Day 9 : Upper Palisade Lake

Monday July 7, 2014
15 Miles Today
171 Total Miles

Slept in today. Not sure what time it was but it was a lot lighter out then when I normally wake up. Woke up to the sound of rain drops smacking the tent, not hard, just a light pitter-patter. Slept a bit longer, then finally got up. The rain stopped, but the sky looked ready to start up again. Got my food and had breakfast in the tent.

The rain started up again so I packed my pack in the tent. Everything, obviously, except the tent. Stuck the pack under a tree and then packed the tent. I got my poncho to fit over me and my pack. Was having trouble doing that yesterday because of the eight days of food I was carrying.

Today's hike was all under overcast skies. I saw I whole lot less people than the other days. Not sure why. The rain spattered off and on all day so I had my poncho on most of the day. I am glad that I took all those training hikes through town last winter. I knew what to expect and how to use the poncho. Duh, how hard is it to use a poncho? When the rain stops for a bit a want to keep my pack protected without having me inside the poncho getting all clammy and wet from condensation.

Met up with Felix and Kevin at Lower Palisade lake, they should have been a lot further down the trail. They have two days of food left and have to resupply at Onion Valley Trailhead over Kersarge Pass. That's a long way from here so that had to keep going. 

I have six days of food which is enough to get me all the way to and over Mt Whitney. I only have to hike twelve miles per day from now till Saturday to get me to Mt Whitney on time in six days. So today was relatively easy. I remember when twelve miles was a long full arduous day. After last week it's an easy day. 

I got to my camp about three in the afternoon. It hadn't rained since about noon. I got my food hung, my tent setup, replenished my water supply, and had just started to cook dinner when the rain started with more intensity than it had before. I retreated I to my tent to eat my dinner. I was all cleaned up and had everything put away by five. So now I have a few hours of rest time in my sleeping bag. This is almost like a vacation. 

I think that was the last of the rain. I see large blue patches in the sky and the sun is peeking through finally. I am hopeful that tomorrow we are back to the normal pattern of sun and no clouds all day.

My tooth has started bothering me. I think I have we in technical terms is called a toothache. I will need to go to the dentist when I get home. I wonder how much worse it's going to get by next week? Maybe if I had an ice skate I could do my on dentistry like what Tom Hanks did in that movie where he costarred with Wilson the volleyball. Alas, I have no ice skate or volleyball.