July 8 - 12
Day 64 - 68
Mile 942.7 - 1019.5
Tuolumne meadows - Just N. of Sonora Pass
Day 64 -The great escape
We wanted to charge our phones and eat breakfast at the grill so we waited for the store to open. We spent the first half of the day waiting for the phones to charge and talking to the multitude of hikers, climbers, bikers, and tourists in front of the store. The hiking today was absolutely perfect. It was fun, cool, and there was a breeze which kept the bugs away. We hear bugs are really bad in this section so we were especially happy about that. We passed a lot of granite towers and domes which Yosemite is famous for.
We stopped for a dip at Tuolumne falls. My feet and ankles felt so good in the cold water.
We camped at glen aulin, which has restrooms, potable water, and free camping: a hikers paradise. We are happy to be back out here, it is always immediately more relaxing.
Day 65 - Bear canister: check!
We are finally getting the hang of packing up camp quickly. I hadn't really noticed it until this morning. We were camped next to 3 groups of weekend backpackers. We heard them all get up around 6:15. We slept for at least 45 more minutes, but we still left camp before them. The first few miles today were very flat which was nice.
We came to McCabe creek and soaked our feet again but the water was very freezing and it was painful to keep them in for very long. It was very steep and rocky terrain after that.
We couldn't resist soaking our feet again when we got to Matterhorn creek.
While we were there we were confronted by our first park ranger. She was super nice and asked of we were carrying our bear cans then talked to us about the area and her job. We climbed up and over Benson pass and found an awesome spot in a meadow.
Day 66 - A difficult day
This was a pretty challenging day for both of us. The scenery was beautiful but we sure had to work for it.
We woke three times in the middle of the night to deer rampaging through our campsite. They were competing for the meadow that we slept in and kept chasing others away. We realized last night that we needed to average about 21 miles a day to make it to lake Tahoe the day we planned. Normally we are not ruled by our tentative schedule at all but we are meeting Nates parents on the 16th. So we got up today expecting to do somewhere around 20 - 21 miles. The trail was really steep and rocky and it seemed to zig zag all over and it would make you climb really steeply up just to come steeply back down. It wouldn't have been so bad except the trail the whole day was rocky. It was either loose rocks that caused many rolled ankles, steep steps, or large boulders that made finding the trail hard.
There were also many blow downs and we got lost once. It was hot and we were swiftly reminded that while we have been playing around at 10,000 ft everyone else has been in the middle of the hot summer. All of the bushes and trees had cobwebs on them so when you walked past the would get in your face and on your legs. All of this wouldn't have been so bad except the mosquitos were so horrible. We couldn't avoid them flying up our noses, into our mouths, and biting us everywhere. By the end of the day, we weren't even using our trekking poles to walk, but to swat bugs. We hiked 18.6 miles before we were too exhausted and set up the tent and jumped in with no dinner. Despite how we could feel after the frustrating day we are both eager to start a new day tomorrow.
Day 67 - ..and I would walk 500 more
Today started out rough again. The trail was much like yesterday, rocky and steep. Within the first few miles we were in mosquito hell. It was the worst either of us has ever seen. We felt like walking windshields, every step we would run into a swarm. Nate said there were at least 100 on my pants and another 100 following closely behind me. Our mosquito head nets were not convenient to grab so they were also flying up our noses, and into our mouths and eyes. After about 30 minutes they subsided and we found a spot with minimal bugs by a flowing river, but not without first being traumatized by the experience. We got water at the river and I collapsed on the rock in exhaustion. I realized that I had a small lunch and no dinner the day before and no breakfast in the morning so I ate a candy bar. After that things got a lot better. The trail was not so painful, the mosquitos were managed with bug nets and a lot of DEET, and we started to feel a lot stronger.
We had our lunch at Dorothy Lake which is by far our favorite lunch spot yet. Sandy beach with towering pinnacles on the other side.
The best part was that a breeze came in and the mosquitos went away for a few minutes. At Dorothy lake pass we left Yosemite and entered the Hoover wilderness of toiyabe national forest.
Shortly after we passed mile 1000!
The terrain became less rocky and we quickly hiked 7 more miles to a campsite where we camped with Maya, Tal, Mark, David, Britt.
Day 68 - Into the Wild... flowers
We woke up earlier and were hiking by 6:00. The plan was to hike the 11.5 miles into Sonora pass, hitch in to town, resupply, hitch back out, and hike a few more miles. The trail was exposed and we walked along ridges which was such a cool experience in the morning. The clouds were really cool also.
We hit the most snow we've seen yet, but it was still so little that it didn't even matter.
We got to Sonora pass by 10:30 and waited for an hour before we got a hitch. A guy named jim picked us up. He works for a wheat company that even makes the barley for some of trader joes rice mixes. He also gave us bandanas and got our blog so he can follow along. Thanks jim! At Kennedy Meadows resort we got our resupply package, ate lunch, and talked to maya, tal, mark, britt, David, and uhaul. It seems everyone else has also had a difficult time with section I ( Tuolumne to Sonora pass) and it is nice to know it was not only us. It took us two hours to hitch out and we finally got a ride from Matt and yoshi, two backpackers going out for the week. We entered the Carson-Iceburg wilderness of toiyabe national forest. We only hiked in a mile but both already decided we love it here. Even though it is exposed, it is somehow still green everywhere with many windflowers and plants. I don't know if you can tell from the picture but the hillside is completely purple and pink from the flowers.
Nate is also excited because the rocks have very suddenly changed from granite to volcanic rocks and I'm glad because there are now new answers when I ask him the question, "what is that rock?"
-Jenna
-Be Free
Absolutely Beautiful
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