Mather Pass, Palisade Lakes, and the Base of Muir Pass - Miles 820.5 and 835.3 - 7/3-4

So condensation this morning was in the form of ice on my tent. It got pretty cold over the night but up and over Mather was this mornings goal. It wasnt a terribly difficult pass and on the way down Mather around mid-morning I stopped at Palisade Lakes to jump in the water and cool off. The lake was surrounded by massive mountains on all sides and had an impressive waterfall feeding the river swerving down the valley. It was a sweet spot and I searched around finding a great campsite on a large rock next to the mouth of the lake and waterfall. Hiking day over. I spent the rest of the day exploring around the area and checking out spots near the lake including close to the waterfall and climbing up and around a small boulder field. Around late afternoon the mosquitoes came in full force and the day was over. Small hiking days and playing around in very pretty areas, in my opinion, is better than an extra day in town, you can't spend money and you get to explore areas most PCT hikers walk right by and never experience.

In the morning I ran into Voodoo and Twinkletoes, two hikers I haven't seen since the Saufleys. They got hung up due to illness and were getting back into the Sierras after time off and it was nice to see familiar faces, especially after a few hundred miles. I followed the river down the carved out and weathered granite valley and then started my way up towards Muir Pass. At the end of the day heading up near Muir Pass I passed a JMT hiker who suggested a good campsite right before the pass so I figured it would be a good spot to sleep for the night. Heading up to Muir was pretty steep and higher up so it had me breathing pretty hard. When I reached the campspot I was pretty tired, made dinner and called it a night.