Mile 827 to 838 Muir Hut on top of Muir Pass.

The Middle Fork of the Kings was still raging beneath our tents, and I slept through my alarm waking up 30 minutes late, but I still was ready before Vipr :-p.

The trail was dry for the first bit and we were making good time. It was so nice to be hiking through a forest again with grass on either side of the trail.

As we started to gain elevation, the trail turned into a river again and we had some seasonal crossings. By 10:00 we had done 7 miles and weren’t planning on going much further, but it was so early we decided to go up Muir Pass instead of doing it the following morning. As we started up, we ran into some people hiking the John Muir Trail and others who had skied down from Muir Pass.

The snow remained decent throughout the day and we slogged through it. Muir Pass was a long ascent and the pass remained hidden for most of the hike up. Even though it was the most relaxed pass yet, I think the walk up was the most beautiful. The mountains overlapped each other and slowly receded as we passed by. The snow coverage was complete and the mountains looked great for skiing.

As we crested a snow slope, the Muir Hut rose from the snow and I gave a yell. We are all camping here at the hut. What a luxury to have in the heart of the Sierra. 

As night approached, two south bound JMT hikers arrived at camp separately and gave us the low down on the upcoming stream crossings we will face over the next two days.

We all enjoyed the sunset and Beastie Boy and I agreed to wake up at 1:00 AM to shot the Milky Way.