Daily Neet Beat
I mentioned yesterday that I twisted my ankle. I actually twisted it on a round fist-sized rock on the trail and went flying off the side of the trail, pack and all. I soaked it in the cool stream water but it is swollen and tender to walk on. So today I am “powering through”. The choices when something like this happens are very simple: if it is bad enough, send out a signal for help (we have a DeLorme Explorer), rest for a few days and then hike out to the nearest town, or “power through”. Being on the trail for 30 days, you expect something to happen. I don’t think it is broken and maybe only a slight sprain so I decide to “power through”.
This morning was very cold. We were in a low spot in a canyon with trees and it seemed to serve as a cold air sink. We get a slightly later start as we are not going to push it today because of my ankle. We start out of the Fish Creek drainage and start climbing up towards Silver Pass. We gain over 1,000 feet in the first mile and a half and are soon up at the Silver Pass Divide. This is a beautiful area and looks very similar to parts of Yosemite around Donohue Pass we saw earlier on this hike. The Silver Divide area is full of alpine lakes surrounded by quartz monzonite (a granite-type rock with less potassium feldspar so it is white and grey for those of you who are not geologists). It is so awesome here.
Just the Facts
From Fish Creek Trail Junction to Junction with Mono Creek
Miles: 8
Total Miles: 133
Elevation gain and loss: 1,663 feet up and 1,802 feet down
Sunny with a cool breeze, Fire haze prominent over the Minarets
Photos of the Day
