1st day! We started the day hiking up to Red Meadows camp and got lost trying to find the way to the JMT. Only about 1/4 mile backtracking. Hike was pretty much uphill all day on sandy-like trail. Felt like we were hiking up sand dunes on a beach. At about the 4 mile mark, we had to ford a fairly deep stream. I went up stream to find a rock path across. I did find one but after about half way across, I felt like the risk was not worth the reward. I decided to go back to the original crossing and found that everybody had already crossed. Not much current but it was deep enough to reach the crotch area. It was also EXCRUCIATINGLY COLD! I had plastic camp shoes for just this purpose, but I thought it would be easy just going barefoot. WRONG! The rocks were tortuous on my feet and I almost lost my footing and fell over...which would have soaked my backpack, boots and clothes. We took a break for about 20 minutes while the mosquitoes feasted on us. We went by several alpine lakes on the way. It was a tough 9.5 mile start for the first day. Got to the campsite and had to rest for about 45 minutes before I had the energy to pitch my tent. Washed out my clothes in Gladys lake. Lots of dragon flies on the lake. Not much of an appetite during dinner and went to bed early. Mosquitoes came out in herds when the sun started setting.