Day 5
Red's Meadow/Crater Creek to Fish Creek
16.4 miles

Slept well last night and broke camp at 7:15am to a maple syrup-like smell on the trail. The Red Cones are interesting and there are some nice wide views of the Sierra's further along this section of the trail, but mostly it was dusty forest hiking here. I passed another solo hiker who is hiking the JMT from North to South, starting at Cottonwood, South of Mt. Whitney.

Stopped for lunch at 12 noon at the river that runs from Duck Lake. A friendly marmot came to within 15 feet, stopped and peacefully ate his lunch of a small green twig. We both sat quietly and watched each other eat.

I began to spread out stops to filter water. It was clear that there are plenty of opportunities to filter water along the trail, as I heard is pretty much always the case along the JMT. Carrying less water meant less weight, of course, and any chance to lighten my pack was welcome.

By 3pm I reached Lake Virginia, which to me was the most beautiful lake yet, and was my favorite along the entire JMT. Perfectly placed among surrounding peaks with a network of streams and lush greens grasses, the lake felt like it inhabited a world of its own. The perfectness of this spot turned into a bit of a dilemma as I found I couldn't tear myself away from this place. At any other point in the hike I probably would have stayed and set up camp, even though it was only mid afternoon, but I was due to meet the ferry to Vermilion Valley Resort, where I had mailed myself a resupply package, the next day at 4:45pm. Stopping here would make tomorrow a long day and risk missing the ferry. I had also been viewing tomorrow as a rest day and I found it hard to let go of my schedule. There was an ironic agony in all this, being out in the wilderness where daily city-life-type time constraints were not important, yet feeling I couldn't shake city-life-conditioned allegiance to a predetermined schedule. In the end, I determined that I will be unhappy either way: If I continue on I will regret not standing up to the risk-averse voices inside me, and if I stay I will spend the rest of the day, night and next day worrying about my decision. This place is too beautiful and perfect to host my tortured soul I felt melodramatically, and I continued on.

I stopped to set up camp around 5pm at a great spot just past the bridge over Fish Creek. Looking at the map after I had a chance to unwind, I saw that there is a 1500 ft. elevation gain in 2.7 miles tomorrow morning. This made me feel better about my decision and I boiled water for dinner feeling good about another spectacular, physically rewarding day.

After dinner I went over to talk to a couple that were camping a few hundred feet away. Ruth and Urich were from Switzerland and had come to the U.S. specifically to do the JMT. We discovered we had left Yosemite Valley the same day, and we had been only slightly separated the entire time. They brought all their gear and food from Switzerland and had no particular plan to get from the portal to LA where they were to fly home. I offered to give them a ride if we ended up at the portal at the same time, but it sounded like they were planning to summit two days earlier than I. We wished each other luck, but I was sure I would probably see them on the trail again.