Month: July 2015

June 30th
Total mileage: 1002.8
Today’s mileage: 21

Dorthy Lake Pass. Two fords that required taking shoes and socks off. Yogi’s guide was right. Mosquito hell.

Again, this was the trail:

Early in the morning:

Howly and Fancyfeet reached our campsite goal for the night before me, and it was a good feeling when I rounded a corner and could just make out a roaring fire about a 1/4 mile ahead of me. They had also kindly gotten extra water from the previous source. We all ate vegan chili that I had brought from home. There was a large tent nearby with a couple giggling and making other joyous sounds and we thru-hikers had fun looking at each other like old curmudgeons, marveling beneath our breaths how they could possibly have such cheery dispositions and secretly plotting to undue their tent poles. But we behaved, hehe.

June 29th
Total mileage: 982
Today’s mileage: 20

Well, this was quite a day. Not only did we have some significant vertical feet, but we had a serious rain and thunderstorm in the afternoon. I think this is the fifth time it has rained on us in the High Sierra. Once the rain stopped, the most vicious swarm of mosquitoes arrived. We immediately stopped and struggled to put on face nets. We had an unexpected 800 ft ascent and descent in the final hour of the day. I have never climbed so quickly, and I was a sweaty Betty with all my rain and mosquito gear on. I joked that it was akin to the Hunger Games, and that people were sitting at a console up there somewhere, throwing levers, determined to stop us from reaching mile 1000 tomorrow. Lava must have not been ready.

This is an example of what the trail looks like at times. We kind of wandered aimlessly a bit, looking for cairns and checking our Half-Mile app.

This little half-steps appear occasionally on the John Muir Trail (JMT) portion of the PCT, and I personally find them irritating. They are very shallow in depth. I’d rather have a proper stair or none at all, I think.

Somehow, Fancyfeet, Howly and I got ahead of the others. I think the others had taken a lunch break at a lake that was on a slight offshoot trail. The three of us hiked until nightfall, and then hastily set up in a soggy forest. Howly was already regretting his bivy due to the influx of mosquitoes. He got a fire going again. I pitched my tent as swiftly as I could and then gave myself over to sleep.

June 28th
Total mileage: 962
Today’s mileage: 20

We hit the general store again and then headed out. We were advised to get at least 15 miles north of Tuolumne due to  bear activity. Hikers told us they saw one on the trail only 3 miles ahead but we never saw it. Others were disappointed but I’m completely ok with never seeing one in the wild.

June 27th

Colo, Highwater and Fancyfeet were stuck in the valley yesterday without their shelters or sleeping bags, after having visited Cloud’s Rest. (Really dumb system that the last bus out of the valley is 1:30 pm.) Fortunately, they asked around the hiker campground and one hiker was generous enough to loan them his unused tent and a blanket. The three of them survived and caught a morning shuttle back to the Tuolumne hiker campground.

Everyone was pretty tired from their non-PCT adventures and the day just turned into a social one of everyone sitting around a campfire. I suppose the deal was sealed when Howly unexpectedly returned from the general store with his bear canister full of ice and a 12 pack of Coors, haha. Cobain has a nice $45 mandolin that he provided, and we enjoyed hearing several people play throughout the day. We pooled together some petty cash and soon we were enjoying hot dogs on an open flame.

The general store was priced surprisingly well, and I may have drank 5 of their chocolate protein milks at $1.05 each.

One unrelated note. I discovered that an unnamed hiker who has been hanging out with us the last couple of days is a fugitive of the law. He is supposed to serve a year for three DUIs. Then he said he’s due for his next six months of food stamps. o.O It’ll be interesting to see how that pans out.

June 26th

RebelBiscuit and I took the earliest free 2 hour shuttle down to the bottom of Yosemite Valley (10 am). Immediately ate pizza and missed the very next and last shuttle out of the valley (1:30 pm). Dumb system. We were lucky to make two consecutive hitches back to Tuolumne with Chopsticks and TurnipKing.

Enjoy the dancing antics of Rebel as she tries to secure us a ride, hehe. Ultimately, sadly, these efforts were fruitless, although plenty of people honked or waved.

Highwater, Colo, Fancyfeet and Geisha decided to hike 22 miles down the JMT to see Half-Dome and Cloud’s Rest. (Geisha got lucky with a hitch and made it home before nightfall.) I would like to see both sites someday but really needed a down day. I’ve been feeling depleted and the skin on my left heel has cracked deeply. Need my heel to heal.