July 4. Day 64.

Smedburg Lake to Wilma Lake (mile 986.9).

Miles hiked: 18.5.

Today's hike began with a steep descent down towards Benson Lake, the trail first circling around the base of Volunteer Peak, a tall triangle of rock rising 1000 feet above Smedburg Lake, then dropping down tight switchbacks hewn into a narrow band of dirt and trees running down the mountain, flanked on both sides by cliffs. At the bottom of these switchbacks the trail joined a small creek cutting steeply down through light granite then into reds and browns and dark grays of a type I couldn't ID. The sky was heavy and humid and the color of ash. Somewhere along the creek I heard a Pacific Wren, I'm pretty sure the first of the trip.

Headin' down thataway.

Finally down to the bottom, in a stand of massive Red Firs, some 4 or 5 feet across, I flushed a large raptor from near the trail. A pair of Stellar's Jays set about mobbing it when it landed, but even with their help I couldn't find it in the dense canopy in the time allotted me by the mosquitoes. I think it might have been a Great Horned Owl, but I really can't say for sure.

This is called something like Little Elephant Head.

The climb back up was as steep as the descent and still muggy. The topography here is totally different than further south. The mountains are still made of the same light granite, but the canyons are steep and narrow and V-shaped and the high country between them often has flat little meadows or small lakes right next to the passes. The trail took us down into and back up out of 3 deep canyons today, feeling like a lot more up and down than in the high Sierra. It's the sort of topography your water bottle notices, collapsing on descents of just a mile or so.

Up near Seavey Pass.

In plant news, I'm now getting in to Western Hemlock country, and also started seeing elderberry today. There is also a beautiful lupine with dark red or purple stems. At these lower elevations (got down below 8,000 feet a few times today) I'm also seeing many more butterflies, and also saw the first lizards I've seen since somewhere before Kennedy Meadows.

After taking a nap in Kerrick Canyon, the second of the day, AZ and another couple I've seen a few times since Kennedy Meadows, named Driver and Pit Stop, caught up with me and we leapfrogged together the rest of the day. I asked AZ about Kobaine, who I last saw at KM and who  had hiked with AZ since the beginning, and apparently he is now off the trail in some sort of bar tending academy in Ventura. Crazy turn of events. 

AZ and Driver, trying to keep feet dry.

We all arrived to Wilma Lake about the same time, along with Shenanigans who I'd also seen a few times over the course of the afternoon. We all set up next to each other, and chatted a bit over dinner while swatting mosquitoes. Driver had a McDonalds cheeseburger for dinner, which he had packed all the way from Mammoth Lakes. He said he started with 12 and is now just down to a couple left. He gave one to AZ who is running a bit low. You see some crazy food choices out here. A couple deer grazed along the lakeshore at dark, while I watched from the protection of my bug net.

Wilma Lake sunset.

Birds:

Spotted Sandpiper 

Northern Flicker 

White-crowned Sparrow 

Oregon Junco- nest, 2 eggs

Yellow-rumped Warbler 

American Robin 

Clark's Nutcracker 

Sooty Grouse

Hermit Thrush 

Mountain Chickadee 

Stellar's Jay 

Brown Creeper 

Cassin's Finch 

Pacific Wren 

Wilson's Warbler 

Fox Sparrow 

Olive-sided Flycatcher 

Golden-crowned Kinglet 

Hammond's Flycatcher 

Red-breasted Nuthatch 

Mountain Quail