Trail Day 65: Glen Aulin High Sierra Camp (mile 948.3) to tentsite near Wilson Creek (mile 965.3)

17.0 PCT miles

I *may* have seen a bear this morning. I was sitting on a log at the campground when I thought I saw some movement across the creek and behind the trees. I watched it for a little while and definitely saw some slight movement. Just when I had convinced myself it was just the trees moving, I saw a black shape move quickly down from the rocks. I never saw what the shape was so I’m guessing it was either a bear, a ghost, or Sasquatch.

When we finally got moving for the day, we started with an annoying uphill climb through the forest. Every once in awhile I was able to get a glimpse of the granite mountains surrounding me.

Morning walk through the forest.

A peek at the granite.

After the climb, we got to walk on fairly flat terrain and through  gorgeous meadow. After that, the trail went down into a canyon. On that trail was a large trail crew working on improvements. I managed to thank every one of them for their trail work as I passed by.

Hello, beautiful meadow.

At the bottom of the canyon we came across the first of several notable creek crossings. The last report of McCabe Creek was that it was thigh deep. When we crossed it, it was maybe knee deep.

Phoenix and Songbeard crossing McCabe Creek.

I was a little worried about Return Creek because I read somewhere that it is so intimidating that it has made people “return” to Tuolumne Meadows.  Again, the crossing wasn't difficult.

Julia crossing Return Creek.

Phoenix was worried about the next creek, Spiller Creek, because she had some friends who had gone through 1.5 weeks ago and described it as “hairy.” Again, we crossed without difficulty.

Sage and Julia crossing Spiller Creek.

All these “difficult” crossing were between knee and just above the knee deep.  They also had current, but were not too swift. It appears that the water level and intensity has gone down. I definitely think I entered the Sierra at the optimal time.

After Spiller Creek we hiked uphill until we got to Miller Lake where we took a late lunch and afternoon nap. Songbeard got in the water, but based on the loud gasps I heard him do,  the water was too cold for me to swim in. There was still some snow in the surrounding area.

Miller Lake.

Wildflowers at Miller Lake.

After we had napped,  I noticed it had gotten a little hazier. I wondered if that was normal for the area. However, after we left the lake we came upon what would be a spectacular overlook of a canyon, but was washed out by the haze. I started to suspect it was from a forest fire.

Leaving Miller Lake.

Following the gartersnake.

Immense, but hazed out canyon.

We got down to the bottom of the canyon and had our next crossing, Matterhorn Creek. It was a beautiful  (although hazed out) meadow crossing that also did not pose a challenge.

Julia, Phoenix, and Songbeard crossing Matterhorn Creek.

I walked through the meadow a while, then started uphill again to our last water challenge of the day, Wilson Creek. Because of the haze, the sunlight coming through was lighting everything up in golden, orange, or red light. It was definitely a unique experience.

View from the trail.

When we got to Wilson Creek we made a plan to only cross it once.  The trail technically crossed it three times in 1.5 miles, but we decided crossing it once, then bushwhacking along shore to where it comes out after the third crossing was better than trying to find good crossings on a swollen creek 3 times. The first one was already difficult and on a log did not span the whole creek, making us use our creativity to get down and across.

Log crossing at Wilson Creek.

Bushwacking, however, turned out to be a bad idea in my opinion. The terrain was easy enough at first, been then started to get soggy, and full of boulders and dense trees. It was uphill too so I was struggling more than the rest of the group and I was falling behind.

I had to search the area for someone's backpack, then try to pick my way over to where they were. I totally lost sight of them a couple times and had to keep moving towards where I thought they had headed. When I would finally get a visual on them waiting for me, they would start moving again and disappear. It was exhausting and frustrating.

Eventually, we came out on the trail and the campsite we had been heading to. I was in  a bad mood from the bushwhacking and concerned about the haze. It was definitely forest fire smoke. The question was whether it was from a prescribed burn or a forest fire. We were on a popular trail, so I imagine they would have sent helicopters over to search for hikers if we were in trouble. They trail crews were also out working,  which I would not imagine they would do if they were in trouble.

Smoky sunset.