Monday, June 27;Thought mosquitoes would be gone in
the morning cold. They weren’t too lively until the first rays of the sun hit. Then
all hell broke loose whilst packing up. Charged off across the basin at 7:30. Climbed the
rocky slope and found melting snow on top (10,673',1 mi.) and lots of our friends there
ahead of us.
Down through a series of lush, moist mosquito meadows during most of the morning.
Arrived at drier country about 11:00 - fewer mosquitoes. Met two boys who'd come from
Florence Lake via Evolution Meadow and the Muir Trail. Filthy, noses peeling and swatting
at mosquitoes. Said they’d been driven all the way by the varmints. Said that the
only respite was at Evolution Lake. They asked whether there were any mosquitos at Granite
Basin. Probably shouldn't have told them the truth.
About 1:00 found a small brook through a reasonably dry valley Climbed up in the rocks
above and made a camp overlooking Dougherty Meadow (9,500', 5 mi from Granite Pass). High
breeze kept the bugs down. Put on shorts - all bathed and washed clothes. Used no more
repellant - its going to be in short supply.
Ate early. Figs, Spanish rice, biscuits and pudding.
Kids had a big bash with a frog while dish-washing.
Now 6:00. Wind dying and god-awful mosquitos beginning to bug us. Will put on long
johns so they can't bite through, use a little repellant and go for a walk down the trail.
Marilyn: ''We woke up in the morning and there were mosquitoes all around. We ate
breakfast and started to pick up camp rea1 fast. I fanned Dad while he rolled the sleeping
bags and that kind of stuff. We started going at about 8:15. We went through the meadow
and started up the hill toward Granite Pass. Rich was the first one there and Dad was
last. It wasn’t a hard climb. But the mosquitoes were driving us crazy. After the
pass we started going down, down, down through the mosquitoes. We went through numerous
meadows, and streams part of the way. Then we didn’t see any water for a long time.
Finally we came to a little stream and we were going to eat lunch and rest there but there
were too many mosquitoes. We started up the trail again and all of a sudden it went up.
We climbed and rested often, the we started down. We got pretty far down and the trail
started up again. We climbed up and were just about to the top when we saw the first
people. They had come from Florence Lake and said that there were mosquitoes everywhere
except at Evolution Lake. After we had talked to them a while we went on up and got tired
and decided to camp. We set our packs down by the creek and. explored a hill. We’re
camped on the hill where the wind blows all of the mosquitoes away. We’re not quite
to Doughterty Meadow yet. We ate and enjoyed the wind and then went down to the creek to
wash ane get water. We climbed back up the hill and rested. Then we built our fireplace.
Our camp is right in front of a pile of wood.
We ate lunch at 1:05. Now we're getting the fire started (at 4:05). Boy are we hungry!
We're having Spanish rice, vanilla pudding, biscuits and leftover figs from lunch. There's
a pretty view from where I'm sitting. I hope the wind doesn’t die down!
"We washed socks again today. We only have half a bottle of insect repellent left [but
I had a second under wraps], and our first piece of soap is doing fast. Our clothes
are drying out on a dead tree.
Richard : "I'm writing on the 26 instead of the 25 because of all the mosquitos.
There aren't any where we are camped and its pretty nice.
"I was the first to get to Granite Pass. At Granite Pass there are patches of snow
here and there with some pink in them. It’s a pretty mosquito-ey trip! It’s a
pretty rough trip is all I can say.
"Its nice up here with the nice scenery. Water is scarce around here but it's
nice."