Day 5: 8/10/20
Start time: 6:30 A.M.
Finish time: 6:05 P.M.
Total time: 11 hours 35 minutes
Mile Marker: 115.1
Miles Hiked Today: 20.2 + 2.5 miles to pick up resupply
I am now 100% convinced Yosemite stopped back-filling canceled permits. Now that it's a weekday there is virtually no one out here. I only saw five other JMT hikers the entire time I was at the resupply. For perspective 45 permits are issued per day. It's weird, but I'm not complaining.
This morning I got to Marie Lake at 9 A.M. and had the whole place to myself. I took a much needed dip to cool off, rinsed out my clothes, and just baked on a slab of granite before I was ready to finish heading over Selden Pass. It was magnificent.
This morning made up for yesterday's banal scenery. It was mountain lakes and vistas the whole way down. The cool breeze coming off the water made the hiking much more enjoyable.
I made it to Muir Trail Ranch to pick up my resupply in time for lunch. They don't offer any food or drink onsite, but I included cupcakes and a shelf stable pasta dish for myself. Very nice reward while I was sorting through my bucket.
The haul out of there with five and a half days of food was pretty brutal. It's also the first time I started feeling some pain in my right shin again. After some stretching, massaging, and a shoe adjustment it was fine the rest of the way. As a silver lining there was a light thunderstorm with some drizzling rain and cloudy skies for a few hours as I finished up the day. The break from the sun helped offset some of the burdensome weight.