WOW.

Stop me if you've heard this: that was a HARD trip! Looking back, of course, it should have been: lots of cross-country travel, a puppy-like faith in two guidebooks, and too many miles in too few days for sufficient downtime. Sure, we could have split that eighth day into pieces and spread it around; trouble is, many of our midday hours found us with no possible campsite! Where could we camp between Thousand and Twin Island lakes, for example? Clearly, my next plan is to rethink how I plan: this clever-sounding route demonstrated a bit of big-picture myopia that needs correction. Still, we made it out in the correct number of pieces, had a pretty great time, and saw some scenery that these pages only poorly describe. I now take out the highlighter, mark the path on my big Sierra map, and return to my favorite pastime - squinting my eyes and seeing what areas above timberline have not been highlighted yet!