Yodisemiteland

Day 170-September 30th
Destination: Yosemite Park (via Tuolumne Meadows)
Miles: 9.5 (plus 1.5 off trail miles)
Cumulative Miles: 2511

It was a cold morning when we woke. Due to the nature of air temperature and our position in a valley, we found ourselves hiking out in moderately cold temperatures. The walk was very flat and easy going, which made it difficult to generate our own body heat for warmth. As we wound along the serpentine stream, we were treated to views of a golden yellow meadow of short grass frosted white from the cold night. Seven to eight foot dome like shrubs sprouted periodically out of the meadow as the sinuous water idly slipped slowly down the valley floor misting in the cold morning air.

After a few hours of peaceful morning walking we started seeing and hearing signs of civilization. We were approaching the road at Tuolumne Meadows. Our resupply strategy was to mail a package to Tuolumne Meadows, which was just off trail. Unfortunately the post office there was closed so we had to hitch to where our package was sent. Fortunately, this meant hitching to Yosemite Valley, the heart of Yosemite National Park.

Daniel, Karen, and Matt picked us up. These three were returning from a Mt. Whitney summit trip. We crowded into the small car, with our packs stacked upon our crunched bodies; five campers with packs in a compact rental. We arrived at the valley, exploding out of the car and promptly became disoriented in the tangled web of tourist villages and streets and shops and sights.

We first made our way to a deli for lunch. Then after adequately stuffing our bellies we waddled over to the showers. We showered and did laundry, losing all motivation to get back up to the trail. Naturally we chose to go eat pizza and drink beer to develop motivation to go back to the trail tonight.

Now we are staying in a "not-tent-cabin tent-cabin." Guess we'll head to the trail in the morning. As we sit over dinner, a neighboring camp has a violinist providing us with dinner entertainment.

Apricots would like to personally thank California for the real summer, which Oregon and Washington seemed to forget about.
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Still Alive

We are at Yosemite.... no reception to send out blog posts.

hopefully we'll be able to soon.

 

We should be in civilization again in four days...

Island Pass + Donahue Pass

Day 169-September 29th
Destination: Lyell Creek
Miles: 10 (plus 7 alternate trail miles)
Cumulative Miles: 2501.5

We slept in an extra forty minutes this morning. Sleeping at higher elevations is always less restful. When we hit the trail, we were excited about the lakes we would be walking past. The alternate route was supposed to be far more scenic, and one mile shorter than the PCT.

What we failed to notice was that there were several significant climbs between the aptly named gem like lakes. Ruby Lake and Garnet Lake were both magnificent, though not red. The trail had fairly significant climbs between the lakes, and another decent climb before reaching the PCT again at Thousand Island Lake. This lake quite possibly could have a thousand islands in it, but we never counted. We were fairly tired, wondering how it took us four hours to go only seven miles.

After lunch at Thousand Island Lake, we made our climb toward Island Pass. Island Pass, at 10,207 feet didn't feel like a pass, but rather just another high plain that we walked across. The ascent from Thousand Island Lake, and the drop down afterwards were both fairly minimal. We had larger climbs and drops over unnamed saddles on the alternate route we took. Both times we hit high points this morning on the alternate route, we were above 10,000 feet.

Just past Island Pass was Donahue Pass, which stood at 11,064 feet. The ascent to this pass was long and exposed. The entire hillside was covered in enormous granite slabs, often serving as stepping stones for our trail. Once we reached the top and started our descent, we passed the last place we'll be above 11,000 feet on our trek.

The north side offered a descent worthy of being the most difficult. At first we lost the trail, following a dry river bed thinking it was the trail. A few minutes down the river bed we realized that there were rock cairns to our left. We cut over to the rocks to try to follow the trail. Psycho looked back at Apricots and said, "Finding the trail is easy, just look for the stack of rocks in the stack of rocks."

Eventually the trail became more easy to follow, but not easier to walk upon. The trail was incredibly steep and rocky. At times it felt like we were walking across a very old, poorly laid, cobblestone road which cut down the hill at nearly 45 degrees the entire time. Apricots slipped and nearly hyper-extended her knee, and Psycho trudged on at a pace which would make a turtle look fast.

When we reached the bottom of the descent, we were both beat. We stopped at the first flat site and set up camp, two miles shy of our goal.

Woohoo!!! 2500 Miles

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Red's Meadow Pit Stop

Day 168-September 28th
Destination: Gladys Lake
Miles: 15.5 (plus 6 alternate trail miles)
Cumulative Miles: 2483.5

Rising a little later than usual, we began our 13.5 mile trek toward Red's Meadow, where we hoped to grab a few supplies, lunch, and a shower. We noticed that as we work our way further north in the Sierras, the rock formations are starting to include some volcanic rock. The trail wound its way through the trees, passing lava rock, red and pockmarked with gas bubbles.

Our morning hike seemed very slow and difficult. We had eaten such a large breakfast at VVR that we took a late lunch yesterday. By dinner time we were not hungry, so we just snacked. This had the adverse effect of not giving us the necessary energy to hike this morning. Slowly and with frequent breaks we trudged toward Red's Meadow.

We arrived at Red's Meadow around 1pm and immediately hit the cafe for a filling lunch, and some coffee. Afterwards we bought a few supplies to get us the rest of the way to Tuolumne Meadows. Then we went to the campground to grab some showers.

When we arrived at the hot spring showers, there was a high school class there on a field trip of some kind. All shower stalls had lengthy waiting lines. Disappointed that we didn't have time to wait for the lines to exhaust themselves, we walked down to the creek and took a quick splash bath before continuing down the trail.

Our first mile after Red's Meadow took us past Devil's Postpile National Monument, an impressive display of columnar basalt, which had been glacially polished at the top. Along the base of the towering basalt columns, large hexagonal basalt lay piled in mounds which have grown over time. The area was designated a national monument in 1911, and is considered part of Yosemite Park.

We continued on, taking a suggested alternate to the PCT, which is part of the official JMT. The alternate is slightly shorter, but has more climbing and takes us past a few more lakes. We arrived at Gladys Lake just after 6:30pm, and set up camp for the night.
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We're alive

We have no cell reception so we can't get posts out often. But wanted to let you all know we're alive and should be in cell reception in a couple days. Today we are at red meadow. 

Silver Pass

Day 167-September 27th
Destination: Purple Lake
Miles: 14.5 (plus 1.5 off trail miles)
Cumulative Miles: 2462

There is no better way to start a day on the trail then to sleep in and roll out of bed to eat homemade pie and drink good coffee. Everything about our stop at VVR was worth it. We caught the ferry back to the trail and started hiking around 9:30am.

We heard it was supposed to get up to eighty degrees at 8000 feet, and it felt that way. Our climb up Silver Pass was fairly warm, bordering on hot. When we reached the top, at 10,910 feet we took a break and sought shelter from the subtle wind. As we continued down the pass, we were amused by the pint-sized chipmunks which would scurry out, see us, and then flee to shelter. At these higher elevations the chipmunks all tend to be half the size of their lower elevation counterparts.

We dropped down into a small valley for lunch, where the autumn colors made an otherwise plain walk something to revel in. After lunch we made a rather large climb up Tully Hole. The top might as well have been a pass, because by the time we reached the high point of the trail, we were just above 10,500 feet. We descended five hundred feet to Purple Lake where we set up camp for the night.


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Side Trek to VVR

Day 166-September 26th
Destination: Vermillion Valley Resort
Miles: 4.5 (plus 1.5 off trail miles)
Cumulative Miles: 2443

We woke up this morning without any bear incident. It seems (for us) Bear Ridge was a name only, as we did not see any last night or this morning. After packing up we made our descent off Bear Ridge.

We have added a day to this leg, which was a result of slow acclimatization and a late start at Kearsarge Pass. The miles in the Sierras are difficult. Not only do we face higher elevations and serious climbs and descents, but the trail is also knobby. Often we are walking carefully across loose talus or boney granite. Sometimes we have to lift our body and pack up a two foot step, or slowly drop down two feet trying not to roll an ankle.

With the additional day of hiking, we found ourselves low on food. Fortunately at Mather Pass we met two Canadian women who gave us a little, and the group we camped with the night before last gave us some Top Ramen. This set us up fairly well to make it all the way to Red's Meadow. We, however, had it in mind to side trek to Vermillion Valley Resort (VVR), but we did not know if it was still open.

When we reached the trail junction to VVR, we sat down to decide whether to take a gamble. If VVR was closed, we would have added three unnecessary miles to this leg. A shower, a burger, and more food was mighty tempting. We were more or less resigned to testing fate and heading down, but we decided to flip a coin. Tails came up, telling us to head toward VVR. Feeling a little hesitant, we flipped again. Tails again. We donned our packs and moved quickly down the trail towards the ferry.

When we arrived at the ferry landing, we were happy to find out VVR was still open, and the ferry would be arriving in half an hour. We met a section hiker who was leaving the trail, and had a surplus of food. Once we had ferried across Lake Thomas A Edison, he walked us to his truck and dumped all his food on us. Then another hiker offered us food. He is hiking the John Muir Trail, and misjudged his food needs.

Now with all the extra food given us, we will be able to bypass our next town stop, offsetting time lost by heading in to VVR. Once again, everything always works out on the trail. People's generosity continues to restore our faith in humanity. We are getting well rested after a hard leg. Tomorrow morning we will take the ferry across the lake, and start our four day leg to Tuolumne Meadows. Hopefully it is still open.

Time for homemade pie.
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Selden Pass

Day 165-September 25th
Destination: Bear Ridge Trail
Miles: 22
Cumulative Miles: 2443

It is safe to say that we are acclimated to this higher elevation hiking, or maybe the trail was just easier today (which it was). We started with a long slow gradual descent, before making a long mostly slow climb of nearly 3000 feet to go over Selden Pass at 10,887 feet.

At the top of the pass, we had a stunning view north to Marie Lake. The blue water was interrupted by several islands and crooked peninsulas. We descended off the pass taking a few switchbacks down before walking along its shore. Passing the lake by we continued our gradual descent down into Bear Valley, where we rock hopped across Bear Creek, another creek which proved to be dangerous and difficult for the hikers who entered the Sierras in June.

A few miles later we started our steep climb up to our camp on Bear Ridge. We are hopeful that all the "Bear" names does not imply that bears will be bothering us tonight.

We would like to thank Andrea and Leslie for the care package sent to us. We are making good use of all the tasty food, and your coffee gets us going in the morning. We can't wait to make use of the lotions for our feet.

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Muir Pass

Day 164-September 24th
Destination: MM 852ish
Miles: 20
Cumulative Miles: 2382

So technically Mather Pass was our last pass over 12,000 feet, as it stands 12,087 feet above sea level. Muir Pass, our challenge today should get a fair mention though as it is 11,976 feet.

Apricots woke first this morning and crawled out of the tent to do the necessary. While squating in the dark, she saw eyes looking back at her, reflecting her head lamp. She came back to the tent to tell Psycho that there was a bear roaming around, but upon further inspection with the head lamp, we realized it was just one of the deer that had been roaming around our campsite all night long.

As we made our six mile climb up Muir Pass, we were given a false hope. We saw a dip in the ridge and assumed we had made good time to the pass. Unfortunately, just as we achieved that point on the trail, we realized it was not the pass. We still had another mile to go, and another 700 feet to climb.

At that point we passed a large flat lake, casting a perfect reflection of the mountain ridge wrapping the water. The only disruption to the surface were several ducks swimming here at Helen Lake. Occasionally they would dive under the water seeking food. Circular ripples grew out from them, calming shortly before they popped back up to the surface making new ripples.

Passing by the ducks at play, we made the final climb to the top of Muir Pass, named after John Muir the naturalist who first postulated that the Sierras were glaciated mountains at one time. Atop the pass, a small stone hut is built in honor of him.

We took a short break at the top, chatting with Giraffe, a southbound PCT thru-hiker. Then we made our long gradual descent down the pass towards evolution valley. As we passed Lake McDormand, we scared several frogs off into the water. Leaping from the bank, where the trail skirted the lake by a few feet, we watched as they kicked their little legs to flee from our wrath.

Late in the day we arrived at Evolution Creek. Signs directed hikers towards a location for a safer crossing when the creek is more like a swollen river. Our friends who went straight through the Sierras had one of their most difficult stream fords with this creek. For us, it was more or less a rock hop across, where our feet barely got wet.

We made the last bit of a descent down a rocky and root filled trail, arriving at a campsite with four other section hikers. We talked with them over dinner before crawling into our tent for the night. Tomorrow we have a long hike before going over Selden Pass late in the day.

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Mather Pass

Day 163-September 23rd
Destination: 5.5 Miles south of Muir Pass
Miles: 18
Cumulative Miles: 2382

Last night was cold, but not as unbearable as we expected. Our bags kept us warm through the night. The tent was covered in frost. We packed up and set out for our two mile climb up and over Mather Pass.

The ascent up the pass was fairly easy, but crossed a steep rock chute. After witnessing the rock slide last night, we were a little uneasy. We made the climb with greater ease than the previous passes, as we are finally getting adjusted to the higher elevations.

So far this pass has been one of the most beautiful passes we have gone over. However the descent was quite difficult. The initial descent took us past the Palisade Lakes crossing massive slabs of granite, with rocks aligned to direct us where the trail was. Then we hit a grueling descent over talus. The trail lost nearly 2000 feet in elevation over two miles.

We eventually emerged in a valley rich with the aromas of dirt and trees, ferns and Southern California forest. The sun had worked up a fierce heat rivaling yesterdays abundant cold air. We dried out our tent over lunch, and continued our hike towards Muir Pass. Ultimately we were aiming to stop a few miles shy of the pass, but we met some section hikers who had a great campsite, and a fire.

We decided that camping at a lower warmer elevation would be nice, and a campfire and company would be nicer. We ate dinner and talked around the campfire with Jim and Ryan. Ryan hopes to do the PCT some day, so he was full of questions for us. We were happy to share many of our stories with him.

Tomorrow morning we have a 2700 foot climb up to Muir Pass, the last pass over 12,000 feet for us.

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Pinchot Pass

Day 162-September 22nd
Destination: 2.5 Miles south of Mather Pass
Miles: 14.5
Cumulative Miles: 2364

We woke up to clouds this morning. This made us a little uneasy, as we were afraid we brought the Washington rain with us down to the Sierras. Fortunately the clouds burned off within an hour of us starting our long arduous climb up Pinchot Pass. Our ascent took us from roughly 8600 feet all the way up to 12,093 feet at the pass.

We were cold for most of the climb, and remained awestruck at the ability of other thru-hikers to make this climb in the snow. Perhaps the snow made for more level terrain to walk across, thereby making it easier. However, the non-existance of a trail to follow would require time consuming navigation. Furthermore, walking on snow is also very fatiguing. By the time we reached the top, we had covered seven miles in five hours, making our hopes of going over Mather Pass look less realistic.

Our slow moving, and acclimatization to these higher elevations has required us to add an extra day to this leg. We have nearly enough food for that extra leg, but are light on snacks to power us between meals. As such, we were very thankful when we met two hikers who are a day ahead of schedule. They were able to give us a small portion of their food making it easier for us while lightening their packs.

After passing over Pinchot Pass, we dropped down a few miles to a small creek where we had lunch. The clear blue sky started filling with clouds, making our ascent up Mather Pass look daunting. Just after lunch it started snowing for a little bit. We were not sure how long the snow would last, so we had to stop to cover our packs and put on rain gear.

By the time we started our climb to Mather Pass the snow had stopped. It started to warm just enough that we shed our jackets. All the time lost over the long slow climb up Pinchot Pass and the short snow flurry set us up with a tight window for making it over Mather Pass.

Rather than potentially running out of daylight on the steep northern descent, we chose to stop shy of our desired camp. This puts us even further behind schedule. The days are very short here in the Sierras, and the miles are quite difficult. It looks like we have our work cut out for us for the next five days.

While sitting at one of the best campsites we've had, we prepared our dinner. On a neighboring mountain a massive rock slide occurred. We saw a boulder which was easily a couple tons lead the crashing rumble down the mountain.

We're camped just above 11,000 feet and the sky has pretty much cleared up. We expect a very cold night. Hopefully our water bottles don't freeze overnight.

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Kearsarge Pass + Glen Pass

Day 161-September 21st
Destination: Paradise Valley Trail
Miles: 11 (plus 5.3 off trail Miles)
Cumulative Miles: 2349.5

Getting back into these higher elevations takes a bit of time to acclimate. Unfortunately, we don't have time to do so. We just have to hike, and hope that we'll be adjusted in a day or two. We started our day with an immediate ascent up to Kearsarge Pass at 11,760 feet.

We exited the Sierras a little over three months ago through this pass, and the extreme difference was amazing. All of the snow up to the pass was completely gone, and once we topped the pass we looked out and saw a total lack of snow. Kearsarge Pinnacles and the neighboring mountains stood without an ounce of white on their faces. Kearsarge lakes and Bullfrog lake stood in their blue beauty, unfrozen. We expected the snow to be mostly gone, but not completely.

The wind was blowing heavily, so our stay atop the pass was short. Thankfully the heavy wind also blew most of the smoke from the nearby fire away from us, and we had relatively clean air to breath, albeit thin. We dropped down from the pass, only to begin an ascent up our next pass, Glen Pass.

Glen Pass stands at 11,978 feet, the last thousand feet gained over a rough mile. We climbed slowly, frequently taking breathers. By the time we reached the top, the wind had died down. Our energy levels also dropped. Shooting for four miles past the pass for lunch, we only made two. We stopped on a large land bridge between the Rae Lakes and ate our lunch in the afternoon sun. It is so nice to be back in dry air, where lunch is enjoyed rather than inhaled between cold wet shivers.

We continued our descent down towards Woods Creek, where we realized our speed today was less than desirable. We may need to add an extra day of travel to this leg, if we don't pick up our pace. It is very likely that we were slowed greatly today due to the fact that we went over two passes, both nearly 12,000 feet. It is, however, more likely that we are still acclimating.

On the agenda for tomorrow is two passes that are both over 12,000 feet. We will wake early and make the near 4000 foot climb to the top of Pinchot Pass, and hopefully have enough time left over to go down the other side and up and over the next pass, Mather Pass.


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