John Muir Trail Backpack, Part 2 (Sept 1-6)

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Morning light skimming over the jagged granite spires near Palisade Lakes on day 5 of our backpack. This was our coldest mornings, with a fairly heavy frost, just above freezing.

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Another sunrise photo

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And we're hiking. John is making good time.

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As we begin climbing, this is the view back to Upper Palisade Lake, with the Palisade peaks to the right.

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I'm approaching Mather Pass; an unnamed tarn is in the boulders below the peaks.

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At the summit of Mather Pass. This is the Link family, from Nashville, TN. They were through hiking the entire 200-mile plus length of the JMT; the kids are 9 and 12 years old and really having a great wilderness experience.

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Group photo onMather pass; 12,100 feet. Our 2nd high pass of the trip. From our last camp, this was a 1200 ft climb. We now have a 2000 foot descent, followed by 1200 ft of up at the end of the day.

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The trail switchbacks down the steep talus on the south side of Mather Pass, into the valley of the South Fork of the Kings River.

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Descending from Mather. The Nashville family, Rob and John.

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Panorma of the Palisades, taken from Mather Pass. Because many hikers had staged themselves for a morning climb up Mather, there was virutally a party atmosphere, with 15-20 folks at the top.

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At first, I thought this was a tiny example of the Arctic Gentians that we have in Colorado, but looks like it is the smaller Newberry's Gentian.

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After traversing the fairly baren high valley south of Mather, I took a long break near the stream to wait for the rest of the gang. This outfitter passed with his loose-herded mules; teaching them the trail, I guess.

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Here's the stream, the South Fork of the Kings, just before it drops steeply from the hanging valley.

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Rob arrived, and took the opportunity to cool his feet in the stream.

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Possibly Striped Mountain?

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We crossed the South Fork of the Kings at about 10,000 ft before beginning our climb to our next camp. The sign has been "adjusted" to show the true milage, more like 5.4 from Mather, and 4.5 to go to Pinchot, tomorrow.

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A marmot near our camp.

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This photo was taken from our dinner site, and shows much of our route from Mather Pass (the low gap beneath the Palisades, just left of center).