Ok so I have been putting off finishing this thing up mostly because I have been so lazy to work on images and I can't help but feel it's all too boring!
So leaving Wallace Lake we were able to follow the trail all the way back to the JMT, it is a poor class 1 trail.
As a note since I have not heard people use it I am not sure how many people know that trails also have class ratings like climbing but it's reversed that the lower number is worse. A class 1 trail is one were you can hardly even find it at all and may be marked by cairns. This is something I will note later in frustration.
So resuming South passing the typical sights such as
Sandy Meadow I saw a girl coming down the trail towards me with no hip belt attached so I asked her if it had failed on her but no she said she finds it more comfortable walking down hill with her hip belt off. This I cannot understand!
I had ran across a PCT hiker near Benson Lake that had his hip belt fail and he didn't know if he could make it out due to the pain it was causing him.
Reaching
Crabtree Meadows ahead of David I relaxed and waited for him since I did not know if we were going to continue to Rock Creek or stay here and as he approached close behind was the hip belt girl. After a lot of confusing conversation I managed to gather she was actually headed to Rock Creek but decided to turn around and go "back" to a water source since she did not know how far the next source was. ??? Now this is something I have NEVER heard of! I mean who does that!? I hate to put people in doubt but after catching up to her later trying to hide that she was smoking weed I thought she probably forgot her weed and had to turn around to get it.
So anyway we did decide to push on to Rock Creek and I took out ahead and enjoyed the unusual nature of the
Guyot Desert. The area is strange in the way that the ground through out most of the forest has no bushes or smaller plants, it has no real rocks but is mostly dirt and even the trees are sparse and alienated feeling. Dry, hot, lifeless yet I had the feeling the trees were watching me. Perhaps I read too much into these things. =P
Reaching Rock Creek I could smell something nice cooking and saw a small bridge heading off through the stock camp so I left a marker for David to find camp and set out to explore the area and find where I thought the Ranger Station was but instead I wandered into another trail crew camp as they were having dinner so I had a nice chat with them and the ranger that was having dinner with them and started to set off back to camp when they offered me food before I went so they gave me a huge Philly Cheese Steak sandwich and a couple beers which although I do not drink I knew David would like.
After a night of picking spiders off my face sleeping under the stars we set off for Soldier Lakes which was not far yet for some reason I felt drained and did not have an easy time making
the journey. Once again I need to go when I finally sat down to write all this out lol oh well I will finish this thing soon.
