I'm pretty happy with the sunset shots. Really lucky to see sun through the slot since there was so much cloud cover. I was also lucky with the rain. Other hikers coming from other areas reported having several hours of rain several days. I only had rain on the second day mid-afternoon. So I just sat on a rock with the parka-tent over me and ate my lunch. Other days, there were only a few drops.
It was pretty tough setting up the tent without stakes. I'd hate to try it with rain coming down -- I'd probably do like that lunch, and just sit under it with it draped over me.
I talked with several hikers at Crabtree the night before the summit, telling them how nice it is on top, and tried to get them to meet me via the JMT. They were all finishing the JMT, so were well acclimated. One chickened out when a hiker told him the hut is freezing inside (...yeah, at noon when it is sunny out; but at night when it is cold out, the hut is returning all that solar heat!) Others chickened out thinking it would be too stormy. After my week of watching the 15k cloud ceiling and having little rain, I was confident it would be quite nice on the summit. And it was -- 60 F inside, even without the door!
Giardia? Try as I might, I couldn't find any. :grin: I am happy to certify that all the water along my route is clean and pure.
