We took advantage of the stone seats and proximity to the river. We submerged the beer in the icy water and got the taco ingredients ready. The first JMT hiker came by.

"Would you like some fresh carne asada tacos?"

"Why yes! Yes, I would." The man happily joined our party and was astonished when we offered him a choice of beer.

"Would you like a Hef, a Corona, or a Fat Tire variety?"

"No way! Are you serious?"

We showed him the cans and he was convinced. We ate tacos with him when another hiker came along. We asked him the same questions and his surprise was palpable.

I dare say we celebrated together. Of course our group had beer, as well.

We all ate as much as we could, offering beer and tacos to other passing hikers, but no one else wanted to join our merry band. I soaked my feet in the river, hoping to help with the pain.

We chatted about where we had been, the PD and I relaying our various adventures, while Jeff shared JMT stories, having hiked it twice. For a short time, we were all just hikers, all sharing our love for the Sierra. And beer. And tacos.

After he had eaten his fill, the first hiker bid us adieu and headed up the trail. We expected the second hiker, Brice, to say the same thing when he asked, "You guys are headed out over Bishop Pass tomorrow? Do you mind if I join you?"

We looked at each other. "We'd love the company." And then we were four. We let him know that we were aiming to climb part of the way up back to Bishop Pass this afternoon, to make tomorrow more reasonable and he was game. He even offered to carry some of the remaining beer, provided he could have some. We happily obliged.

While reviewing my pictures of the day, I realized that I didn't take a single picture of the actual lunch we had, or the people we had met. I was too busy enjoying the moment. As it should have been.

We made it back to camp, packing up our things and saying goodbye to such a great location. We headed back up the side of the canyon, gasping for breath in the heat of the early afternoon. The switchbacks leading upward were challenging. After a mile or two, we took a break on some logs. We saw a mother deer and a fawn slowly make their way through the trees. I was tired. Dead tired. But I was willing to continue to climb up to the edge of the Drop Off, to Dusy Basin, if it meant tomorrow wouldn't kill me.

Jeff called it. He was done for the day. This was a place on the map marked "Campsite" and he wanted to stay here. We all breathed a sigh of relief and made camp before we hit the 10,000' line, which meant we were able to have a campfire. We spread out, went to the Dusy Branch and soaked our feet.

We had dinner and enjoyed the company of deer and our new friend. As the moon rose through the trees, we talked the talk of outdoors people. We all had shared experiences, but of slightly different flavors. We talked about our loved ones back home and places we had been. We'd be home tomorrow and were excited for it, but we were content this night to share each other's company and experiences. We had some beer and dinner and probably stayed up later than we should have. But we had a great time.