Today, Katie awoke at 5:30am, but I had the sense to sleep through another half hour. It was still wet and dreary from the night before but no sign of bear activity. Katie informed me that I snored last night – probably due to the fact that my nose is stuffy and that I slept in a new, camping variant of the fetal position.
We had to filter water from Mystic Lake, which was shrouded in morning fog to brilliant effect. Although the lake water didn’t filter well and my steripen barely carried through its normal 90 second cycles, I was greeted by a friendly tadpole, making my morning cheerful. For breakfast, we returned to oatmeal, and I drank a few sips of tea… but bugs have an uncanny attraction to and knack for suicide in my steamy cups of consumable liquids. Katie was awake enough, while I fished out these exoskeleton covered protein marshmallows, to try and dry the tent fly off before we deconstructed it all. 
We were on our way by 8:30am. The first stretch had a mild grade descent through forest that eventually opened up to rock beds and glacial rivers. These were relatively easy to traverse once we found the trail and ignored obsolete cairns. Katie and I chatted about concerts (George Strait and Lady Gaga), our novels (on Communism and on France), and antics about those we know and love. Eventually, the trail began to ascend again alongside Winthrop glacier, which made me stop my talking to keep my breath along the switchbacks.
We continued onward to Granite Creek, where Katie used the ‘plush facilities’, and I attempted a failed water purification session. The next set of switchbacks was far milder, meandering through meadows with chipmunks and squirrels. Katie dug up a locust grub from the trail and relocated it to the grass, but I’m fairly certain it will become a meal to something soon if it hasn’t already.
We reached the top of the ridge just as a wall of fog was moving over it, so we navigated our first intense, steep snowfield in minimal visibility. The trail was heavily stomped for us, but we took care anyway to be extra careful. We spotted two marmots on the boulder formations here before dropping into a grassy valley. Katie ran into a physical therapist and asked him a few questions as I slowed down to take in the scene. When we met up again, the fog was still moving in and out (the changing visibility added a dynamic edge to our experience), obscuring the field and mountains. We were approached directly by a curious marmot that jumped onto our path and came within 10 feet. I took a few close-up photos but Kate was wary and made some clacking noises to drive it into the bushes – better for its own safety. As we approached the frozen lake, we began meeting more day hikers, some of whom took pictures of us.
I began accelerating when I saw the Sunrise Visitor Center below us from the Sourdough Trail. Katie is a bit sunburned, and I probably will be, too. But, the food (Boca burger and sundae for Katie; chili dog and root beer float for me) were supplemental calories well appreciated and needed after the long day.
I inquired about cell phone reception here and was told there was none, but my iPhone was able to pick up a bar when it was placed on the table and twisted with the top of the phone pointing towards the restaurant’s queue! Calls home to family members followed and were as delightful as the fullness of our bellies. We found that the Spot (GPS tracking devise) is working and that we are being watched online – incentive to keep moving! We left the Center at 6pm, throwing out garbage and using the restrooms. We stopped by the gift and bookstores, filled up water bottles at the fountain, and took a few pictures of Rainier before heading to camp. There are a few mosquitoes here, due to close proximity to a still lake, but once the tent was up and warm drinks downed, we went to sleep easily at 9pm.
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