To the Valley

It was a beautiful morning today, and pretty soon after leaving camp we’d be heading up Donahue Pass. All morning I was contemplating what hiking clothes to wear; shorts or long pants, because the mosquito situation (including the countless bites I already have on my legs) had gotten pretty serious again the last few days. I decided to hike out with my long pants over my shorts, but soon I was getting miserable in the heat. I ended up ditching the extra layer shortly after I took off. Bad call. Climbing through the pine-forest, I was completely molested by another vicious swarm. I literally had to run away from my pack, with my long pants in my hands to get to a safe spot before I could cover up my legs again. Some extra exercise; just what I need out here.
Before starting the strenuous stretch up to Donahue Pass, we bumped into John, who we reunited with in Mammoth. It was great to see him out there hiking again, as he was is now doing the JMT south-bound. We had a brief chat, but then each went our separate ways. I sincerely hope he makes for a safe and injure-free journey, and we wished him all the best.
Bird-man had hiked ahead for the climb, and Photo-op, Turtle and I stayed together to tackle the pass. All of us felt sluggish and tired today, and we struggled to get up the mountain-side. Photo-op truthfully told us that we’d just have to stick with it, push on, because once we’d get to the top, all the misery, ache and struggle would disappear into thin air. He was right. But it was a rough grind to the top nonetheless.

On top of Donahue pass we made for a nice and leisurely lunch, enjoying the breeze, it felt great to cool down. There was a nice and shallow pool a couple of yards away, so Photo-op and I laid down in the grass and soaked our feet in the cool water.Oh such bliss. I dozed off and could have stayed there for days. But there was still a very long ways downhill to go. Approximately 10 miles after lunch.

After a pretty grueling steep descent which was rough on the knees and ankles (I still have to get used to my new ‘bigger’ shoes). We dropped into the valley where the terrain significantly leveled out. The final miles would be on mostly flat terrain. We were heading towards Tuolumne Meadows, where if possible we’d try to hitch into Yosemite tonight. Otherwise we’d have to get up early to get there tomorrow morning.
We took a final break some 2 miles before arriving at the campsite in Tuolumne, and chilled along the river-bank, not wanting to get up after getting comfortable on the flat rocks. Chilling out after long miles just feel so good…

When we arrived at Tuolumne Meadows we instantly ran into the store. They sold pretty much everything a hiker could want, and as I was walking around and grabbing a ton of items my hungry stomach desired, I told Bird-man, we had to get out of there asap, or I’d go and spend a small fortune on food. Right after leaving the store, we saw that there was a generously filled hiker-box with food that JMT hikers had left behind. It is very common for JMT hikers to bring way too much food, as we’d already experienced before. There was plenty of good stuff in there so we were pretty amped. Sitting down at the pick-nick tables we enjoyed ice-cream, chocolate chip cookies and chips with salsa. We were joined by a group of teenagers who were finishing up a 27-day wilderness-experience trip in the Sierras. They’d hiked for 20 days and partook in all sorts of other wild-life activities. They invited us to stay with them on their campsite close the store. We gladly tagged along, because we’d learned that the campsites at Yosemite were most likely to be full. The plan has changed to try and hitch out tomorrow. If all goes well, we get to the Yosemite Valley early and get a campsite there. The Half-Dome hike-permit is limited to certain amount of hikers per day, and application for it goes on a first-come-first-served basis. We might not make that in time tomorrow, so then we’ll opt for the day after and do a different hike tomorrow. We’re so excited to get into The Valley.
Yosemite here we come!
She said I cannot tell you why, she said I’m in a rush
There are softer dreams for you to think about now love
Things that you have seen this night that run by that the river’s flow
I can use you if you’re in the flame, I’m a growin’ old

And no this is not the summer dream she said
It’s just the drying of the lawns I want to leave out there

Drying of the Lawns – The Tallest Man on Earth