JMT Day 5

Seldon Pass region

Date: Sunday, July 18
Miles: ~18.5
Cumulative Miles: 103.5
Camp: Senger Creek

Mentally, this was one of the tougher days, because of the difficulty of the 6 creek crossings. They weren't just difficult, some were downright SCARY. The water level had been raised significantly due to the storms of the past few days.

We started off a little later than normal (7:45am) to give our gear a little more time to dry out. After making the crossing under the waterfall, we then had to cross Mono Creek twice. The first Mono Creek crossing was not fun at all... waist deep whitewater. There was a log bridge that had been all but destroyed, but we could use it to balance our hands against. At one point Andrea started to fall backwards off a log into the water... I grabbed her and pulled her back up before she fell in. Somehow my scrawny arms came up with the strength to do that. It was the scariest moment of the trip, and one of the scariest moments of my life.

Later in the day, after a 2000+ foot climb up Bear Ridge, we had to cross Bear Creek (there is footage of me crossing this creek in a video we'll be posting soon). The water was moving very fast and it was almost up to my waist. There was no way I was letting Andrea attempt this one with her backpack, so I took her across while I carried my pack over, then once she was safe, I went back and got her backpack and carried it over.

After a FAST climb up Seldon Pass (we were worried about storms again, but it turned out that the clouds broke as soon as we hit the top), we called it a day about 3-4 miles from the Muir Trail Ranch, where we'd pickup our resupply bucket the following morning. After 5 days on the trail, we had some peanut butter / nutella, 1 tortilla, and a little bit of mashed potatoes left... we packed the perfect amount of food for the first half of the trip. Although we were running out of DEET, so I was hoping to buy another bottle or two at the MTR.



We thought we lost the atlas in the storm, but it turned out to be under one of our sleeping pads! Great start to the day!


About to cross under the waterfall


That wasn't flowing at this level 2 days earlier!


Second Mono Creek crossing. The first was much worse, but for obvious reasons (attempting to survive) we don't have pics of the first one.


Heading back across Bear Creek to get Andrea's backpack for her


After crossing Bear Creek, feeling relieved


Seldon Pass area


Andrea hiking up Seldon Pass


We stopped for no more than a minute at the top b/c the skeeters were swarming


Continuing south, towards hopefully fairer skies