Oh A Happy DAY! Day 8. 6 miles. 19,019 steps.

Muir Trail Ranch :)

Awoke after a crazy night of storms to a PERFECT SIERRA morning. FINALLY! Just like Kevin promised (I love my weatherman). My tent view of Lower Sallie Keyes lake was pristine, with a perfect mirror image.
We all felt one with our backpacks as they were now very void of any food. Off to Muir Trail Ranch. I walked with Hank for the morning and got to hear great stories from him. Love this guy. All downhill to MTR, only took 3 hours....which was a very nice change of pace, and it was sunny!

What a place!

The family has owned and operated this ranch since the 1950's. The young lady that was working in the store had 2 toddlers running around as her husband was the Wrangler getting ready to take out some "rich" fishermen! Loved seeing the horses, made me really miss my Shadow, especially since they had 2 Appaloosa's! Lots of JMT hikers all happy to see their "buckets." Dogs were running around and the place was just so fun.

There was a makeshift Charging station with lots of different cords, fresh spring water and so many happy people (probably because it wasn't raining?) They have a scale to weigh your pack as you come in and then after your resupply. I was at 24 lbs arriving, 35 lbs leaving. WOW! a little bit heavier, and boy do you feel those extra lbs. :( Gotta eat.
There are so many buckets lined up very neatly with lots of extra stuff. You can take what you want and leave your extra's. Nice to get rid of our trash, put new batteries in devices, charge up devices, buy fuel, etc.

We have set up at the base of some huge boulders along the river (no...there were no cabins/yurts available for the night). Was sunny and warm and a perfect opportunity to do laundry and wash up.

The river is cold, but so nice to shampoo and wash up. Actually smelled like "Day Hikers" for a short time. My bear can is repacked and I couldn't get 1 more item in if needed. Had to sit on the lid to get it closed properly. Yah, I'm ready to eat some food. I have so many dinner choices tonight, it's actually exciting after my sad tomato soup last night. I'm going for my homemade Mac n' Cheese with crumbled bacon and fried onions and mixed veggies. Oh yummy!
Joan had packed a BotaBox of wine in her MTR resupply, so we are excited to share that tonight. We are celebrating Kathleen and Richs' anniversary and Nellie's (Hank's wife) birthday. Sorry they are not with each other for these special occasions, but we will do our best to celebrate for them in their absentee. Wine from a box and wheat thins for a lovely appetizer. Oh my.
Another exciting part of our day was seeing all our Trail Buddies at MTR and then after in the campground. There was Turkey Boy, Cisco kid, Tasmanian Devil, Just Justin, Girl from Sedona, German Girl (she shared a lovely german choc bar with us!), and Karen's group. So nice seeing everyone and kind of crazy that we really don't see many hikers on the trail? But, when you do, it's so cool to share trail info, gossip!, and just say hi. A bond that is so neat and would never happen in our normal lives.

Perfect, Perfect NERO day (near zero miles). After setting up camp and doing all our "chores", we met a couple of German boys. Gerhardt (DAD) and Benno (son). This father/son team is from Munich. It was lovely chatting german with them, especially since they were from Bavaria, where I went to High School. We all crossed the river together and sat in the Hot Springs with them.