Scraping the Sky

Day 96 9/16
Mileage 17
Camped at VVR

We watched the sun come up over the lake as we made our morning preparations. The trail continued up into even more dramatic and stark terrain. We took the Goodale pass route into the valley. On top of the pass, I was silently lamenting that we couldn't stop and climb more mountains, as I eyed the summit to our left. Earlier this morning, I had promised myself I would stop and look at more cool stuff. So, we threw caution to the winds, dropped our packs, and headed up. The 15 minute climb rewarded us greatly. And almost 360° view lay before us, the clouds hanging so close that I felt as if I could scrape them with my trekking pole as they blew by. I realized that people don't often get much closer to the sky than this. I felt as if I were in it, rather than under it. Kyle and I returned to our packs, happy with our side trip. A seemingly endless descent brought us to VVR, where we received a very warm welcome. Peter had arrived earlier and had befriended a couple, Tom and Beth, both of whom were funny, friendly, and unreasonably fit. Beth is former British military and Tom was a captain in the Marine corps. The five of us were dining and were joined by Nate, another JMT hiker who just quit his job and is going to language school in Central America. Go Nate! The six of us spent a lovely evening chatting and Beth and Tom were nice enough to buy us dinner! Thanks, guys! They were really great company and I can't wait to see them on the trail again. Then we went to bed.