Memories from June 3
I woke up before everyone else and had the morning’s glory to myself.
Our campsite had been on a broad ridge which continued for a few miles and with overlooks mostly to the east.
Today started with a short waterless stretch to Diaz Creek which was just off trail.
Later in the day, however, there was snow melting on the trail making water extremely convenient to collect. Once I just put my water bottle next to a stone which snow melt was flowing over and collected a liter.
Also, today was the first day I started encountering noticeable snow on the trail. It was mostly small patches but I lost the trail just before Cottonwood Pass and so bushwhacked my way there.
At Cottonwood Pass I decided to tag along with Nana, Indy, Trips, and Indy’s friend Al who is joining them for a week. We’ve been leap frogging for a few days and have the same general schedule until after Forester Pass. Here they are talking with a day hiker at Cottonwood Pass getting the latest on the weather for our Mount Whitney side trip.
They say ended about a mile later at Chicken Spring Lake. There were two tents there when we got in (we also got a weather report on Whitney from them) but while we were still drying from a quick dip in the cold water a dozen or so PCT hikers rolled in. We seem to be forming something of a “bubble” where the same set of hikers wind up independently coming up with the same itinerary.
Isaac Takes A Hike 