Somehow, I got a hole in my mattress the other day (while drying it out ?) so I didn’t get the best nights sleep. Fortunately, I was camped on some soft pine needles and it wasn’t too terribly cold (the mattress insulates too). I used my sit-pad under my hips and managed OK. Today I was able to find the hole when I stopped at Reds Meadow Resort and hopefully the patch works.

Smoke on the water.

Finally, some direct sunlight to warm us up this morning.

A short side trail through Devils Postpile National Monument.

I took a 3-hour break at Reds Meadow to rest, eat, charge batteries, and fix my mattress.

Many cool cloud formations, and thankfully, no rain.

The Butcher parted ways this afternoon to push ahead and finish at Bishop Pass in three days. I hiked the rest of the day with Old Bum from Big Sky, Montana. This was our campsite. I very carefully chose a site with soft pine needles in case my mattress fix didn’t work. (Currently, it’s now a slow leak). 

This was our view over Lake Virginia.

Tomorrow will be a shorter day into my last resupply at Vermillion Valley Resort. The resupply box was sent back at the end of May when I had was still planning to arrive here mid-June. I’ve emailed them with my new planned arrival date. So hopefully, the box is still there with nothing worse than some moldy tortillas to deal with (they have a small camp store to buy any additional items).

I have just about 100 miles to go plus a little extra to hike off trail to town…2550 miles completed!