It wasn’t far to Selden Pass this morning, at 10877′. I had to wear my head net while hiking most of the morning, the mosquitoes were so bad. When we got to the Bear Creek ford, they swarmed. We quickly crossed in calf high water what is supposed to be the wildest ford in the Sierra. It took about ten seconds.
Once across, I used some of Snowstorm’s lemon eucalyptus spray and the bugs backed off. I need to pick some of that up in the next town. I put Deet on once this week and immediately regretted it. It melts plastic so why would I put it on my skin? I was afraid to touch any of my gear after, and then I couldn’t go swimming without using wet wipes to get it off first.
I had a late lunch at Mono Creek, jumping in to cool off as soon as I got there. Then I headed back uphill to Silver Pass at 10781′. The trail inexplicably continued uphill after the pass itself, but I am camped on a gorgeous ridge just on the downhill side. There was a great view of the sunset that I enjoyed through the mesh of my tent to avoid the bloodsuckers.
21.8 miles today.
Great hike and fantastic pics. Thanks for sharing.
I am intrigued by this lemon eucalyptus bug spray. I’ll have to look into it.
Be careful with those mosquitoes!!