John Muir Trail Day 8: Big Tree Living

JMT Day 8 — 8/11/24
Silver Pass Lake to Bear Ridge Rim
Quiet Alpenglow Camp to Bear Creek Cowboy Camp
JMT miles:  10.5 miles
JMT total: 69.5 miles
Elevation change: 2,077ft gain, 2,956ft loss

Even the easy days can surprise you sometimes. But that’s the trick with expectations. They create space where the unforeseen can thrive, sometimes for the better and sometimes upping the challenge. Today was the latter. After a grueling climb over the Silver Divide yesterday, a day with no passes seemed like a piece of cake. Whelp, there was no cake for me and Flower Power, just crumbs scattered amongst a butt-clenching descent and a sweat-drenching ascent. Though the crumbs were salubrious, I think that we both went to bed looking forward to a whole slice tomorrow.

A dusty morning sunrise through the tent mesh at 6am. It was the best of the trail yet, and no surprise there. This camp had the best view by a long shot and so we soaked it in over tea and breakfast cookies. Our basin was still shaded, but the east-facing faces of the southern peaks glowed like hot steel. Silver Divide Lake puddled glassily, reflecting the brightening hues of the surrounding rim in a disturbingly clear mirror image. If I hadn’t known better, it looked more like bushes and rocks than water. I found where I could poop, and watched the marmots graze in the meadow below like cattle. They oozed a couple of fluffy steps at a time. When stationary, their mottled reddish coats made them look just like the scattered rocks that had tumbled from above.

The best camp view so far.

Quilted clouds and bright granite.

That reflection messes with my brain.

Moving out and expecting an easy day.

We were moving at 8am, easily meandering along the relatively flat basin. But gradually, the trail became rockier and steeper until we were perched above a deep ravine. We couldn’t see the bottom over the edge, but we could hear a torrent raging. Flower Power powered over the rim dropping out of sight with a turn of the first switchback, no time for me to snap a photo. I followed her onto the ladder of short steep turns, laboriously constructed out of boulders and dirt. Every other turn brought us back to a sheet cliff where a granite dome steepened to vertical. First, we were level with its crown, then we were far below, gradually working closer to a flat in the forest.

A nice gradual start with excellent views. What’s not to like?

The steps were large and the views up the gorge to the Silver Divide were enticing. I got to the bottom of the switchbacks feeling fine. Flower Power, on the other hand, was in an adrenaline overload. Something about the vertiginous nature of the trail had kicked her fight or flight into overdrive. We sat next to the calmly splashing Silver Creek as she controlled her breath and let her head come back to earth. There was no true explanation for what had caused her vertigo, but fortunately, it was dissipating. That the steep exposure was unexpected probably hadn’t helped, and now that it was over, the illogic of it was disquieting. We’d been down worse, so hopefully this wouldn’t resurface.

Still easy. Still pretty.

The high-cloud texture continues.

Here we go steeply down down down.

With our feet back under us, we found a peaceful turn of the creek where the water skid in a thin sheet across wide slabs of granite and sat for a true break. While I squeezed out the dust in my socks, Flower Power washed away the last icky feelings. Our focus turned to what was ahead, an easy cruise to the Mono Creek crossing.

Juniper and massive ponderosa highlighted these easy miles, as well as the fun conversation in which we tried to remember our first trips to the movie theater. We were both woefully unsure. Then all too soon, we were back below 8,000ft, tapping across a tumbling river on a hefty footbridge, looking up at a 2,000ft climb.

A true break to reset after that freaky descent.

Getting low with the ponderosa and juniper.

Crossing Mono Creek and left with nowhere to go but up. Lunch first, though.

But first, lunch. We chilled and felt the heat of the day take hold. Hikers came and went, all of us with a huge climb ahead regardless of our direction of travel.  Some cooked, some sliced salami and cheese, a few bathed. We snacked and pooped.

Eventually, we wet our leggings and got to it. The switchbacks up Bear Ridge were steep, but at least they were mostly shaded by the ancient trees that sprouted from the dirt with curved bases that suctioned their roots better to the slant. Slowly but surely, we made solid progress, stopping to pant every few turns. And while I say slowly, progress was pleasingly fast. Up up up up. After two hard miles, we reached a small stream where we dropped our packs and filled up. There, we made the acquaintance of five other hikers, all sharing our struggle against the heat and gravity. Good times.

Two miles of this. At least there’s shade.

The slope lost its punch from there, gradually easing until we were cruising on flat dirt through viewless trees. And therein was the cruelty of the day. After all that dreadful down, we clambered back up, but not into views or even to a pass. Bear Ridge was just a bleh hump of trees. Pretty trees, don’t get me wrong, but the effort deserved a little more payoff, I thought. Flower Power agreed. I remembered the same disappointment from the PCT in 2015.

But then we got something. Starting down the other side, we dropped into a grove of aspen that shimmered and rustled in the low light and light breeze. It was glowy tree magic, and the mountains poked their gnarly summits through gaps in the canopy. A few juniper were also dispersed throughout, shaggy in their orangutan fur, fragrant in the warm sunshine. One was the biggest I’d ever seen, matching a girthy ponderosa limb for fat limb. Some strips of bark were ten feet tall and as wide as my hand. I had no idea juniper could grow so large. This was a juniper Shangri-la.

Surprise aspen and surprisingly tired feet.

It glows, it quakes. Aspen are the best.

Big ol’ juniper. The fuzziest of trees.

We were both cooked by the time we pulled up to a series of descending granite benches that overlooked the Bear Creek valley below. Then what started as a short sit-down turned into a night of camping. We were aiming for the bottom, but with legs this tired, brains this fried, and views this good, stopping was the obvious choice.

Why sit for a short break when you can camp?

Cowboy camping for the first time. Exciting!

Alpenglow on Seven Gables.

I convinced Flower Power to try cowboy camping for a change, because spots like this are what it was made for. We spread the thin groundsheet on the sand and dumped our colorful gear on top. No matter which way we turned, there was always something to look at. Except for backward. That view was boring. Beans and spanish rice to complement the alpenglow on the Mono Divide. Stars and a quarter moon to finish it off. Or was it a half-moon? We wondered if there was such a thing.

This post was originally published on my blog hikefordays.com. Check it out for trip reports from my other hikes including the AT, CDT, and Sierra High Route.