Picture of John Muir Wilderness
Caption: Backpacking John Muir Wilderness
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Caption: On our short hike to the trailhead we passed a group of mules grazing in the grass as we followed the dirt road.
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Caption: Let the adventure begin! 4 days and 3 nights in the John Muir Wilderness.
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Caption: I always find it so fascinating when hiking to see the ecosystem change gradually as you hike deeper and deeper into new areas.
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Picture of Humphreys Basin
Caption: We reached Piute Pass and were welcomed by such a beautiful day in the Sierras. From here we headed towards Mt Humphreys basin, planning to sleep beneath Humphreys that night.
Picture of Humphreys Basin
Picture of Humphreys Basin
Caption: We grabbed some water and headed off cross country. We arrived with plenty of light and time to kill before dark. Set up camp and started some dinner.
Picture of Humphreys Basin
Picture of Humphreys Basin
Caption: We were at about 12,000 feet, at this point I had altitude sickness from coming straight from sea level earlier that day. I was so nauseous I had Gil finish boiling my water. After resting for a while,
Picture of Humphreys Basin
Caption: I got up when the full moon was rising. I had to document how awesome or campsite was. Such a surreal setting, I got lucky enough to capture this lunar rainbow before heading off to bed.
Picture of Humphreys Basin
Caption: We had planned on climbing Humphreys the next morning but woke up to storm clouds. We headed deeper into the wilderness instead.
Picture of Humphreys Basin
Picture of Humphreys Basin
Caption: We had no trail to follow, carving our own path through nature. The terrain ranged from meadows, talas fields and some sketchy class 3/4 climbing.
Picture of Humphreys Basin
Caption: Gil captured this photo of me coming down the side of a ridge. Doing this with a fully loaded pack was pretty scary.
Picture of Humphreys Basin
Caption: Gil checking our cross country route and destination for the day.
Picture of Humphreys Basin
Caption: After tackling that first ridge we came to this beautiful view up another. All looked good until we glanced behind us and saw a huge rain cloud coming. We were much higher up than before.
Picture of Humphreys Basin
Caption: This is what we came down, it started raining and thundering. Super sketchy class 3/4 climbing down granite that was now wet and slick from the rain. It took us a terrifying two hours to get down.
Picture of Humphreys Basin
Caption: After getting down and taking a quick break, the storm started hitting us hard. Turning from rain to hail, after getting completely soaked we were lucky enough to find some trees to take cover under at 11,000 feet.
Picture of Humphreys Basin
Picture of Humphreys Basin
Caption: We set up camp in the storm above a remote lake, it ended up lasting 7 hours.
Picture of Humphreys Basin
Caption: Once the storm passed I made some tea to try and warm up as my clothes were drying in the fading sun.
Picture of Humphreys Basin
Picture of Humphreys Basin
Picture of Humphreys Basin
Picture of Royce Peak
Caption: The next morning we got up early with good weather. Gil gathering some water before we headed up Seven Gables. Royce peak glowing in the distance.
Picture of John Muir Wilderness
Caption: Half way up Seven Gables, the John Muir Wilderness is a granite playground. So many alpine peaks and lakes surrounded us in every direction we looked.
Picture of John Muir Wilderness
Picture of John Muir Wilderness
Picture of John Muir Wilderness
Caption: We ended up linking up with the backcountry trail on our third day, we hadn't see any one else out there for 3 days. It's nice to disconnect from it all and get connected to the outdoors.
Picture of John Muir Wilderness
Caption: The sproklife is the life for me.
Picture of John Muir Wilderness
Picture of John Muir Wilderness
Caption: Pilot Knob at sunrise.
Picture of John Muir Wilderness
Caption: Woke up to this beautiful alpine lake to start our last day.
Picture of Mount Humphreys
Caption: We stopped to grab a photo with Mt Humphreys in the distance on our way back out towards the pass.
Picture of Mount Humphreys
Picture of John Muir Wilderness
Caption: Another great adventure, onto the next!
