After another chilly night (hang on tight, it’s going to be that way for several weeks now) we got up and started packing our stuff. Happy Pants was already gone. After worrying about water so much last evening, Yair and Idan decided they had enough water on them, and didn’t go down to find the stream and get more water. I had plenty on me anyway.

The walk towards the next water source, Diaz Creek, was easy and pleasant. We got there into hours, and filled up our water for the next section. From there, we had an easy climb up through some passes, until we reached a beautiful snow water stream for our next refill. The views towards Horseshoe Meadows were very nice.

We met Young Oak, the other French guy on the trail, as he came up from Lone Pine. He stopped at the stream to cook lunch, and told us he plans to hike all the way to Mammoth in 7 days. That’s an ambitions plan. Hope he makes it.

From there we had a short and nice climb up to Cottonwood Pass, which had good views in both directions. Idan “felt” this might be a good place to get cell signal, and he was right. It wasn’t the first time he had done this, so henceforth he will be known as Signal.

View from Cottonwood Pass, down towards Horseshoe Meadoes
View from Cottonwood Pass, down towards Horseshoe Meadoes

Our next stop was a bit higher, at Chicken Spring Lake, where we filled up for the night. Yair and I filled from the lake’s outlet, but Idan (Signal) wasn’t lazy, and went a bit further to the lake. He said it was freezing around it, but it was amazing. He also got much cleaner water.

Chicken Spring Lake, our water source for the evening
Chicken Spring Lake, our water source for the evening

It was getting a bit late, at 16:15, and we were a bit too tired to continue all the way over to the trail to Rock Creek, about 4 miles away. So we headed out to walk together, and just find a good, sheltered spot to stop for the night. It was going to be over 11,000 feet anyway, so we hoped to get away from any cold winds, at least.

Just another selfie
Just another selfie

We finally found a nice, flat, area just off the trail, about 2 miles later. That leaves us 15 miles to get to Crabtree Meadows tomorrow, as a base camp before summiting Whitney. We cooked in the warm sun, but as soon as it went behind the ridge, the temperature dropped. We finished eating quickly, got everything in the bear canisters and headed to bed.