Mile 847.2 - 870.0

Freezing, freezing, freezing! Last night and this morning we froze. We camped by the river and waterfall and it was a big mistake. We also didn't use our tent fly so we were open the the elements. We woke up with ice in our water bottles, that's how cold it was. Being that cold makes it extremely hard to break down camp. We just said to each other, lets pack up as fast as we can and eat breakfast down the trail once we warm up. That's what we did. About 2 or 3 miles the sun rose and began to warm us so we could eat and take off some clothing layers. I could use some warmer mornings around here.

So much for being thru all the high passes. We had another one today called Selden Pass at 10,800'. In our book it is labeled as the easiest pass, but it kicked our butts. It was an 8 mile climb and our legs are dead from all the climbing we have been doing. We finally made it to the top and we wanted to descend a few miles so it would be warmer sleeping tonight. We did that. The problem was that we had to ford a huge river that was thigh deep. We didn't resize it was that deep until it was too late and we got soaked. Now it's getting late, it's getting cold out, and we are soaked. I slipped on a rock halfway across the ford and nearly went all the way in. Which would have been bad from my gear, including the camera and phone. I was able to catch myself. We hiked on a few more miles just to dry out our clothes before camping.

We followed this river for many miles.

We enjoyed the easy flat miles along the San Joaquin river.

Marie lake, towards the top of Selden Pass.

Getting closer to the never ending summit.

Balance is wiped out. As is Y-Knot, but we made it the the summit of Selden Pass at 10,800. Not the hardest pass we climbed but it wasn't easy either. We need a rest day badly. Our legs are not recovering from day after day hiking of these passes.

Balance muscles her way down Selden Pass in search of a camping spot.