JMT Day 11: Bear Creek

Monday, August 01, 2011
	Destination: Slightly past bear creek Starting Location: Vermillion Valley Resort	Today's Miles: 10.30 Trip Miles: 103.70

Today was a glorious first day with Austin joining us.

We hiked up the Bear Ridge trail instead of taking the ferry back to the JMT. It was quite difficult and nearly a 2000 foot gain. This helped us appreciate the JMT a lot more. It was a pretty long day hiking.

Near the end we crossed some streams including the Bear Creek  which wasn't all that difficult compared to what we had read about prior to our journey. We went directly across where the trail does.  It was up to my thigh and slightly swift but very manageble.  Some small boyscouts had crossed a little before we did.

A crossing before Bear Creek

Our packs are heavy as Austin brought in a big resupply so we wouldn't have to send a second bucket to Muir Trail Ranch. We had planned to take it easy for Austin to acclimate. However, this doesn't seem necessary as he's doing fine. We'll probably get to Muir Trail Ranch early.