Day 9

Gladys Lake to Red’s Meadow

Resupply day!

Song: https://open.spotify.com/track/2BuhGnXpqMQ8BvOUZpmaVl?si=XQkVTBF0RR-Hc-2b4UxGgQ

I woke up to the sunrise. As I was watching the colors change, I decided to take my sleeping bag, sit on the edge of the rock and be one of the first things to feel the rays.

I really love the sunrise time to connect with God. Its a gentle warming of things that were cold and asleep, and a gradual replacement of dark to light. Shadows begin to form as the objects orient themselves towards the light source. There is contrast now, different facets of objects get brought to attention as the light shifts. I feel like asking for Him to do what he is doing with the Earth with the Sun to my own heart.

My friend Alec brought my attention to Psalm 143:8. Since the trip to Israel, I’ve understood how necessary the word is for growth. A pastor I follow, Jon Tyson compares the word to mother’s breastmilk. It has all of the ingredients required to grow a human being and comes in a pure, simple format. I deeply desire for the word to be so second nature to me, that instead of song lyrics and movie quotes— verses can come to mind easily.

Today was an easy hike down to Red’s Meadow, my resupply spot. 8.4 miles, mostly downhill miles, I estimated I would get there by 2.

Before I left, I decided to capitalize on my cell service from Mammoth Mountain and called Red’s Meadow to ask if they had hiker cabin available.

These hiker cabins are highly sought after. They include a bed, a shower, a place to charge all of your stuff and it’s only $60. The catch though is they book up quickly.

The man on the phone told me no and I asked if I could put my name down for a cancellation. He told me just to check in later. I told him I had a resupply coming too and he asked my name.

“Swanland”

“The googly eye bucket?”

“Haha yeah.”

“We definitely have that. When are you coming?”

“I’m thinking 2 but I’m moving fast so as early as noon.”

I literally walked into Red’s Meadow at noon.

I went into the store and was greeted by an old man (not the one that I spoke to on the phone).

He informed me the power outlets I could use were by the shower and when I was ready I could pick up my resupply.

I decided to get food first and then come back.

When I came back there was a younger man at the counter with an University of Oregon “O” hat.

I asked him how the showers worked. If I could purchase 15 minutes and split it between 5 and 10. Then I asked about laundry… and then my resupply. As he was ringing me up… I mustered my best hopeful face and said , “so I called earlier about a hiker cabin… and do you guys have one available?”

“swan lake?”

“Swanland,” I replied still hopeful.

“You are in luck. Someone just cancelled. See, I told you to check back!”

The squeal of happiness probably caught us all by surprise. The idea of having four walls and my own outlets and a place to get all of my stuff out without worrying about dirt was such a gift.

He smiled and said he needed to re-ring me since the shower was included in the room.

The lady next to me laughed at the exchange.

“You looked so sad and hopeful I was going to offer you the couch in our cabin.”

“Ah that would have been way too nice of you. Thank you though!”

We chatted. Her name was Nicole from L.A. and she was here with her husband. They hiked in the PCT route because they heard the JMT had too much snow. When my resupply bucket arrived she laughed at it. Then she worried a bit that her own may not have arrived since she forgot to send the paperwork 3 weeks prior.

I basically skipped to my cabin.

When I opened it up, I almost cried in how lucky I felt. This was my space for the night and I got one!

I put down my stuff and got ready to do laundry and take a shower. I had packed detergent, shampoo and deep conditioner. I had camp soap in my pack and was ready to get clean.

I didn’t quite think through the logistics of washing all of my clothes and taking a shower… so I ended up standing in the laundry room in my towel waiting for the washer to finish. About half way I realised I had a room and I could wait there half naked rather than outside where children were walking by.

When I got to my cabin, Nicole’s husband was walking by. I waved and ducked into my cabin. Looking around I saw my rain pants and my puffy and decided those were better to wear than a towel.

I put them on and went to properly introduce myself to Nicole’s husband and fellow hiker cabin neighbor.

His name as Hal and he was the reason why Nicole and him were on the JMT. Nicole believes in giving experiences as gifts and when Hal was young, he camped Mt. Whitney and still tells the stories.

We swapped hike in stories and I told them about my ghetto sun-gloves.

“Would you like us to pick you up a pair? We are going into town to go to the outfitter, Hal needs a new sleeping mat.”

“Yes! That would be amazing!”

Something I’ve really enjoyed about this experience is how kind and generous all of the people I have met on the trail have been. It’s as if we are instant family because we all have decided this is how we want to spend our free time.

The bus for them to get into Mammoth (the town) arrived and they bid goodbye.

I was charging my phone and called Katie. I wanted to hear all about her wedding. We ended up talking for an hour as I heard how beautiful and special the day was. I get overwhelmed listening to all of the goodness.

While Nicole and Hal were in Mammoth, I unpacked my resupply and took the extra items from both mine and theirs to the Hiker box. Hiker boxes are places where hikers put items they don’t want to carry anymore that may be of use to other hikers. Example, I hate peanut butter now, so all of my peanut butter items go into the hiker box. Nicole packed an extra first aid kit, so she put that in the box. I didn’t want to drink the whisky I packed, so I put that in the box.

I had to go to the backpackers camp to drop off the hiker box items. Despite it being much more involved than the “walk” described by the waitress at the cafe (it involved four muddy stream crossings and I was doing it in flip flops). I arrived and started to put things in the box.

There, I ran into Lucia (she is doing the trail solo and I ran into her and asked her to take a photo of me at the Minnaret Creek crossing), a man I forgot his name that had to leave the trail from Red’s because he couldn’t get more time off and Brett from Nevada. I offered them the outlets in my cabin if they needed to charge anything and then surveyed the hiker box, swapped out some of my snickers bars for a matcha green tea chocolate bar from Trader Joes, then hiked back to the cabin in my flip flops.

When I got to camp, Nicole and Hal were back from Mammoth and wanted to have dinner at the cafe. I of course said yes. Hal gave me the sun gloves and I was so pleased they were teal.

“Nicole picked up grey ones at first but I wanted to get you pretty ones.”

“Thank you! These match my shoes and pack! I love them!”

While we were waiting for our food, Nicole went to the bathroom and ended up inviting Madison to join us. Madison is a newly construction engineering graduate from UCSD and is doing the JMT before her job.

We closed down the cafe (they close at 7) and bid each other goodnight.

I got back to my cabin and got ready for bed. I was planning on sleeping in to enjoy the maximum effect of the bed and sheets. I proceeded to have one of my best sleeps of my life.