Intro

Our 2019 trip to the Emigrant Wilderness went so well and we liked the place so much, we kept planning a return there to revisit some old favorites and explore new parts of it. It had to wait until 2022, but then it finally came together.

This time, we decided on another figure-8/lollipop loop: start from Kennedy Meadows, go past Emigrant Lake, into Yosemite to Twin Lakes, cross-country west, down Styx Pass back into Emigrant, cross-country some more to Big Lake, then via trail to Emigrant Lake and finally back to Kennedy Meadows. Little did we know that it will turn out differently.

Day 1 – L.A. to Kennedy Meadows, then camp by Summit Creek

The drive from our place to Kennedy Meadows is looong, but a lot of it is beautiful. We couldn't leave L.A. super early; it was around noon by the time we got to Pinecrest to pick up our permit. At least that didn't take long, but you can't drive too fast on the winding 108. We drove past the scars of the 2018 Donnell Fire — started by an illegal campfire — and the tiny town of Dardanelle, where the fire destroyed the historic resort. We didn't stop, but still, it took another while to get to Kennedy Meadows. By the way, this is about 9 miles shy of Sonora Pass, where the PCT crosses the road.

At the Kennedy Meadows turnoff there's a campground (called Deadman). The official backpacker's parking lot is on the other side of the road in a somewhat elevated area. It is fully paved and features a restroom, several picnic tables and a few backpacker's camp spots.

We pulled into the far side of the lot, by the camp area, and parked in the shade. It was a hot day and it was only about to get hotter. After eating lunch, we finalized the packs and got going.

Kennedy Meadows Resort is another half a mile down the road. Parking there is also possible, but it costs an arm and a leg. The resort itself is so-so, it struck us as pretty crowded and the vibe was not that pleasant. They have a huge RV/horse camp, several cabins in different sizes, a store and a restaurant. All sorts of beautiful horses were around, which was a plus, especially for Em. I like horses, she adores them.

Past the resort, the dirt road is closed to regular traffic, but continues for almost another mile by the river, past a the actual Kennedy meadow, to a huge horse camp. More delight for Em!

The road turns into a proper trail, there are the requisite info boards and we finally entered the wilderness. Unbelievably, it was already 3:30pm. The wide, horse-poop-littered trail climbs in the narrowing canyon, crossing the Middle Fork Stanislaus River over a few bridges. The last bridge (from here it's Summit Creek) is really cool, spanning a short, but very deep chasm with great cascades below and on each side.

It gets steeper past this, climbing a few hundred feet in a quarter mile. There's the turnoff to Kennedy Lakes, where we would have gone on our 2019 trip if not for an itinerary change on account of mosquitoes.

Another bit later and higher, Relief Reservoir appears on the right, the trail already well above in elevation (there's a use trail down and across the dam). It's a gorgeous sight, with East Flange Rock and other peaks in the distance, the lake stretching away below. Fluffy cumulus clouds and the lowering sun made for great pictures. The only sad part was to see the "bathtub rings" around the shore, a sign of how much the reservoir got depleted during all the drought years.

The main trail stays high on the lakeside with an occasional dip or two. As the trip's last campsite could be somewhere around this lakeshore, we kept looking for suitable spots. From the distance, it looked like the last big peninsula before the lake's end is the only real possibility, with a few people and tents visible, but with no obvious access point. There's a creek coming down from the east about half a mile before the lake's end, disappearing into the forest towards the lake. When crossing here, we couldn't see a use trail, but both Em and I agreed that this is the point where we'll try to go down if it comes to it.

Past the lake's end, the trail climbs some more, rather steeply, following the canyon's side, pretty far away from the creek. It's mostly dense forest and manzanita bushes, all gorgeous. It was late by this time, approaching 7pm. It was still somewhat hot and we were tired, but we kept pushing some more, looking for a place to camp. The unbelievable views made the going much easier, though.

Sheep Camp, the first "published" place, was another three miles away. However, from the map I thought there might be some possibilities where the canyon bottom flattened out a bit and the trail approached the creek again. Thankfully, I was right.

It was almost dark, but we found a great spot, just across the trail from the river with easy access to the water. Some other people were also camped in the general vicinity, but easily far away for total privacy. After setting up the tent and eating dinner, I couldn't resist taking a few long-exposure photos by moonlight, but then we went to bed quickly. We agreed not to set an alarm and sleep as much as we can. The next day shouldn't be too hard and we'll have plenty of time.

Day 2 – Camp by Summit Creek to Maxwell Lake

Sleeping in worked much better than we anticipated, we slept until almost 8am. How great it felt, though! The morning was very pleasant, somewhat cool, and only a little bit windy. The sky was crystal clear, not a cloud in sight – typical Sierra summer monsoon weather, clear mornings with clouds and possible showers in the afternoon.

We got going around 10am, climbing some more, enjoying the scenery. Several smaller rockslides and washouts interrupted the trail, some requiring short detours, but nothing too hard. The trees thinned out somewhat, showing more and more beautiful rocky outcroppings.

Sheep Camp we passed at 11. It's a nice clearing in the forest with some more great rocks all around and decent access to the water. Even though we only left an hour ago, it was late and time for a quick snack break.

Just past Sheep Camp begins longish Lunch Meadow. Not so lush as other meadows, it was still teeming with wildflowers, mostly lupin, sunflowers and Indian paintbrush. On the far end of the meadow is a junction. Going straight would take you to Brown Bear Pass and Emigrant Meadow Lake, going right leads to Mosquito Pass and Emigrant Lake. We took this one, crossing Summit Creek. All signs pointed to much higher water flow only recently, but by this time we could rock-hop it.

The climb towards the pass is very easy and the trail is meandering nicely between great boulders, bushy areas, even some tarns. Despite its name, mosquitoes were not to be seen, only lots of wildflowers and great vistas all around.

The pass itself is unmarked and an almost unrecognizable hump between two trees. From there the peaks to the south come into view, some still obscured by the trees and canyon walls.

It was way past lunchtime and we were somewhat hungry, but still having a great time. Perfect weather, trail in good shape, gentle downhill grade... Plus, we haven't seen anybody else since the previous evening. Two miles and 40 minutes later, we got down to Emigrant Lake's inflow meadow, scenic beyond description. Bursting with greenery, flowers everywhere, a bald eagle circling above. Looking right, we could see the near end of the great lake. According to the original plan, we were to return here from the other end five days later.

The inflow (North Fork Cherry Creek) was shoes-off last time, but now a few boulders and a small log made it possible to keep our shoes on. However, as soon as we got to the other side, we settled on a nice rock in the shade, dropping the packs and our shoes and soaking our feet in the cold creek water while having lunch. A lady walked by, obviously on a stroll from base camp by the lake, waving to us.

We really took our time, luxuriating and relaxing in that perfect place for over an hour. By the time we got going again, it was well past 3pm, but we only had two more miles to go.

The short uphill section took us to Blackbird Lake and the surrounding mesa (another super-gorgeous area), then downhill to Maxwell Lake, our intended destination. Now we had to find a decent camp spot.

Maxwell Lake is shaped like a… I don't know. Em said on aerial photos it reminds her of a spear with a shattered shaft, the head pointing south-west. It's very irregular in shape, that's for sure, with a rugged shoreline and a zillion islands, islets, rocks and peninsulas.

There was a faint use trail on the north side which petered out quickly, then appeared again. About a third mile down, we found the remnants of what seemed like an old horse camp. Lots of room, somewhat shaded from the wind, perfect for us. A friend who's been there before said the mosquitoes were terrible during his visit, but this time there were close to none.

We ate soup, set up camp, I fished a bit, but no luck. The evening was calm and peaceful with fantastic light on the mountains all around. After nightfall, of course I had to take some more moonlight shots, but then we went to bed.

Day 3 – Maxwell Lake to Lower Twin Lake

We slept in again, feeling much more rested, but then the morning greeted us with somewhat cloudy weather and an unpleasant surprise: Em got her period. Totally out of cycle, almost two weeks early. It wasn't very bad yet, but we were a bit concerned of course. Also, we only had a few emergency hygiene products with us.

Regardless, we packed up and left camp, pretty late. The forecast said there's a 20% chance of rain for that day; the clouds were already building up, but we knew afternoon rain is far more likely.

After working our way back to the trail, we headed downhill again, past Horse Meadow, hitting the old Tungsten Road (see about this in the 2019 trip report), crossing East Fork Cherry Creek and starting our climb towards the boundary of Yosemite National Park. This 1.6-mile section is very steep, rugged, and though not in perfect shape, the trail was still easy to find. It kept looking like it might rain anytime, but it didn't.

Noon found us on top of the incline with a sign welcoming us to Yosemite. Up front, Upper Twin Lake stretched away into the distance. It's another great-looking lake, that's sure. It was somewhat windy, but at least the clouds were thinning.

I was told many perfect camp spots can be found on the north-eastern shore. Briefly we debated camping there, but Em said she thinks tomorrow she'll be OK to continue with our original cross-country plan, so let's go down to the lower lake as it lies on the route.

According to most maps, there's a use trail going down to the other lake. Well, don't take that for granted. It's invisible for 90% of the time and the terrain is very treacherous, it's easy to go the wrong way while circumnavigating all the fallen trees, bogs, small tarns and other obstacles. It's very beautiful, though.

Half an hour later, on the edge of a bog, half-hidden behind a log, we found a sign proclaiming Lower Twin Lake, Elev. 8700. The first real part of the lake was another hundred yards or so away. It took some effort to scramble up some rocks and through some bushes, but we got a decent view of the lake from that end, expanding about 1.3 miles westward (it's about double in length of the upper lake, but somewhat narrower).

If Maxwell's shore was rugged, this was ten times worse. The south shore was out of the question, we kept on the north side, but finding a tent spot was tough. Back then it seemed longer, but looking at the picture timestamps it took "only" half an hour to work our way about halfway down the lake's length where we found a great spot. It didn't look like anybody camped there before, but we couldn't say for sure. What mattered was we had a level spot for the tent, rocks to unpack on, and the water was close.

It was only just past 1pm. We had lunch, then retreated to the tent for a nice nap. Em falls asleep much more easily than I do, and she had no trouble this time, either. Later I tried fishing, but still no luck.

Em's bleeding got stronger, but she still wanted to go on. I came up with an alternative plan, and after some convincing (she's stubborn), she relented. Going down cross-country towards Styx Pass would have been a great adventure, but not under these circumstances. If she got truly sick, we'd be in the middle of nowhere, far from help. We agreed to climb back up to the trail, then go down to Huckleberry Lake and spend a night. It should be an easy hike. Then, depending on how she feels, we can go to up Emigrant Lake for one or two nights, then out via Mosquito Pass to Kennedy Meadows, like originally planned. No cross-countrying around in the boonies, as much as that's fun usually.

She was still in good spirits, though, and settling on this new plan eased my mind as well. We were in a stunning place and the weather was good – clouds were still around and it was a bit windy, but not too bad.

Like most of the time, the wind died almost completely after sundown and it was another pleasant evening.

Day 4 – Lower Twin Lake to Huckleberry Lake

We tried to sleep in again, but this time, the rising sun hit the tent at 6:30 and we got up. Em's bleeding was not any better, so there's wasn't any discussion about not going with the new plan. We ate a big breakfast, then packed up slowly. It was still cloudy with another 20% of rain, but the wind didn't pick up yet.

Finding our way back up was still no cakewalk, but much easier as we now knew the route somewhat. About forty minutes after leaving, we were up by the boundary sign again, then went down the way we came the day before.

At the main trail, we headed left, crossing the creek again, walking west. The near end of Huckleberry Lake is 2.3 mile from this junction and this stretch is another favorite of ours, very diverse, lots of bushy areas, rocks, trees, the Sachse Monument keeping towering company on the north side.

Em confessed she felt a bit weak, but regardless, she set a quick pace, and even with a snack break, we got to the lake's near end in less than 90 minutes. The trail skirts the water here and like last time, we were looking longingly at the huge trout swimming around. If we're not eating fish today, then I don't know when.

We could have camped about half a mile down the lake, but that was close to the trail, and Em said she'd rather hike some more for privacy. After a while, we went off trail, skirting a bog, emerging on a beautiful little peninsula. About a hundred yards from the water, in the trees, there was an old camp with a fire ring (fires are legal here), but no signs of use for many years. We almost settled there, but then Em found an even better place, much closer to the water, by some rocks.

It was only 1pm, we had plenty of time to make a lazy afternoon of it. It looked like rain in the distance, but none of it got to us. We ate a nice lunch, including reconstituted salsa, and I suggested to Em to take another nap, but she didn't want to. Instead, she drank a strong coffee and we went for a short walk to discover our corner of lake.

On a rock, we found a piece of old ammo: a live round with the slug and gunpowder and all. It was stamped REM-UMC .30 .30. I could remove the slug by pulling with two fingers, then dumped the gunpowder on the rock. It was shaped like tiny doughnuts, something I've never seen before (that's not much to say, I've seen maybe two other types of gunpowder in my life). Separating a bit of that, I ignited it and just as I suspected, it burned fine. The rest we packed up with the rest of the pieces and brought it home as a souvenir.

From the research I did, it's not obvious when this was made, it could be very old or fairly recent, but it had to be out there for at least a few dozen years.

The sky started clearing nicely, and though it was a bit windy, I went for a swim. The water was heavenly! Em was still bleeding pretty bad, it actually got worse, but she said she wasn't in any pain and her spirits were comparatively high. Not having to hike anymore and being in such an amazing place certainly helped.

Em wanted to walk around some more, so that's what we did, venturing to some rocks jutting out into the lake, then going the other way, scouting the more forested area to our west.

I went fishing, Em gathered a few dead branches to eventually make a fire in that old fire ring and cook the fish. That is, if I catch any. Before continuing I must say that this rod is a tenkara type (no reel) fly-fishing rod, Dragontail brand.

So: stood on this rock high over the water and on my second cast, my line got caught on a tree limb sticking out over the water. I could say it was the wind's fault, but it was mine. First it was only the monofilament leader. When trying to disentangle that, I made it worse by tangling parts of the braided line as well. Then I made it even worse by letting the rod slip out of my hand and dangling over the lake, inaccessible. I almost had to resolve myself to leaving the expensive rod (expensive to me) hanging there as shameful trash, but there was enough of a swing in it, that with the help of the wind, I could grab on to the handle again. It still got worse: now the tip broke! Oh my. I had most of my rod, but the tip and all the line was hanging from that branch. By this time, Em joined me and helped as much as she could. We realized the branch was very dry, so by throwing rocks, we managed to break it off, and a piece with the tip and line fell into the water, floating well. Now it was a question of retrieving it, which almost involved me getting into the water again, but then the wind blew in the right direction and using the remainder of the rod to reach, I could push it to Em further down the shore.

Fixing the rod was another half an hour. Luckily, the section that broke was not the actual tip, but the second segment. With a bit of work, we ended up with a fully functioning rod, only about 3-4 inches shorter than originally. Finally, I got to fish, now being extra careful.

It took a while and the loss of a fly, but I caught three very nice trout, just as it was getting dark, the high clounds still lit up by the sun from behind the horizon. The colors were so amazing, we had to drop everything and start taking pictures.

Em got the fire going while I cleaned the fish. Oh, how heavenly they taste, cooked over hot coals, and after all that effort! I could see it made Em forget her troubles momentarily.

The fish was enough to count as a full dinner, especially with some appetizers before and dessert later.

We had a beautiful, clear evening, and stayed up late, looking at the sky, chatting. I offered to Em to start hiking out the following day by skipping Emigrant Lake, but she declined. The only problem was that we were truly running out of hygiene products now, but even for that, we devised an alternative plan.

Day 5 – Huckleberry Lake to Emigrant Lake

We woke at 7am. The morning was cool, but not cold, the air still, no clouds in sight. Em was doing much better, though a bit weak.

While getting water from the lake, I spotted a cute little plover foraging on the shore, but unfortunately, I could only get two half-decent photos.

We took it slow and got going after 9:30am, working our way back to the trail, then retracing our steps. We hiked a bit slower than usual, but still made good time. Roughly around 11:30, we met a grandma and her grandson hiking towards the lake. Between the lady waving to us at Emigrant Lake and them, we haven't seen one single person for 69 hours, so almost three days. I think that's a record for us.

With a snack break, it was a bit past noon by the time we got back to the far end of the Sachse Monument and started climbing on the remnants of Tungsten Road.

Em was doing surprisingly well. First we passed Horse Meadow again, then got to Maxwell Lake's outlet only 20 minutes later and stopped for a very long lunch, mostly to let Em rest. While our dehydrated salsa was reconstituting, I took a quick dip in the shallow, warm part of the lake. Pure bliss!

The plateau leading to Blackbird Lake was another 45 minutes from there and we were passed by a young guy hiking up quickly, not even out of breath. The third human in three days. When reaching the plateau, Em confessed she had been a bit concerned on the bottom, but it was easier than she thought.

From there, it was smooth sailing, just walking over that gorgeous expanse, past Blackbird Lake, then down to Emigrant. We got to the inlet by almost 4pm, crossed it, then took the trail on the lakeshore to the far end. I can safely say that this portion is in the top ten favorites in all the Sierra.

When approaching, we saw — with dismay — several people on "our" beach in camp chairs. Oh, no! However, when we got closer, no tents were visible and it looked like they're packing up anyway.

We dropped the packs at our spot and I went to the lake to get water. That's when I talked to those guys. It turned out they were cowboys with some horses up the equestrian camp (cca. ¼ mile up the trail) and they just came down to chill a bit. They asked if I'd like a fish, one they caught got hurt, couldn't be released and they already had too many. It was a huge trout, cleaned and gutted. I accepted with thanks, of course.

Em got a blast when I appeared from the lakeside with a ready-to-cook fish. I regaled her with a tall tale of me jumping in the lake, catching the fish with my bare hands, then gutting it with a sharp rock, all this in five minutes. She just looked at me: "Yeah, right, the cowboys gave it to you". So much for my storytelling... Regardless, we ate the fish as an early evening snack, or first course to dinner, whatever you want to call it.

Eating dinner on the lakeshore about an hour later, we just lounged and relaxed, having nothing better to do. Em was decidedly getting better by the hour. She reiterated there's no reason to leave early, let's do as planned, stay a second night, then start hiking out.

The sky above us was completely empty, but just after sunset, huge clouds gathered in the east, almost beyond the horizon. It was very dramatic, we could see lightning and even hear distant thunder now and then. We climbed the rocks above the end of the lake to get a better view. (Side note, added later: we learned this was around Upper Piute Meadows, a notoriously weather-unstable area, where got into a huge hailstorm in August 2023.)

The Perseid meteor shower's peak was still two days away, but a few could already be seen. As we weren't tired and nothing was planned for the following day, we stayed up late, sitting on the beach, watching meteors and taking long-expo shots by moonlight. After 11pm, I climbed the rocks above the lake again to take more shots, hoping to catch some meteors, but only managed to get a small one.

Day 6 – Around Emigrant Lake

We managed to sleep in very nicely, then had a late breakfast. Em was feeling a little bit weak, but otherwise doing great. When planning the trip, we agreed to meet two friends at this spot, and they showed up right on time, around noon. After a happy reunion lunch, we all went fishing, first down towards the dam, but we didn't catch anything there. We had better luck later in the main lake, catching and releasing a few nice ones.

The afternoon went by quickly, after doing a bit of laundry and a great swim, early evening found us on some rocks south of the outlet, affording unbelievable views of the lake. Em was getting stronger, she climbed those rocks like the little mountain goat she is.

While we were doing some more evening fishing, the cowboys came down again, and this time Em could thank them for the fish and make friends with their dog.

Walking by the outlet, I encountered something amazing: a plover mom and three of her chicks! And I called the other plover cute... The little ones were still fluffy, just tiny fuzzballs chirping and running around. I kept my distance, thus no great pictures, but one time the mom herded them right to me while I was standing still and managed to get two photos, though somewhat blurry. I went to fetch Em and she creeped up on the same location, getting a glimpse of them, too.

The four of us had a late dessert, then went to the beach again to watch more meteors. The waxing moon was even brighter, ruining most of the show, but we saw a few before going to bed.

Day 7 – Emigrant Lake to Relief Reservoir

Sleeping is was not really an option as the rising sun lit us up at about 6:30am. The sky was completely cloudless and it looked like it will be a hot day. Em felt fine, according to her estimate she was back to 80% of her usual power. Not doing much the previous day sure helped as well.

We had a lazy morning with our friends, making a big breakfast, even fishing a little bit. Then the two of us slowly packed up, me taking as much weight from Em's pack as possible. We left at 9:45am, our friends accompanying us to the east end of the lake where we bid our farewells.

Em and I walked up towards Mosquito Pass, the day getting hotter by the minute. Of course, by "hot" I mean maybe 70°F in air temperature, but in the full sun at altitude, that feels like a summer day. We took it slowly, sitting down for a snack break just past Mosquito Pass in a nice shaded area.

By 1pm, we were in Lunch Meadow again, admiring the wildflowers that looked even more abundant than on the way in. Sheep Camp took another 90 minutes or so from there. Here we stopped for lunch and got some more water. I was feeling really hot by this time and didn't mind the long break in the shade one bit.

Before continuing on, I wet my hair and my shirt's neck and kept reapplying later. The trail felt really hot, getting to the point where it was unpleasant. At least it was mostly downhill and very beautiful.

About a mile before Relief Reservoir's near end, we met a large group also headed to the lake. One woman was in such bad shape from blistered feet and other aches, she could barely walk. Compared to her, we were going great.

She shed her pack by the trail and a few of her friends helped her downhill, making sure she doesn't keel over. Meanwhile, the leader of the group ran ahead, left his own gear, then came back to pick up the abandoned pack. He ended up hiking alongside us for a few minutes and he turned out to be a great guy, very friendly and knowledgeable about the area. He confirmed our suspicion that lakeshore access is best by the creek crossing we eyed on the way up.

When we got there, we briefly considered hiking all the way out to car, which would have been another four miles, maybe almost five. Driving home was not an option, but we could have camped by the car and then have a shorter day going home.

However, it was late, and most importantly, we were really hot. Especially me, I felt the warning signs of a heatstroke coming on. This where people get in trouble. Em said she didn't mind another day on the wilderness anyway and the lake looked very enticing, thus it didn't take us long to opt for the original plan.

From the main trail, the use trail is invisible, but just past one bush, it appears and after a few dozen level yards, heads downhill steeply, branching a few times. There's no right or wrong way, it's impossible to get lost.

After a few minutes, we emerged on the old shoreline. The actual lake began another 100 feet further down, past a barren "badlands" of boulders and dead tree trunks.

Up by the trees, we found a campsite almost right away. It has a bit "over-loved", with lots of room, a huge fire ring, level ground for at least 4-5 tents and several improvised log benches to sit on. Considering everything, perfect for us. Nobody else was right there, but we saw others about 100 yards to the left. The creek gurgled just a few dozen feet to the right.

Oh, it felt great to drop the pack and wash my face and neck with cold water. I'm guessing I was about halfway to heat exhaustion, but cooled off quickly.

We ate soup, spread our gear out (there was plenty room nearby, we were hoping nobody would set up right next to us), then went down to the shore and I went for a brief swim. Heavenly feeling! Em just soaked her feet and washed off a bit, but she enjoyed it, too.

It was a perfect last evening for a somewhat troubled trip. As soon as I dried off, I went fishing briefly, just for the fun of it. Only caught one trout and let it go. Further up on the shore, some kids were playing whiffle ball on several levels, literarily, making a three-dimensional playing field on the slope and boulders. It looked and sounded like they had a lot of fun. Out on the lake an osprey flew by twice, looking for dinner.

The sun dipped behind the mountains just after 6:45. We stayed by the water a bit longer, then went back up to camp. Em felt almost completely fine and my heat-related "funny" feelings were gone, too. Another couple set up about fifty yards from us, on the other side of the creek. They made a fire, the smoke of which first came our way, but then the breeze turned and we had fresh air. The kids and their minders made their own big fire on the other side of the peninsula, but that was far enough not to bother us.

We had no reason to make a fire, so decided against it and after eating dinner, crawled into the tent somewhat early.

Day 8 – Relief Reservoir to Kennedy Meadows and then L.A.

Our alarm woke us at 6am, and to beat the heat, we tried to get going early. Needless to say, we failed miserably and the timestamp on the first photo of us walking away from the campsite says 8:21am. Typical...

However, we made great time, climbing back to the main trail in a few minutes, then turning left and proceeding quickly, still in the shade of the mountain. The full sun hit us about 20 minutes later, but the air was still nice and cool, the going easy.

An hour and a half after hitting the trail, we got past the wilderness sign and back to the civilization. I can't say we were very happy to see people and cars, hear the engines, smell the exhaust... The horse camp was very busy with a big meeting of some horse rider association, and the resort itself was even busier with all kinds of tourists. Some idiot was even riding around on a hoverboard at very high speeds, almost knocking kids over. Unfortunately, there was no loose dog to catch him.

Well, it's what it is. From the wilderness sign, it took 45 minutes to get back to the car. The parking lot was almost completely full this time, with only a few spots left. A few cars were even parked in the bushes, right next to the "Park on pavement only" signs.

We sat down at one of the picnic tables and ate lunch, devouring the last of our lavash bread. That was a first, we always try to plan for having at least a day's worth left. Of course, we had other food that would have lasted us another while in an emergency.

By the time we washed up and got going, almost another hour went by. Regardless, on the 108 en route to Pinecrest, we still had to stop briefly and take some pictures of the rugged Dardanelle peaks.

The best news: Em was in good spirits and didn't look back at the trip as having been very unpleasant. I was worrying a lot, too, but all in all, it was great and everything turned out fine.

Final note:

Em went to the doctor soon and got a clean bill of health. These things happen.

Make sure to check out all the pictures in the full gallery.