John Muir Trail Day 6

August 15, 2012 –Rosalie Lake to Crater Meadows

Mileage:  12               Elevation:  8500 feet

The Minerets

Left Rosalie at 7 am heading for Red's Meadow to pick up our cache.  The trail out was much prettier than we expected as we gradually dropped in elevation.  The trail rises to Lake Gladys then drops to Trinity Lakes and Johnson Lakes.  The John Muir Trail passes above Devil’s Post Pile National Monument.  As the day progressed it grew hotter and dustier.  After 9 miles we arrived at Red's Meadow at 11:45.

Our Cache

First stop was the store for cold drinks!  Then we picked up our cache bucket and repacked our food.  We realized we planned for too many trail snacks, so we made a huge donation to the “hiker barrel” at the store.  The campground at Red's costs $20 and there aren’t even showers!  It was early in the day to camp anyway, so we decided to head south.

Left for hikers in need

Rainbow Fire Burn

In the heat of the day we set out across a recent burn with no shade!  The Rainbow Fire destroyed a lot of land south of Red’s Meadow.  The game was:  How far can Chris hike powered by a huge ice cream sandwich purchased Reds?  After we got our newly heavy packs on we entered the burned out forest area, making decent progress.  After 3 miles we crossed a beautiful creek and found the campsite of our dreams!  We were cooling our heals in the stream in no time.  A lovely spot shaded by tall trees, much more comfortable than the campground at Red's Meadow.

In the evening we climbed the North Red Cone, a huge cinder formation, and enjoyed great views of the mountains we had just hiked through and peaks we would be visiting the next few days.  When we got down we found our camping area population had grown by 5.  It was a merry noisy evening.