Flew to Fresno on my 65th Birthday for the start of my Sierra High Route birthday hike. Spent last night at Grant Grove Village to acclimate to the altitude and visit the General Grant Tree and Giant Sequoia Grove. This morning I hitched a ride to Roads End in Kings Canyon for the long climb up to 10,000 feet on the Cooper Creek Trail before bushwacking out to Grouse Lake for my first night on route. Stumbled on another hiker wandering around the approach to Grouse Lake and was surprised to see a father and two sons and one other hiker all camping at this remote lake. That's Labor day weekend for you.
My first bad omen; while trying to cook dinner my Walmart special fuel canister didn't work. It's like the valve was to low to engage with my stove valve pin. This happened once before on a hike in the Wind River Range so I wasn't too worried. Shoved a small piece of rock into the valve stem hole to increase the engagement. Of course then it started leaking. Fortunately after some fiddling I got it to work by over tightening the canister really tight.
