and hot water instead of cold water and hand sanitizer). Tomorrow we hike to the base of Whitney with two guys we're camping next to - both go to school in Seattle, but one was born in Arden Hills, MN. Small world. Whiteny Portal the next afternoon ---> Lone Pine for tons of good food and a motel room. Unbelievable that we've come this far and we're finishing strong. A guy said today that we picked a hard trail for our first time in the Sierras. Perfect.

*problems with photos; will update*

1. We hiked Glenn Pass first thing in the morning, joining a few others. The top of the pass was a narrow spine with few places to sit and soak it in. Just after starting the descent of this pass, we met some hikers out for a few days (on their last day) who gave us a bunch of their food. Thanks, gents. || 2. We hiked to Forester Pass. This is a lake just below the pass. We're hiking up to 13,000 feet here, so everything is rock with little bits of green shrubs. || 3 - 4. We reached the pass in time for clouds to settle in, bringing our first bit of bad weather: a hail storm. We were pelted with little pebble-sized hail as we descended. || 5. We managed a few minutes at the top of Forester to take a break, as usual. Ben was pooped. That's the sleeping pad someone gave him at the resort we stopped at a few days back.

This is day 13 of 14, recounting our experience hiking the John Muir Trail by posting the contents of my recently rediscovered trail journal. We hiked the trail in July 2012, and it changed my life. Catch up by reading the JMT journal pages nos. 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12