Goal for the day: Muir Pass (11,975 feet) for sure this time

Having survived the night, I woke up and had granola for a quick breakfast. I enjoyed the pre-sunrise stars and brightening skies as I packed my gear. I decided I didn’t want to wait too long to get to Muir Pass. Maybe I could take advantage of the early start to get some nice sunrise colors as I hiked up to Muir Pass and at the pass itself.

It took me an hour to get to Muir Hut. It would have made a good shelter from last nights storms, but I wouldn’t have made it in time for the first storm. I also don’t know if it would be safe in a lightning storm. Unlike the Survey Hut on top of Mt Whitney that has clear warnings that the hut won’t protect you against lightning, this hut didn’t mention anything about lightning. Just that it could be used for emergency shelter from storms. But it was a moot point at that point.

The Muir Hut was nice and made out of stone. Stone being READILY available in the area, since it was almost the only thing around. 🙂

Plenty of room inside to shelter from storms and some nice plaques memorialize John Muir and dedicating it to the lover of “The Range of Light”.

Speaking of light, the morning light was doing a great job of entertaining me. Both on the hike up to the hut and also as I enjoyed the view from the top of Muir Pass. Fantastic.

After enjoying the view, I started my big 4,000 foot descent. Yes, after climbing 4,000 feet to Muir Pass over the last two days, I now had to descend the same amount. My informal target based on my sample itinerary was to get to Deer Meadow that afternoon, but that would mean re-climbing 600-800 feet at the end of the day. I’d be happy to just get to the low point of the day’s hike in Grouse Meadows (Middle Fork Kings River Trail junction).

When I got down to Helen Lake, I decided I was glad I stopped at Wanda Lake. Helen Lake was small and didn’t have much of a view. It was surrounded by mountain ridges, so didn’t have the wide view Wanda did. I much preferred the larger Wanda and wide range of mountains surrounding it. I wonder if Helen Lake is recommended as a stopping point since it’s probably a 15 minute hike to Muir Pass, so hikers could visit Muir Pass at sunset and sunrise without too much trouble. The storms last night took the choice from me anyway, but that was my thought as I descended past Helen Lake.

There were quite a few switchbacks descending from Helen Lake, but they weren’t that bad and it was a pleasant hike following a river cascading down the granite that made up the mountains.

I passed something identified as ‘Starr Camp’ on my map. There was a nice camping area in the area, but I wasn’t sure why it was so prominently named on the map.

Did get a few sprinkles in late morning as I entered Le Conte Canyon, but nothing more.

I was on the lookout for a ‘monster’ that apparently lurked in this Canyon. Tales of hikers being eaten were all over the Internet. 🙂

But my concern was for naught: The Rock Monster of Le Conte Canyon has gone vegetarian. It was chewing on leafy green veggies and not human meat. 🙂

By late afternoon the skies were again growing dark, although I didn’t hear any thunder. As some scattered sprinkles started to hit me, I ended up stopping about 2 miles short of the Middle Fork Kings River Trail junction. I found a seldom used campsite (it had a good tent pad without vegetation, but didn’t have much evidence that a lot of people used it regularly).

Mather Pass (12,100 feet) may have to wait till day 18. Doing the full 4,000 foot climb in one day to Mather Pass would be a very hard and very long day.

At around 4pm more rain showers, thunder, and lightning arrived. At least I got my tent set up in time (again), but this makes 6 straight days with some kind of rain showers.

11 miles hiked, 9:15 hours, 675 feet climbed
128 total miles hiked on the JMT

Highlights:
• Muir Pass – 11,975 feet (Pass #6 Conquered!)
• Rock Monster of Le Conte Canyon
• Daily Goal Achieved!