Friday, August 23
Start: Kingsbury junction south (7800′)
End: Round Lake (~9000′)
Miles: 26.4
Elevation gain/loss: 6467’/5925′
I was up at 6:15am this morning, and was all packed up and ready to head out by 6:45am. A new friend from the hostel had offered to drive me to the trailhead and I decided to take them up on the offer. I was hiking the 0.5 mi connector trail by 7am.
After joining the TRT at 7800′, I climbed for a long while to reach Freel Pass (9700′), and then descended to Big Meadow trail head (7280′), crossed over a road, and then hiked a few more miles to reach Round Lake, where I’m bedded down for the night.
I arrived around 6:15pm, and forgot that the sun goes down here around 7:30pm, which is earlier than on the JMT. In any case, I filtered some pond water with visible particulate in it, had dinner, and set up my bear canister for the night.
My feet hurt a bit; the trail isn’t technical at all and is deliberately simple, but the packed sand of the path is rough on my lower body.
