Four miles to Reds Meadow, which is rumored to have a restaurant, a store for resupply and housing with showers. We had also been told that the town of Mammoth was a fun place with a hip village and civilization galore. All of this translates into cheeseburgers or breakfast. An early start got us to Reds by 10:30a, after seeing Devils Postpile Monument (one of the tallest columnized structures of basalt; I think it formed through the uneven cooling of magma thousands of years ago). The monument is a cliff that is striped and layered with crystal looking chunks in black and emerald green. Super pretty and rich and deep, and it emerges from the death forests with an ominous darkness. Anyway we made it to Reds, and sat our dirty selves in the cafe. There we met two other JMTers, and the lovely couple who ran the place. Devan put extra whipped cream on the hot cocoas, and let us move in to the restaurant, while we charged everything. The boys had the Packers' Special: 3 giant pancakes, scrambled eggs and sausage. I had the regular egg breakfast, and none of us came close to finishing. Our stomachs are babies now. We learned that, what we called, the dead forest was in fact a dead forest, killed by a fire followed by a wind storm. The fire left many trees dead, but standing, and the storm tore them all down. Poor trees.
The day was open after breakfast and a big resupply. To hike or slack? We opted for a trip into Mammoth, vowing to start early on Monday.
Currently, I am lying on a cheap hotel bed with a clean Nate, reading on me. I washed everything, since I suddenly feel dirty in this clean place. We ordered pizza and now are fat, sick seals; lying on the bed with the tv on. What a weird week this has been.
Here is where I contemplate our situation. Is the down Nateness something that will worsen with time (we are currently at about 63 mi)? We have a stop at VVR, to play and eat big, in 3-4 days, and the Muir ranch soon after that. Then nothing.
So I've pitched the following: we set off tomorrow to Duck Lake (a side trail) and rejoin the JMT, or we use the transit system here (the last for a while) to skip ahead to Bishop. This shaves 70 mi off our 220 mi hike, which might be more manageable, and I think bears no shame whatsoever on our feat. The decision lies with the red man, and I will be judging based on his transparent eyes and heart, what we will all do tomorrow.
Stay tuned...
