Goal for the day: Rest, Hot Springs, Rest, Resupply, Rest

FYI: A lot of this day’s report will cover some boring backpacker resupply info, so not all of it may be interesting to everyone.

I woke up with almost nothing to do for the first time in 13 days. I didn’t have to break camp. I didn’t have to strap a 45 pound backpack on my back. I didn’t have to start hiking down the JMT.

It was an odd feeling. 🙂

To start, I actually got a little extra sleep. I had a breakfast of blueberry granola since I had no hot meals left. Then I took my mostly empty backpack and headed down the trail towards Muir Trail Ranch. I did take my bear canister with me, since I’d have to protect my new food and dispose of my trash. Oh… and my dirty clothes that I hoped to launder at the ranch.

As I climbed up the hill by my camp, I thought I was kind of right about not wanting to climb up it after the long hike the day before, but it may have been nice to have some privacy the night before.

The trail over to MTR was pretty simple and before long I reached a sign post indicating the resupply point was moved and to follow the Blayney Hot Springs trail. I thought they changed it due to COVID-19.

When I got to the building, it looked to be a permanent building. It looks like they built a new building and the new location was permanent or they just used a different building that was already there (hard to tell and I didn’t think to ask at the time).

The first thing I did was to go onto the porch and plug in all my backup batteries to charge them. Most of them were empty or close to empty.

Since the store and resupply pickup wasn’t open just yet, I used their filtered water faucet to fill my various water containers. Yeah, my Sawyer filter could filter the river water as needed, but there was some kind of urge to make sure I had as much of MTR’s filtered water as possible. I guess their bigger filter was somehow better. 🙂

I picked up my resupply after they opened and scanned the items they had for sale in the store.

Trekking poles!

I took a look at the poles and while they would work, they were 2.5 pounds. My Black Diamond Distance Carbon FLZ poles are 13 ounces. They felt very heavy to me. I would have to think about it. My repaired pole seemed to be working fine, so I could wait a little bit before making the decision.

Digging into my resupply pail, I started with a semi-cold Diet Coke. Ahhhhhhh…

Going through the package, I put aside the meals for that night and the next morning. They wouldn’t need to fit in the bear canister, so I didn’t need to account for the space in the canister.

Like I did at Reds Meadow: I trashed some trail snacks that my usage over the past 5 days showed I wouldn’t need, I added my remaining Gatorade powder to my new supply (since it’s white powder, I tried my best not to look like I was handling cocaine), and I decided what meals I’d need for the next 7 days. The meals were a critical choice since 7 days usually would fill my bear canister with the other items that needed to be put in there. I ended up taking a couple granola Ziplock bags as spares, since they don’t take a lot of space. I was pleasantly surprised that I made everything I wanted to take fit without too much trouble.

The new SPF 50 sunblock and bottle of bug spray from the package was welcome, so I disposed of the old ones (including the unused 1oz bug spray and half empty sunblock spray I got at Reds). Again, the sports tape and first aid tape I included went in the trash since I hadn’t needed to use either. I did swap my used duct tape roll for a fresh one, since I had used a decent amount of it repairing my trekking pole. I also had included a fully charged 26800mAh battery, so that would add to my power capacity. In retrospect, I probably should have sent that top my 3rd resupply point. I could charge everything at MTR, so having the extra battery there wasn’t as useful.

I also got a clean pair of Inuji liner socks from the package and threw away the dirtiest pair I had brought from Yosemite. I credited these liner socks with keeping my feet in pretty good shape over the past 108 miles. A little peeling skin on the bottom of my big toes, some smushed pinky toes (not really anything liner socks can do about that), and a little skin scraping on my left ankle. So an new, clean pair was welcome.

About that time, I wished I had packed some Golden Oreos into my resupply package. I just had a craving for them at that point for some reason. I’d never bother with them for eating on the trail, but it never occurred to me to put a special snack like that in the resupply package for enjoying at the resupply point. This is my first trek with resupplies like this, so call it a newbie mistake.

Due to COVID-19 they didn’t have any toilet (pit or otherwise) available for hikers to use. Likewise, their primitive laundry facilities weren’t available either. I knew it wouldn’t be like Reds Meadow with a full washing machine and dryer, but I was looking forward to using that to wring some of the stench out of my clothing.

Going back to the store, I got a new cooking gas canister, some biodegradable soap to use for cleaning my hair and clothes (I had used most of what I brought with me already), and looked at the trekking poles again. Still didn’t like how heavy they felt.

With the resupply taken care of it was time to soak in the hot springs! I followed the trail down and then had to cross the river. There was no bridge and it was too wide and deep for a row of rocks or logs to help cross the river.

Which means I would have to ford the river. I hadn’t had to ford any water yet on this trek, but the hot springs beckoned me. I could take my shoes off and go barefoot (I had left my camp shoes back at camp that I could also use for water crossings), but I decided since I’d have to do it both ways and I’d have the whole afternoon to let them dry I could just cross with my boots on. They are waterproof and if they do get wet inside they dry out pretty fast based on prior experience with them.

They did get wet inside. 🙂

But it wasn’t a problem crossing otherwise. I headed towards the hot springs and then found a nice area that had some great camping sites. Unfortunately, there were notices in various online info about a lot of the sites in this area being removed and that the area was under restoration. So, I didn’t know what kind of sites might be found near the hot springs. Plus having to lug my full pack 5 miles round trip wasn’t that appealing to me the prior afternoon.

Regardless, I found the public hot springs and got in quickly. Ahhhhhhhhh…

This was like heaven after the last 13 days and 108 miles. I couldn’t use soap in the hot springs, but just soaking away the aches and pains was very refreshing. Maybe better than the hot shower at Reds.

Having spent a lot of time in Japan enjoying their hot springs, soaking for long periods was natural for me. It was not a quick dip in and out. I spent at least an couple of hours there, although some of that was checking out the nearby warm lake.

A couple of people did come by, but they headed for the other hot spring that was on the ranch’s private property. I’m no saint and have had to use private property to get to or from trails when there was no other option or for emergencies, but in general I try to respect private property when I can. Although it did occur to me since the ranch didn’t have guests, it might have been safer than normal to go use the private one. The hot spring I was in was great, so no loss.

Ahhhhhhhhhh… I had to leave eventually. I wasn’t in a hurry, but after a while your feet and hands get all pruney. 🙂

Getting dressed and fording the river again, I stopped at the resupply store. I wanted to scan the supplies they had again and also decide about the trekking poles.

No other supplies caught my eye as something I needed. In the end, the weight of the trekking poles they had just seemed like they would throw me off. So I decided to take a chance with my repaired pole.

With the decision made (although I had 4 hours to change my mind and come back to the store before they closed), I headed back to my camp.

I did have most of the afternoon left at that point and was a little tempted to pack up my gear and head down the JMT a little way. I could probably go two to four miles if I wanted to.

I wasn’t sure until I neared my camp and saw a nice private campsite that I had somehow missed seeing on the way up the hill that morning. It was up a bit from the river’s edge, but still had access to the water. I couldn’t resist, so I dropped most of my gear and headed down to get my tent and other gear. There was no reason to skip my zero day of much needed rest at that point.

I had to deflate my air pad, but otherwise I just pulled the poles from my tent and bundled everything up and carried it up the hill. It wasn’t far, so I was up and running at the new site in short order. I wondered if it was being used the previous night?

Since I couldn’t do my laundry at the ranch, I took the opportunity to use the new soap to wash my dirtiest clothing. I had a 3 gallon Ziplock bag that I could use to get a lot of water out of the river far enough so I could use the soap without the dirty water running into the river.

Of course, I had a small shower of rain shortly after, but it didn’t last long.

After I finished sorting through all my gear to add the items from the resupply, I relaxed for the rest of the day. I enjoyed the view across the river, watched some videos on my iPhone, played some video games. Yeah, that would cost my some power, but I was full up at that point.

I went to bed a little early, just in case I woke up a bit early and could hit the trail early.

6 miles hiked, 2:00 hours, 500 feet climbed (did not record GPS tracks for this zero day so stats are approximate)
108 total miles hiked on the JMT (no change due to zero day)

Highlights:
• Hot Springs!
• Diet Coke and the rest of my resupply
• Much needed rest