Apparently, I still have a slow leak in my mattress. I re-inflated it three times in the middle of the night.. definitely more comfortable than nothing (like the night before)!

The morning started with a 2.5mi walk down a forest service road to get to the trailhead for Bear Creek which would take me back to the PCT. All-in I think it was about a 6mi detour to resupply at VVR.

 A gorgeous meadow next to Bear Creek.

View near the top of Selden Pass (~11,000′).

I decided to make the short detour to Muir Trail Ranch. They are known for the vast quantities of stuff hikers leave behind after sending their resupplies. The goodies are organized by type (i.e. oatmeal, batteries, toiletries, etc) in Home Depot buckets. I picked up much needed lip balm (still in packaging).

Shortly after the stop at MTR the trail entered Kings Canyon National Park.

I had a feeling I might catch my Swiss friends (they hadn’t stopped at VVR). Sure enough, they were camped at just the spot where I had decided on calling it a day (~7:00pm). It’s always nice seeing a familiar face when you get to camp 🙂

I was surprised I didn’t take more pics today since the scenery is so spectacular on this stretch through the high Sierras. I think it’s too overwhelming to capture suitable images. Even a 360 panorama wouldn’t do it justice.