Today it rained. All day. We climbed 2 miles up--like huge stone steps, 65 degree incline, into the clouds, up. Stopped to make a cave in the freezing rain once before the sign Bishop Pass, and under a tree hut on the way down. This pass was broken up over yesterday and today, so I felt obligated to kill the pass, and climb down to our original trail. We had been off the JMT for three days. But it rained. And rained. My pack wasn't covered properly, and the tent outside it and top pocket were soaked; weighing me, not down but, back. I didn't figure it out for a while and thought I was being a baby, but it felt like an elf jumped on the back of my bag.
The boys were so cool. So strong and funny. They made jokes in the rain and maneuvered such tricky, wet steep rocks and rivers like pros. The walk down from Bishop Pass was marked as 6.8 miles away from the trail we wanted. We walked hard, but the 6.8 was endless. My feet were screaming, Nate said his were dead. We camped as soon as we hit the trail. Tent, ramen, M&M dessert, bed.
Swimming at our campsite
