Day 37 - Penultimate Desert Day

May 22

Depart Mile 656.9

Arrive Chimney Creek Campground (Mile 681.1)

Left at 6:25 am after a fun evening with Einstein, Atlas and Bandit. Einstein was away first, followed shortly thereafter by Atlas. Bandit was still sleeping, as he had a short day planned, and I set off a couple of minutes behind Atlas. It was a beautiful morning and the trail led around the mountain, and we were blessed with spectacular views.  We had a stiff climb of 800-1000 feet to start our day, but before I undertook the task that awaited I caught up to Atlas who was making a phone call. As I walked by I asked “Is she hot”? to which Atlas cracked up and gave out his hearty laugh which is raucous to put it mildly. Atlas caught up to me a short time later and explained that he was actually on the phone to his girlfriend when I went by and “made my enquiry”. Turns out Atlas’s girlfriend has a similar sense of humour, luckily for me. After this first climb of the day I started to descend before embarking on another big climb which brought me to a water source. It was 11:30am and so after filling up my water bottles I decided to have an early lunch, as I was going to face another 2000 feet in elevation right after. Thankfully it was not a hot day, and I’m getting real close to leaving the desert behind and getting into the High Sierra’s.

The last downhill section came and went, and there’s no fear or trepidation when faced with these big climbs, as my body and mind are so in sync and it’s a great feeling. I now entered a downhill phase, but even these sections end up going “uphill”, it’s bizarre! I finally arrived at Chimney Creek Campground which was realized after a soulless walk along a dirt road, and Einstein was already there and waiting. Tomorrow I have a 21 mile day to Kennedy Meadows which marks the end of the desert portion of my journey, and 700 miles will have been ticked off the odometer!

Oh what a beautiful morning!

Oh what a beautiful day!

Einstein is in those hills somewhere.

The trail awaits!

Looking back from where we came.

Another view of the valley we “skirted” today.