Just a quickie cos internet in this small town is v. expensive. We travelled through Death Valley part of which is below sea level with salt plains. The temp got to 116 degrees, eek!
Returned to civilisation yesterday after our 5 day hike in the Sierra Nevadas. Very beaut scenery but man, the hike was hard. We had heavy packs, mine was 40 pounds, Alex's 48, and along with altitudes of more than 3000m for the majority of the time we were definitely plodding. The pine forests just fit here, nothing like plantation pine forests I'm used to.
No bears to contend with (although the bear cannisters we carried added extra weight), but the mozzies were real bad. I think I had more than 50 giant mozzies swarming me after one stream crossing when I was putting my boots back on. We did a really cool pass with some snow plodding (no crampons required), and then finished the hike yesterday by summiting Mt Whitney at 14,500 feet (4420m), the highest mountain in the contiguous USA (ie. excl Alaska and Hawaii). Alex reckons this is one of the best 5 day hikes he's done! Onion Valley to Whitney Portal for those interested. We also met quite a few nutters along the way doing the Pacific Crest Trail which goes from Mexico to Canada and takes 5-6 months!
We've got a few days in Yosemite now and will be in San Fran in a week. Hope you are all well.
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