Day 4: Drinking from a Rapid

On Day 4 I camped at Merced Lake Campground. It was a backpacker's campground just like Sunrise. However, this one didn't have the biffy unlocked. It also didn't have any running water. Not that I'm complaining that a campground in the High Sierras should have running water, I'm just observing that it did have the capabilities to have running (potable) water, and that water had yet to be turned on for the season.

When I first arrived in camp I noticed there were two other campers in the campground. I was a little excited to have neighbors, but didn't feel like I needed to rush over and share a fire with them. I ran into the female half of the duo on her way back from water getting and asked her where she had dipped her pot (since the lake was a mosquito haven I wasn't looking forward to drinking that). She pointed me in the direction of a large rapid (it was too horizontally short to call it a waterfall) where the river poured into the lake. Off I went.

I filled my water, purified it, made dinner, and set about enjoying the evening.