Through the Thunderstorms

Even though I opted to hike out early, I left camp at 0745. However I was still the first one of out of our group that was camped at Tuolumne. Upon leaving the campsite I ran into Bird-man and Snow-White, cowboy-camping a few sites away from us. They had managed to get a hitch earlier than Photo-op and I yesterday. Because their head-start of out the valley, they had enough time to squeeze in the Clouds Rest hike. I asked them about it, and they told me it had been fairly easy, and the views amazing. It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t have tagged along, ah well…
The sun was shining, and I hiked back to the PCT. Missing out on yesterdays anticipated hiking, I wanted to crank up the mileage, to possibly start catching up to Jukebox and Pops, who are now 2 days ahead. If I could cover 20 miles, after starting at 0745, that’d be a good start.
Apparently there was some sort of trail-running event going on on the PCT, because I ran into several trail-runners wearing similar looking, flashy bright-colored shirts. The trail lead through pine-forests with large slabs of granite here and there, following the Tuolumne River for some time. Before lunchtime, Rocket caught up with me, but I soon hiked on. We ran into each other several times today. I listened to music and a podcast, and tried to make my pack somewhat lighter by eating a lot. The Yosemite store in the valley had lots of variety in their food selection, so once again I brought way too much food, and now wish that I’d taken less. At least I won’t go hungry!
During noon, darker clouds started to appear in the skies, but they seemed pretty far away still. There was one small cloud, very dark, hovering exactly above me, which started to dump all its water just before I wanted to get lunch. This was the first time on trail I got really rained bad; I really needed to put on my rain-jacket and when the rain turned into hail, I decided I’d better wait out the shower. I found some decent shelter underneath a pine-tree and after approximately 30 minutes the worst of it was over. The trail however had now turned into a mudslide, and within 20 minutes of hiking my feet were soaked. The sun started to break through the clouds again, and it was very damp in the woods.

After lunch more dark clouds gathered in the sky, and the sounds of rolling thunder started to echo through the valley, closer and closer. I checked my maps, and I was certain that the trail would soon take a bend, leading us away from the looming dark front, such that we might be able to dodge the worst weather. Through the trees, we could clearly make out that it was raining heavily in the distance. When we approached the river, the trail first lead us 0.3 miles straight into the direction where the clouds seemed darkest. It was raining steadily now. I found a bunch of hikers huddled underneath the trees, sheltering against the rain. It seemed they wanted to wait out the thunderstorm. I felt differently. After the 0.3 miles, the trail would take a sharp turn and lead away from the front. I figured that hiking away from the bad weather would be a better idea than to stay so close to it, with the possibility the storm would drift and by waiting here, we’d be possibly be washed away (into the river). I seemed to be the only one wanting to hike out… That didn’t stop me from quickly packing my tent into my pack (I usually keep it strapped to the outside) and put a steady pace on. Before I found myself in real foul weather, as expected after 0.3 miles, the trail took a turn and now I was hiking away from the front. Challenge averted! I hoped the others would soon decide to follow me.

Sure enough, after fording another river (my feet were already soaking wet from crossing a stream before) I saw Coach approaching. He said the others were now too on their way. As we hiked away from the storm, the trail started to ascend, and soon we were hiking in sunlight again. The others stopped at a small lake along the trail, but I wanted to push on; the 20 miles I’d intended to hike were within reach. I expect the others will set up camp at the lake.
I arrived at my campsite around 1830 with 20 miles on the books. Not a bad effort for a late start. I pitched my tent, ate some food, and am excited to get to bed early, to hike out early again tomorrow. Let’s see if I can get a quicker start than today, and possibly do another big day.

Left the ground, in black and white
And when the plane went down, the colors all around
I know by now, the marching slide
And still I can’t get out, she’s all I think about
Can’t let her go
It’s who you know….