Day 40 - Selden Pass

I slept in. It felt good.

Evolution Creek crossing was supposed to be a hairy crossing, but it turned out to be pretty easy. I just wetfooted it; walked across without taking my shoes off. Makes crossing other streams easier. I watched as others crossed, and HNP lost one of his crocs. I was standing in the shallows downstream, so I saved it for him. I guess I've become the Croc Queen.

Coyote and I hiked the next bit together. She was teaching me the lyrics to L.L. Cool J's "Doin' It Well" and I was teaching her Sir Mix-A-Lot's "Baby Got Back." The miles just flew by. We stopped at the junction towards the Muir Trail Ranch and ate lunch. After that was the climb towards Selden Pass.

The climb to Selden wasn't bad at all, and I passed several lakes on the way. The Sallie Keyes Lakes were lovely, and Heart Lake was the last stop until the pass. It was getting a bit late by the time I got up there, but I thought I would surprise everyone by going up nude. So I stripped down to absolutely nothing, and that's when the cold breezes decided to blow through. Oh well, just get moving and go up. I climbed all the way up there and... no one was there. Dammit! Don't Panic also went up nude, Breezeway came up behind us (man, did he get an eyeful!), then HNP. He, too, was naked, and he was appreciative of the fact that we wouldn't let him do it alone. Yes, there is a pic of me, and no, it's not getting out to the public.

Vermilion Valley Resort was waiting for us tomorrow, so HNP, DP and I decided to hike late into the night. We all hiked on (with clothes), and ran into Coyote, Ratatouille and Breezeway who were camping in Rosemarie Meadow. Oh dear lord! The mosquitos headquarters must have been near here, because they were everywhere!! And they were relentless. I doused myself in 100% DEET, but it didn't matter. They still landed on me. Little bastards.

We had to ford the East Fork of Bear Creek, and that was a little sketchy.
I didn't want wet feet this late in the day, so I changed into my crocs while the mosquitos had a free buffet. The water was fast and a bit deep, so I went slow and careful. Changed back into my shoes and got going.

Night had fallen and it was difficult to see the trail. HNP went first, then me, then DP. It worked out well. There were a few more crossings that were difficult only because it was dark, but after those it was smooth sailing. We camped just shy of the junction we were trying to get to, but it's 11:30 and I'm beat. Plus, we are getting up at 4:00 tomorrow, so I'm not going to get much sleep. Oh well, I'l sleep at the resort.