Trail And Errors

Molly lives up to the genesis of her trail name, waking up with a blistered and burnt scalp yet again. Plenty of condensation from the nearby rivers make it a wet start, and it is cold in the shaded forests despite the occasional random open meadow. Meeting couple of southbound hikers they hear benevolent reports about the first of the major crossings today; McCabe Creek, which turns out to be straightforward despite last week's reports about it being problematic. Return Creek follows shortly after, and then Spiller Creek. Each is less sketchy than anticipated, leading Molly & Ethan to surmise that last week all the crossings throughout the Sierra were bad due to the hot weather (as they'd experienced at Bear Creek), and this week's colder temperatures had returned the snow to normal (rather than accelerated) melting rates. There's still snow covering the trail, making the ascents slow and the descents terrifying, but the absence of anyone else on the trail is welcome and EthaMol enjoy the solitude. Losin