On today’s menu we had another dangerous river crossing ahead of us – the Bear Creek. It was also the first thing in the morning we had to do. Not only it was early (6:30am) but last night I did not sleep exceptionally great because at one point I got super warm and started stretching my mosquito bites and on another one I woke up again later feeling cold because I earlier removed my base layer. Wonderful. Now I was supposed to go into a cold raging river. It looked maybe slightly better than yesterday at 7pm but still strong. We saw one group crossing a bit higher upstream but the water seemed way faster there with almost chest highs water for a girl my height. In the end we decided to cross we the trail ended on one shore. The current was really strong and my legs were freezing towards the end even though I was wearing my waterproof socks. Thankfully the water only skimmed my shorts and the next three river crossings that followed shortly were only knee height but still quite fast flowing and cold. Happy we all made it but definitely a terrifying experience. Try crossing a raging river with a 15kg pack on your shoulders in a freezing cold water. Not that great.

The Bear Creek belongs to the most dangerous ones because allegedly in the past someone has drowned here. Nevertheless, each year has a different water level so you can’t really compare it but it’s definitely not something to mess with. Later that day we made it to Vermillion Valley Resort where we got a nice warm meal for lunch and a milkshake, yummy. It has a nice campground vibe with a beautiful lake – Edison Lake. In the afternoon we hung out, played some games and just rested. In the days we will be in Mammoth Lakes where we are going to make a proper zero after the longest stretch in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Crazy to think that we are already more than halfway through with this range.