John Muir Trail, 2007: Day 4 - Red's Meadow to Deer Creek

It was a lovely, relaxing day. We had heard horror stories about the long, hot climb out of Red's Meadow, so we decided to plan a half day of hiking and only hike 7 miles to Deer Creek. We stuffed ourselves with an amazing breakfast at the Red's cafe and didn't bother getting on the trail until 10:30 am. We took our time and were happy to find that the reports of the trail were greatly exaggerated.

The first mile or two climbs gently through the remnants of the 1992 Rainbow Fire. I can imagine that on a really hot day the sun would be intense without the shade, but I found it to be a scenic hike through gentle terrain and enjoyed it. The trail then climbs through the shade between the Red Cones, two volcanic cinder cone peaks just south of Mammoth Mountain. A short while later, after meandering through the unburnt woods, we found ourselves at the nice little babbling Deer Creek.

The creek had amazing rejuvenation powers. We spent the afternoon lounging around and doing nothing - it was exactly what we needed after our previous two long days. The Bowlders soon showed up and we had a nice evening of conversation. The day was somewhat dampened by the loud group that insisted on camping practically in the middle of our group (and who plagued Marty and Cameron for many days to come). But they quieted down shortly after dark and we got a good night of sleep.

This day's stats:

• Mileage: 6.99 mi
  
• Ascending: 1620 ft
  
• Descending: 118 ft
  
• Cumulative Mileage: 41.83 mi
  
• Cumulative Ascending: 6861 ft
  
• Cumulative Descending: 6407 ft