A some point along this path, we heard an infamous John Williams leitmotif, and not from the just-released Episode VII: our trip was about to be Vadered.* The change: we would head to Stanford Point instead of Crocker. So, we headed down Meadow Brook through virgin powdery snow, passing through a few meadows with hoar frost in them.
Eventually we emerged at our destination, and the view was of course worth the effort.
After stomping down a flat area for the tent, we pitched it; soon thereafter we were in cooking dinner and melting snow. Once all that was done, we were fast asleep--or at least I was. Confession: the previous day had been my birthday, so we went out to see said Episode VII, so I had started the day with only a few hours of sleep.
The next day we planned to hike down to Inspiration Point and back up. We had a leisurely breakfast of pancakes (as promised here!), so we got a late start, but it was all downhill--to Inspiration Point, at least.
The snow remained surprisingly deep even as we descended.
The sign marking, well, perhaps "Old" Inspiration Point, was barely visible.
Near (new) Inspiration Point it seemed as if we might run out of snow, but there was always enough to keep the snowshoes on.
It had been cloudy all morning, but the clouds lifted--and the sun almost came out--as we ate lunch and had some tea at Inspiration Point.
Just as we were packing up to return, the clouds returned and it started to snow.
The climb back up the Pohono Trail was stiff, but we made good time back to Stanford Point. We stopped at Meadow Brook to fill up on tea-colored water so we wouldn't have to melt any snow.
The tent had a few inches of snow on it when we returned to camp.
It continued to snow throughout dinner and well into the evening, requiring clearing off snow from the tent every so often. As with the previous evening, I had no problem falling asleep.
We awoke to a nice sunrise.
After another leisurely breakfast (breakfast burritos) we packed up and headed up to Crocker and Dewey Points.
Although the trail had been broken a few days ago, there was a foot or more of fresh snow on it, so we were effectively breaking new trail all the way to Dewey. The sun was out by the time we neared Crocker, and we paused for more views.
After Crocker we made slow but steady progress towards Dewey.
At the high point above Dewey we saw a few flattened tent pads.
At the Dewey mileage sign we officially completed another Trail Quest segment, the Pohono Trail from Inspiration Point to Dewey.
At Dewey itself we saw the first people we had seen since leaving the ski trail to Dewey a few days ago. We were met with a cold wind here so we didn't stay long.
We did of course check out the views--our last ones of the Valley for this trip.
We took the Summit Meadow trail back to Badger, and along the way a light snow fell on us.
Surprisingly, we saw few people in the large meadow north of Summit Meadow.
At Badger our car had several inches of fresh snow on it. We quickly loaded up and climbed into the warm vehicle. It had been a great trip--thanks to JKW and the Great Pink One for making it such a wonderful birthday outing. Even though I somehow ended up with ornaments on my pack...
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* As in: "I'm altering the itinerary. Pray I don't alter it further."
