June 29th - Having a morning COW

Woke to the sounds of cattle this morning.  Putting on my glasses I see a whole herd of cows hiking down the trail, ten feet from my tent, and down to the spring before sunrise.  The noise and cloud of dust was disappointing to say the least.  Not many of us hikers are happy about the leasing of these high meadows to ranchers.  Great views above Cottonwood pass and above Chicken Spring Lake.  Entering Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks!  The the views from Crabtree meadow were grand.  Lots of deer and marmots too.  Hiked for a while with Jason today.  Lots of weekend hikers now that we are in holiday weekend.  Set up my tent tonight so I could leave gear in a base camp for a side climb of Whitney in the morning.  Only my third time setting up the tent on the entire trip so far.