Mountain Meadows

We are not yet alpine, but the day after Walker Pass we started seeing meadows. Despite the dry heat, we also started seeing evidence of snowy winters. Rounded granite, stumpy trees, and even this little ripper of a mountain stream! I couldn’t believe it when I saw it. Dad and I got straight in. The water was COLD, but it felt so good to get some of the desert dust off us.

This has been the first stream in a long time – weeks – and seeing it feels like real progress on the trail. Of course, along with water comes wildlife, especially of the insect variety. Large green-brown flies swarmed around and tried occasionally to bite us. So we drew our swords, and they were surprisingly easy to cut down. But they made up for their lack of speed and intelligence with their sheer numbers. Lots and lots of flies.

The trail moved away from the stream far enough for the flies to give us some peace, but it ran parallel for a bit and we stayed within an easy walk back to it. It seemed to give us a real energy boost and we were able to move faster towards our goal…

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