Day 4: Shadow Creek to Deer Creek- 17 Miles

Dad and I slept hard from 9-6. Nick did not sleep well at all, he dreamt of mosquitos biting him and tossed and turned all night. I know because he tossed and turned into the guy sleeping next to him (me). We need a bigger tent. We are getting faster at tearing down camp and getting on the trail, today it only took us 30 minutes. 

A New Record!

Hiking to Reds Meadow and picked up our resupply we saw the Devil's Post Pile National Monument which was a neat rock formation that had regular hexagons growing vertically out of the ground.

We picked up a 3 day load of food, which brought my pack up to around 40 lbs. All of this was made worth it because there is a restaurant at Red's Meadows. Nick, Dad, and I each ate a double cheeseburger and had a shake. I won't bother describing how delicious it was but trust me we were much happier this afternoon than in the morning. Trying to get our food to fit into our bear vaults (bear proof canisters) took awhile.

Like Tetris if bears could eat you if you lose

In the afternoon we completed the long climb out of the Red Meadow Valley floor, which snaked through a burned area that offered little cover from the sun and not much wind. We got to Deer Creek early, before 5 pm, and set up camp. Lots of mule deer around us. What a surprise. Lots of mosquitos too. We are going to bed early, we need to cover some good distance tomorrow, probably 20 miles. Lasagna with Meat Sauce for dinner. Again. 

Mountain House Freeze Dried Dinners, you make the world taste better

Another equipment failure (Nick broke them): R.I.P. Aviator Sunglasses. You served me well, I will have a hard time pretending to be a cop without you.

You will be missed.