John Muir Trail Day 9: Leaving Reds, Fancy Breads, Flowers with Spots of Red, and Altered (Rock) Beds

Yesterday while we were in Mammoth Lakes we stopped at Schat’s Bakery and bought 6 croissants and muffins and a small loaf of bread. We eat these early (yes we ate 3 pastries each) and get started before 7am.  The line and crowd is long at the Mule Cafe at Reds Meadow as every thru hiker is eating their last meal before hitting the trail and the cafe opens at 7am. Pigging out on pastries allows us to get a head start on the trail and not be waiting for our food to get going.

 We are climbing out of Reds Meadow up to Duck Pass and Purple Lake with 15 miles to do and an elevation gain of about 2500 feet. Today is our heaviest pack day as we have 9 days of food. Not sure of the exact weight of our packs but when we started the JMT on day 1 and had 7 days of food, my pack was 32 pounds (including food and water) and Ray’s pack was 37 pounds (including food and water). So add about 2.5 pounds. Grunt, grunt…

Never-the-less we make good time and arrive at Purple Lake around 2pm. Purple Lake is at an elevation of 10,000 feet and it is actually a little chilly when we arrive. We set up camp and spend a little time exploring the Ram Lake area above Purple Lake.