Day 8

Bear Creek Trail + to MTR
95.1 to 106.5 - 11.4 miles + 1 mile MTR

I did not a good night sleep again,  I should know better not to sleep by a river. I even had in ear plugs and it did not help. We planned to leave camp by 5:45 so we could get to MTR for lunch and a soak in hot tub. I was up at 4 and next thing it was 5:45 and Jerome was waking me up. We left camp by 6:20.

We now had a 5 mile 1700 ft climb to selden pass. During climb we had our first large river crossing of Bear Creek. We tried to cross without getting wet. I made 90% across and Jerome just cross. Either way you get wet. We also crossed a few smaller streams. 

It took us almost 4 hours to hike the 5 miles. I  have been dealing with blisters in the back of my heals for a few days. My blisters started to realty hurt during the climb.

During the remaining hike downhill to MTR each step them worse. By the time I reached MTR each step really hurt so bad that I decided not to continue and to leave with Jerome tomorrow. I feel I just needed a day or two to rest but my timetable was tight for a zero day.

The downhill to MTR passed so 3 really nice lakes ; Heart and Sallie Keys.

We finally reached MTR around 3:30 and it was not what I expected.  It looked liked 4 shacks. We checked in and and received the tour of the kitchen/mess hall,  hot spring 104degress and the cold spring at 92 degrees.  After the tour we were driven to our tent cabin in a golf cart.  The shower was what I was looking foreword too most after 8 days. As much as I scrubbed it was hard to remove all the dirt.

After showering we headed to cold tug. As we arrived the door was locked for a couples private session so we  headed for the hot tub. It was too hot to get in but it was great to just soak my feet. The soak did not really help my feet so I was still walking like a really old man.

We now had to kill 45 minutes until dinner and I was starving.  I was not getting a burger but carrot curry soap,  apple pear salad, pasta salad, pork chops and beef kabobs.

At dinner time they ring a loud bell and the guests start running.  I eat it all,  beef and 1 and half portion of the pork. And finally lemon bars. 

At dinner we meet 2 retired couples that were going to hike a portion of the JMT from MTR and exiting Bishop Pass. They were also meeting another couple that was hiking the reverse with a 2 day overlap. They planned a car swap to make it easier to hike across. The couples were sorry to hear we were ending our hike and encourage us to complete the JMT.