Sneaky Bastard

I’m back from the wilderness. Well, technically I’ve been back for a couple days, but it’s taken a while to recover. On 30 June at 0100 hours, I left my house and drove through the night to Mineral King in the Sequoia National Park. I arrived at sunrise, where it was a brisk 45 degrees. My folks had coffee ready, thank God. We spent a couple days at 7,200′ to get acclimated. On 2 July, we loaded up our packs for a hike to Monarch Lake at 10,100′. As we had been warned, the mosquitos were real bitches. The site had a bear locker and pit toilet, which is pretty darn fancy for the backcountry. The next morning a few of us did a day hike to Sawtooth Pass at 11,100′. The trail was difficult to follow, and the decomposed granite filled my boots several times.

While in the wilderness, I used a new product for water purification called the SteriPEN. This uses ultraviolet light instead of filters or chemicals. It sure beats pumping, and I have no illness to report after drinking several liters of stream water purified using it.

This was my first hike in my new REI Spirit III GTX boots. They performed very well, without more than a couple days of break-in. Next time I’ll wear gators with them though. They seem to be a pebble magnet.

I took my old Kelty tent with me. It’s big enough for me and all the backpacks. But it’s on its last legs. I was considering a bivy sack, but I kinda like having enough room to keep the gear inside with me. I’m sure I’ll find something to drop a wad of cash on.

Pictures from the trip are on my Google Picasa Web Album. The view from Sawtooth is pretty awesome.