Day 16 Aug 16,1982<br>Another good nights sleep,
not that I don't usually sleep well. Up at 7AM
gathering it all up. It sure doesn't take long to spread
out. Really enjoyed the rest day tho. Breakfast over
and we are on the trail at 9:55. We see plenty of
nice fishing spots as we follow up Palisade Ck. I
won't return to the stretch of trail from here to
Vidette for 11 years. I didn't fish it then either, guess
I need to make a trip for this area alone. Owen
amused himself by catching grasshoppers. We saw two guys
just coming down from Palisade Basin. While I was
ahead Owen had a bald eagle come up from the creek and
land on a limb right above him. Unfortunately, it flew
before he could get to his camera. We stopped for lunch
at the creek from Glacier Lk. and now I wish I had
taken the gorp we were offered at Mono Ck. In a little
while we reach the switchbacks of the Golden Staircase.
As a testimony to our condition I didn't even stop
for a sit down rest until I reached the top where I
waited for Owen to catch up. The climb seemed easy but
we only have 5 days food abd 15 days experience. In
1993 it was not nearly as easy with almost 2 weeks of
food and 2 days on the trail. At the first Palisade
Lk. we ran into another guy, which made 5 people we
saw all day. He is on a 40 day trip from Cottonwood
Lks. to Tuolumne Mdw. I pushed on ahead and found a
small creek at Upper Palisade Lk. where we made camp.
This creek is just a little west of the larger creek
coming out of the basin to the north and was dry when I
returned in September '93. We had only taken our packs off
for lunch since we left Grouse Mdw. so it felt good
to drop them here. Owen wanted to go fishing in the
lake but I told him dinner would be ready by the time
he got down there soneither of us fished here, an
oversight I corrected in '93. There were some clouds
building up but they have cleared off now. There are more
trees here than I expected. A bowlful of tobacco then
we curled up in a cozy spot amongst the trees to
spent another night. 9 miles today, easy miles too.
