Day 130, Fish Creek to Bear Creek

This morning was chilly but not freezing. It's hard to know sometimes whether camping in a valley will be better for the temperature or not. Sometimes, and especially when near water, cold air will settle in lower elevations.

If we had camped at Lake Virginia as originally planned, we would have been at 10,354 feet and near a large lake. Instead, we were camped 840 feet lower than that and surrounded by more trees. Most likely, our campsite on Fish Creek was warmer than Lake Virginia.

Less than a mile from our campsite, the trail crossed a sturdy bridge over the creek. Then two-tenths of a mile farther, the trail began a long and sometimes steep climb away from the creek.

The climb was 1,749 feet in the next 3.4 miles. On the way, I saw some unusual notches carved in trees. These were probably cut with an ax to mark the trail.

Blazing a trail like this was a practice for centuries, though now mostly abandoned. Blazes today are usually painted, like the Appalachian Trail's two-inch by six-inch white rectangles, or metal or wooden emblems attached to trees. The PCT generally uses the latter method.

Some carved blazes like the ones I saw today were made by U.S. Cavalry soldiers. They patrolled this area before the creation of the National Park Service and Forest Service.

In the 1890s, cavalry patrols were based at Red's Meadow but I don't know if the blazes I saw were made by those soldiers. They often blazed trees with a "T" and joked this mark was used so "Irishmen in the army would know that it was a tree.”

The climb leveled for a short distance in a glacial valley. The sun was now rising above the valley's rim and the temperature was warming.

I stopped to remove my insulating jacket and eat a snack. I also filtered some water at a nearby stream.

The trail became more difficult as it climbed over broken rocks and reached a higher part of the valley.

Once the trail passed the scree slope it became much smoother. As I continued walking, I wondered where the trail would go. No obvious pass appeared ahead between the steep and rugged walls of rock.

The trail didn't go straight as I had expected. Instead, it jogged to the left and climbed the side slope of the valley. It then turned to cross a stream flowing from Squaw Lake. This was at the cirque of this glacier-carved valley.

More climbing followed before the trail leveled briefly where it reached Goodale Pass at 10,540 feet, then continued upward.

The trail crested at nearly 11,000 feet before dropping 150 feet to Silver Pass.

This spot offered an outstanding view of where the trail would be heading later today. Two of the prominent peaks on the left were Recess Peak and Seven Gables.

In a direct line from where I stood, Recess Peak was 7.1 miles away. It was 12,813 feet in elevation. Beyond it at 12 miles away was Seven Gables. Its peak was 13,060 above sea level.

Our campsite for tonight was at the foot of both mountains and about halfway between them. By trail, it was more than 13 miles away from Silver Pass.

I arrived at the top at 5:30 p.m. and stopped to enjoy the view. Seven Gables was now just 6.5 miles away.

With just 2.7 miles to go and mostly downhill to end the day, I should have felt strong and upbeat. Instead, I started to feel my energy drain away. I arrived at our campsite just before 7 p.m., which was about the time I would have expected, but I was worn out.

Perhaps the 4,000 feet of ascending and 5,000 feet of descending trail had something to do with that.

I may need to take another look at my calorie consumption to get me through the Sierra. There are more than 165 miles of roadless trail ahead before we reach the end of this section. In that distance, we'll make two resupply stops. They will give me a chance to load up on a few extra snack bars.