Here I am at the start, about 7:05 a.m. Beautiful day. Three women came running by and they took my picture near the twin bridges across the Lyell Fork of the Tuolumne River.
It was a nice sunny morning, with mist rising off the river. Cool, but not too cool.
The first leg was not too hard but involved about 1500 of climb to the high point of the course at Vogelsang High Sierra Camp. The camp is located at the base of the shadowed cliff.
Here I am at Vogelsang HSC after getting water. The folks staying at the camp were just heading out for hikes after breakfast.
The leg from Vogelsang to Merced Lake HSC was tough and involved about 3000' of often steep descent. Here the trail follows Fletcher Creek along a beautiful rock face. The Clark Range is in the distance.
Parts of the trail were solid rock rather than dirt or gravel. Here the trail is cut in the beautiful Cathedral Peak granodiorite, which is characterized by huge crystals of potassium feldspar. Now that's a rock!
First glimpse of Merced Lake, site of the next HSC. Half Dome is there in the distance a little to the right of the lake, but it is tough to see owing to the high contrast in the picture.
Merced Lake HSC is a big one, but it was almost deserted--everybody was hiking.
Merced Lake is large and inviting, but a big climb awaits.