John Muir Trail, 2007: Day 9 – Rosemarie Meadow to Piute Creek Bridge
Another beautiful day on the trail today, starting off with a climb to Selden Pass that took us by the stunning Marie Lake. I regretted not making it all the way to Marie for camp the night before, but it was a bit windy up there so at least it wasn’t a perfect spot.
The climb to Selden was easy, as was the descent past Heart and Sallie Keys Lakes. The lakes in here were beautiful – I wish we’d been able to camp around there, but the schedule just didn’t work out. Next time. A couple of miles beyond Sallie Keys the trail spit us out onto a steep hillside covered in manzanita. I swear that the temperature instantly jumped 20 degrees. As we went down the long, never ending switchbacks I found myself desperately longing for the next small spot of shade. Unfortunately, as the trail descended to Muir Trail Ranch it just got dustier, sunnier, and hotter.
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