Edison Lake ferry, by Erik
I top out at about 1:40, about 40 minutes behind Susan and Erik. After the trail junction, the plateau ends and trail drops back down to about 9,000 (this mild respite ultimately means even more climbing later in the day, of course). The terrain opens up out of cover and we get a view of the Seven Gables in front of us to the south and a fleeting look at Recess Peak, near where we ended last year, to our left.
According to our best intelligence reports there were supposed to be three separate crossings of feeder streams around here, but they're down to just a trickle, if not entirely dry. Our first significant water resupply won't come until almost Bear Creek. The trail parallels Bear Creek and begins a very gradual rise, past the Lake Italy junction (9,300) on the left. After fording Bear Creek proper, the grade increases to a moderate climb and we ford the west fork of the creek. Two hundred yards later, there's the junction with a trail on the left heading to Seven Gables lakes (known as Lou Beverly Lake and Sandpiper Lake on the Harrison maps). After a final climb that was much much harder and longer than indicated on the Harrison maps, we hit Rosemarie Meadow (10,010) and make camp at sunset, just past the junction to Rose Lake.
The small meadow is pretty enough, but absolutely overloaded with mosquitos. We slather on the Deet and enjoy the dinner show -- trout feeding in a deep granite pool right next to our site. We would learn the next day that the alternate camp up the trail, Marie Lake (10,570), has good, albeit exposed campsites just below the pass with no mosquitos. While Susan and Erik could have hustled up to Marie Lake, there's no way I could have made 500 more feet of vertical on a day we'd already logged nearly 4,400. This 12.8 mile day felt like the hardest 22-miler I've ever done. This is typical first-day syndrome: the combined shock of the pack weight, the altitude, the unforgiving nature of Bear Ridge and the unanticipated climbing late in the day. Having gone tent-less last year, Susan and I are very grateful for the tent this time. It would have been a long night without it. The after-dinner show consisted of acrobatic bats feasting on the mosquitos. And the late-night diversion was a group of 10 hikers stumbling into the meadow single file around 10 p.m. on their way to Rose Lake.
I encountered 12 northbound hikers today and zero southbound. (You thought the backcountry was empty? Not in August and not on the JMT.) 
Start of the trail
After breakfast and settling our tab at Vermilion (it's funky but not cheap) we board the ferry at 9 a.m. for the long ride to the trailhead on Mono Creek. From the ferry dock, it's two miles to the JMT junction at Quail Meadows. After crossing big Mono Creek on a steel footbridge, it's straight up Bear Ridge 4.6 miles of hell, switchbacking steeply from 7,643 at lake level to 9,980 at the first trail junction. In some places, it's a 1000 ft/mile ascent.
Total mileage: 12.8.
Time out: 9:45
Time in: 6:45
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