Day 55: When Mosquitos Attempt Murder

June 4, 2017
Mile 722.23 Campsite to Mile 739.32 Campsite 

I fucking hate mosquitoes; there’s no better way to say it. And today there were a ton of them. We had already climbed over the ridge and trekked through the frozen snow with our microspikes (which was a lot less dramatic than anticipated) and stopped at what we thought was a nice spot for breakfast and were immediately swarmed by countless mosquitos. They didn’t really bite when we were moving, but any time we stopped (including to poo) they viscously mauled our poor bodies. As the day wore on there were fewer of them, but the damage had already been done. I have about 50 bites on my legs, 20 on my butt, and many others elsewhere.

The biggest success of the day was realizing that they current snow line is above 10,000 feet; somewhere around 10,500. That realization gave me a huge boost of confidence now that we’re actually in the Sierras. Most of the trail through this section will be above 10,000 feet so knowing that there will be parts of the day that we’ll be under the snow line and able to move quickly and camp on dry ground is extremely comforting. 

A snowy descent.

We only have about eight miles into Lone Pine tomorrow where we will be staying at Horseshoe Meadows Campground where Dr. McDirty’s cousin will be meeting us with steaks, beer, and bourbon. He’s flying in on his personal prop plane and will be giving us a little trail magic!