high sierra trail | day 2 | bearpaw to kaweah gap

day 2 was the second hardest day of this journey. 7.5 hours and a steep climb that took all day. (ok, i exaggerate.) we went from bearpaw to my favorite lake, hamilton lake, to be greeted by a spectacular crystal clear ice cold water bath. i felt like a million bucks after i dunked myself in. after some lounging around and greeting fellow travelers, we started what would be second hardest ascent of this trip. 

 

i swear, i felt like all we did was go up and up and up and up until our noses bled. okay, not really....it was just until one of the members of our group went into shock because of sudden altitude sickness! it was a bit of a scare, but we managed alright. and since we camped at close to 11,000', we stayed up to watch the stars. it was absolutely unreal.
for more pics, check out the facebook album.