So, here we sit... in Black Velvet Coffee... in Mammoth. We've been here for six days.

The story of how we got here is a bit more interesting, maybe, than what we have been doing since...

"In the desert". That is how most of us now refer to our first 700 miles of this trail.

"In the desert", we mostly ticked off our days by the passage of dusty hot miles, town stops and the disparate pursuit of shade or the next muddy water source.

We were longing, all of us, for the cooler air and flowing rivers of the Sierras.

Up here, we mostly ticked off our days by the passage of, well...passes. Mountain passes, that is. They are supposed to be the low spots to cross, though most measured in at 12-13 thousand feet, and most required any where from 1000 to 2000 feet of elevation gain to cross.

Shiny and I, in particular, felt like were coming home. We have been here before. We know this place...it knows us. We had no illusions of how rugged and unpredictable it can be.

The Sierras are fiercely beautiful. They will take your breath away today. They will give you respite in gardens of flowers and gently flowing streams tomorrow. The next day, they will demand every last ounce of mental fortitude and physical stamina left in your body.

Even so, knowing all of this, we were still unprepared for the toll those thirteen days would take on our bodies. We flat out underestimated the number of miles we would be able to hike in this environment, and the calories we would burn doing it.

We had planned 5 days of food to get us from Kennedy Meadows to a trail junction just past Mt. Whitney. I say "just past", but what that meant was that we had 26 miles to hike from where we had camped below Whitney, to the point at which we were to pick up our food resupply.

This scenario pretty much sums up our miscalculation. By this time we were realizing that our bodies would only do about 14 to 16 miles a day, and the calories we were carrying weren't sufficient to sustain even that pace for long.

That meant, at this point we had almost two days of hiking on the single day of food we had left. So, we hiked faster...aaand we hiked longer.

So, although this story eventually finds us happily sipping cappuccinos at Black Velvet Coffee, it was far from just a pretty picture getting here. Suffice it to say that, by the time we reached Lake Edison (Vermillion Valley Ranch, a 35 mile hike over Silver Pass to Mammoth by the usual route), we were so exhausted, under nourished and yes, sick, that we opted to hike out over Mono Pass (a 20mi day hike). Our friends Hannah and Kalen picked us up there and drove us to Mammoth.

We are pre paring to leave Mammoth today, Monday July 7. We will be taking a bus back here on Wednesday to pick up some gear that is being shipped in (another story).

So, there is much more to write and many more photos. I will be posting more about our Sierra adventure in the days to come, but right now we need to get back on the trail or we may never leave...stay tuned.

Also coming soon...I will be trying my hand at some gear reviews (see GRAM WEENIE) and some foodie reviews (see SUNDRIED SCOOTER)

Cheers, Half-Double