Tuolumne Meadows Archives - My New Life on the Trail

Day 24, Sunday, July 25. Red’s Meadow, TM 1746.9–(9.2 miles)

My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.

Even though it’s a town day, we managed to sleep a bit later than usual. The thought of a shower should have caused Bunny to awake before 6, but yesterday must have taken its toll. She slept until 7. Even with her coffee ready and at the proper temperature, I knew I was taking a risk when I shook her awake.

I took the precaution of getting out of the tent as quickly as possible. I had my morning chores to attend to: packing, filtering water, taking down the tent, and the most important of all, my constitutional. Just as I had filtered the water and was getting ready to head out to empty my guns, another ranger (that’s the 4th in 3 days) walked by the camp. I was already approaching the waning moments of my window, so I wrote today off. We talked to the ranger for about 15 minutes before she moved on. I was done for, so I took down the tent and was ready when the rest of the crew was prepared to move on.

Horse corral next to trail, aka “marmot buffet”

The trail was downhill and it was a town day, so I took the lead. It’s the one day I can hike fast enough to stay ahead. Not even a mile into our morning hike and we came to a parking lot with pit latrines. I thought I might give it another try. It turns out, my window was only mostly closed. When it’s mostly closed, that means it’s slightly open. All I had to do was find out what was so important that I had to open the window again. I yelled into my pants, “Hey, what’s so important that you need to reopen the window?” Softly came the reply “to shart.” “That hardly seems worthy of reopening the window” I replied. “LIAR!” Sassy screamed.

One’s definition of beauty changes based upon immediate needs

It was then that Bunny knocked on the door and said “stay focused!” I must have been acting the scene out loud. I did manage to get a finger or two in the crack (metaphorically, no fingers left the light of day) and heave open the window. I was afraid I might have burst a blood vessel in my eye with the effort it took, but I did manage to fulfill my mornings’ dream and relieve a bit of intestinal pressure. When I came out, Sassy asked how I managed to stay in there as long as I did when it smelled so bad. I hadn’t noticed any smell until AFTER I made my contribution to the pool.

The rest of the hike in was a blurr. Literally. I was feeling so good and moving so fast that I generated my own wind whirls. The only time I remember stopping was around Devils Postpile National Monument. All I can say is the Devil gets a lot of credit for creating interesting features around the country. Just in Southern Illinois, there’s Devils Smokestack, Devils Icebox, and Devils Food Cake.

Bunny and I have seen a similar feature to Devils Postpile when we hiked the Wonderland Trail around Mt Rainier. When a volcano erupts, sometimes, if the lava cools slowly enough, hexagonal columns of basalt are formed through a process called “jointing.” In this case, this formation is less than 100,000 years old (or roughly 15 times older than the earth if one believes the literal interpretation of the bible and refuses vaccinations as Devils Work…there he goes again, getting more credit). Glaciers came through the valley last ice age to expose and polish the formation. This formation is many times the size of the columns we saw in Mt Rainier (coincidentally, the Mt Rainier hexagons were adjacent to one of the most interesting pit latrines on the trail…it’s interesting how everything ties together through poop). I would put the formation at almost 1/4 mile long.

It’s difficult to get the scale, but these columns are more than 60’ tall

From here, we had less than 2 miles to make it to the turn to Red’s Meadow. It was all fine and dandy to see some of the Devil’s handiwork, but I wanted food that didn’t involve boiling water. As close as we all were in hiking formation, and the speed at which our train progressed, I was not alone in that opinion. Bear had researched the bus schedule for Red’s Meadow and knew we needed to get to stop #9 before 3p to avoid an extra 1/4 mile walk to the next bus stop. We made the stop well before 2p.

Our biggest concern was that the sky was starting to cloud up. We weren’t worried about getting caught in another storm. We were worried people out dayhiking might get worried about getting caught in a storm and they would return to the buses early causing us to be delayed getting to town food. No damn dayhiker was getting in our way without a fight (might this be considered a food fight?). Not to worry, we were first in line at the bus stop before a group of 11 other hikers showed up. They weren’t cutting in front of us. We were prepared for all out war. Fortunately, 7 of the group were under 10, so not only would we win hands down. We’d end up with a lot of extra candy if it came to a fight. They saw the fire in our eyes and backed away (or maybe it was the smell from 11 days without a shower).

Bridge over Joaquin River…they take their Batman serious in CA to rename a River after the Joker

A section hiker had already given us a heads up on how the bus system works. We had to catch this bus which took us to the Mammoth Ski Area. The driver would collect $15/each for this ride. Once we got to the ski area, the city ran a free bus service to carry bikers to and from town. Once in town, the city also offers a free trolley service which would take us to our hotel. We made the transition from the first bus to the free bus JIT. Going down to Mammoth, we were about the only ones riding so the driver pointed out things for us. When she dropped us off in town, we realized we were only a few blocks from our hotel, so we walked rather than wait 20 minutes for the free trolley.

Checkin time isn’t until 4. We didn’t care since food was first priority. The closest pizza place was only a block past our hotel. Since we had to pass it, we thought we might see if we could leave our packs there. The hotel was a family owned Indian hotel. We prefer Indian hotels to big chains because they tend to be more friendly and less expensive. This hotel was no exception. They let us into our rooms 2 hours early.

We dropped our packs, washed our feet, changed our shirts, and put on camp shoes before heading to the pizza joint. Bear, Sassy, and Bunny all got Diet Cokes and I got iced tea. Sassy warned the waitress that I drink to excess, so she brought me a pitcher of tea. I finished my tea and pitcher before anyone of them finished a single Diet Coke. In total, I drank 2 pitchers of tea, devoured a salad, and ate my share of pizza before Bunny and I went in search of new pants for me.

The closest outfitter only had 6 pairs of shorts in the store. I tried them all on before settling on a pair. We also got some fuel and a couple of meals. We then figured out how the trolley system worked before heading back to the hotel for the night. We showered before going to bed at our usual time of 7ish. In all that time I still didn’t have to pee. I might have been slightly dehydrated.

EFG

Day 23, Saturday, July 24. TM 1737.7–(15.3 miles)

Goodbye Yosemite, hello Escher

Last night’s campsite was unanimously chosen as the most beautiful spot we have had the entire trip, so far. Nestled in a few trees in a meadow at the base of a snow melt that has grown into a nice pond. The melting snow is strong enough to keep several streams flowing through the basin. The only competition we had for our spots were from a couple of marmots that call this area “home.”

Not a crappy view to wake up to (I’m sure that’s a grammar violation)

It’s just 1.6 miles and 900’ up to the southern boundary of Yosemite. Bunny and I took off a few minutes ahead of Bear and Sassy, but they passed us before we’d even gone 0.7 miles. I was surprised at the number of people that had camped even higher than we had last night. There were some strong winds, on and off, through the early night. I had considered dropping my tent into storm mode, but didn’t have the energy to get up to do it.

I’m prepared in case Bunny falls in (she never does when I have my camera ready)

It was up and over Donahue Pass that we made a disturbing discovery. This is on the scale of having Jeffrey Dahmer as a next door neighbor—“I had no idea he liked to eat young men. He was so quiet.” There were marmots everywhere in the rocks around the pass. We wondered what they ate to survive. Now we know, and they are not nearly as cute as they once were.

Horses and mule trains regularly go up and over the pass. Don’t forget, the reason the PCT trail grades aren’t bad is because this is supposed to be a “horse friendly” trail. We came around a switchback to see a marmot with a mouthful of fresh horse poop scrambling off the trail. No doubt, he was building a poop-store to entertain desperate marmot women come winter time. Around October, the male marmots get out their bling and try to convince desperate women hanging around dried up horse poop in the trail, “hey baby, I’ve got a huge stash of fresh horse poop in my cave. I’ve got a pinch here in my mouth to prove it. Come on over and we’ll roll in it for a while and then eat your fill.” She’ll get over there just as the snow falls. It’s all very diabolical and predictable. “Baby it’s cold outside.” “I really should go” “Baby I’ve got horse poop” You know the rest.

At Donahue Pass, we leave Yosemite and enter Ansel Adams Wilderness, but it feels more like Escher Wilderness. We just keep walking down rocks that seem to go round and round. We never make any progress. After 4 turns, we’re right back to where we started.

Yosemite, it’s been fun, but we are moving on

By the time we made it over the pass and down to a small patch of shade, we were already beat. All 4 of us said our packs felt heavier. What a difference a 1000 calorie burrito makes for breakfast. We sat in the shade and nibbled on our snacks while the marmots did the same with all the horse poop in the trail. (They almost make me like cats.)

Someone is always wanting something from us. In this case, she’s searching for a fresh, moist, salt-lick

We ended up going over 2 passes (Donahue and Island) today. Not because we want to make miles, but we want showers. It’s will be 11 days since our last showers by the time we make it to Mammoth Lake. We can’t afford even one more day before we start getting confused with mountain goats coming down the trail. (I’m meaning the Royal “We.” In reality, Bunny, Bear, and Sassy are quite gamey. I smell more like like roses. Granted, the roses might have died a few weeks ago and been left to soak in the vase, but, a rose is a rose.)

Bunny and I have been dragging all afternoon. Since we had a moderate climb after a water break, we asked a nobo JMT hiker to have a long conversation with Bear and Sassy to slow them down. That way, we might actually make it to the top of a climb first for a change. (Yes, it’s not a race, but I hate coming in last all the time.) They caught us right at the top. The deadbeat didn’t engage them. No wonder we consider every hiker who passes as “dead to us.” They can’t even do us a simple little favor.

Down hill rock walking is still rock walking

Thousand Island Lake was really good looking, but most of the “islands” were just rocks sticking out above the water. Whatever happened to truth in advertising. I suppose “6 Decent and 72 Little Islands with a bunch of Rocks Lake” doesn’t have the same romantic appeal. It also wouldn’t make a good salad dressing name. We got water out of the lake overflow. It was a good thing we did because that was the last water we saw for a while.

Salad Dressing Lake aka 1000 Island Lake

After passing the lake, we met very enthusiastic female ranger, and her dog who was ambivalent, who asked about our permits. By permit, we are actually only on our 15th day. If she were to do the math, we would have to be averaging almost 20 miles/day to actually be here. The rangers that stopped us in Yosemite hadn’t looked too closely at our permits, or bodies, to realize that wasn’t even a remote possibility to be true. Rather than go into our “factionalized” account of the trail, I said, “We just showed them to a couple rangers coming out of Tuolumne. They’re buried in my pack. I’ll get them if you really want me to.” That satisfied her needs enough to let us go. She was busy moving the “Marmot Buffet” off the trail, i.e. shoveling horse shit and didn’t want to sanitize her hands to check our credentials.

Now, the race was on. We had a long roller coaster section of trail on the side of a mountain and a storm was trying to catch us. It took us over 3 miles of fast hiking where the rain started spitting on us, but we managed to outrun the it. Looking back, we could see Thousand Island Lake was getting the full force of the rain and storm, but we had dropped down in elevation and rounded the mountain to the point that we were free of it.

We found a camp that was just large enough to hold our tents and adrenaline drained bodies. The water source was a little over a tenth of a mile ahead. Bear and I got water while the ladies nest built. The flies in camp were bad enough that we decided to eat in our tents. Bunny heard pecking outside of our tent. Bears don’t generally knock, so I wasn’t too concerned. Looking around, we saw a woodpecker in the tree next to us. It was a fairly peaceful night punctuated with lots of groans and moans coming from both tents. This had been one of our longest days of hiking.

EFG

Day 22, Friday, July 23. Lyell Fork, YNP, TM 1722.4–(11.3 miles)

It was agreed that we would not leave Tuolumne Meadows until after the store was open. Even though the store, Post Office, and grille are very hiker friendly when they are in operation, they don’t have hiker friendly hours…at least for most hikers. We don’t mind sleeping in. The store doesn’t open until 9, but, they have a charging station and fresh brewed coffee. They don’t really have breakfast fare, so I made due with a beef, bean, and cheese burrito. 940 calories goes a long way on a level trail. Bear had a beef pie. Bunny and Sassy both ate conservatively—protein bars (no imagination).

It turns out coffee and oatmeal might not be the most effective laxative. To save time, I had made use of the porcelain in the campground before the store opened, but the burrito/coffee combination proved to be potent and immediate. It was a very pleasant and enjoyable morning (the leisurely pace, not the double barrel, but that wasn’t all bad either). We headed out at 10:30.

Hard to believe Yosemite Valley was so dry with all this water

This was a pleasurable hike out. It was level for nearly 10 miles. The minute we turned on the trail, we saw another black tail doe with two fawns. They were so small, at first I thought it was a little dog running across the trail. We could see all three running, but if we hadn’t seen them enter the trees, we wouldn’t have been able to spot them. They blended In so well.

We’ve seen ground squirrels, prairie dogs, marmots, chipmunks, mule deer, black tail deer, hawks, snakes, all the usual suspects, but we still haven’t seen a bear. We’ve been out for almost 225 miles in the Sierra and are required to carry bear canisters. We’d like to see at least one (at a distance). When we’re out camping on the trail, I don’t worry about encountering them in camp. They are pretty timid. If they see something different than they expect, i.e, a tent, they usually avoid it. It’s when we get in large group settings that I get worried. While in Tuolumne Meadows, we made use of the bear boxes both nights.

There are many comments in Guthook that rangers are checking permits and bear canisters. We encountered several rangers in and around camp, but no one ever asked for anything. We just assumed that since the bubble has passed and the 4th of July holiday is old news, no one cared any more. In 4 years of hiking long trails, we’ve only been asked for permits twice and actually had to produce it once. Today, right after the junction of the John Muir Trail and the PCT, there were two volunteer rangers checking for permits and canisters. They didn’t look at them too close, because, if they did, we would have to be averaging 34 miles/day to be legal. In reality, we started a few days early and about 120 miles south of where we were supposed to. We will make up those miles after we get to Walker Pass. It’s all Bear’s fault for having to get off trail early to teach a college class for a new program he has created.

The walking was easy for 10 miles, so I had plenty of time for my mind to wander. This year is my 40th high school reunion. I won’t be attending as I had few friends who went to my school. I hung out with a few guys that were 3 years older than me. Just before we headed out here, I got together with a couple of friends that I had in high school and all the way back to 4th grade. It was great to catch up with Todd and Kevin. I doubt if more than 10 people from my class even remember me (I am Easily Forgotten for a reason).

The reason I’m bringing this up is because last year when we were hiking the Tahoe Rim Trail, Todd told me my best friend from grade school, Joe, had committed suicide. From 1st to 8th grade, we were almost inseparable. The summer between 8th grade and high school, we had a falling out and said nasty things to each other (too much testosterone would be my guess). I always assumed that one day, we would be friends again.

In high school, we didn’t talk at all. His mom died and I didn’t even know about it until a year after. He left our school in senior year. I never tried to make amends or reach out to him even after I found out about his mom’s death. Looking back, Joe was always in great shape. When we had our falling out, he said he’d kick my ass if we crossed paths again. I knew he could, easily, but, deep down, I knew he wouldn’t. Now I think of the few times he tried to reach out to me, and I didn’t recognize it. Like, when he’d sit behind me in church so we’d have to shake hands in the sign of peace.

Multi use area, not the bear we thought at first glance

Joe killed himself almost a quarter century ago and I just found out last year. I contemplated contacting his brother, but I looked him up and he looked happy. I didn’t want to dredge up old pain for him. I just feel such a loss knowing that the best friend I had for 8 years needed help and I wasn’t there for him. He deserved better from me. He deserved batter from life. He was a great guy, maybe a little shy, but he deserved to be happy and live. I can’t make up for letting him down. I can only try to not make the same mistakes again. Hopefully, one day, I’ll get to see Joe again. I don’t really believe in life after death, but if it’s true, I will find him.

Sometimes, easy walking can be a burden. I have time to relive my mistakes instead of enjoying the now. The last 2 miles of today were not of lot of enjoyment, but the struggle kept me in the now. Bunny’s hip bothered her a little today, but what really got her was the heat. We had some steep sections today with grades over 1000’/mile. She tried to go too fast and got overheated. I should have mixed up some more electrolytes for her to drink, but didn’t. I got her to slow down. About half way up the climb, she finally tried my trick of soaking her sun shirt in a creek and putting it on. It cooled her down enough that she handled the last mile without much effort (although she’d say different).

Bear and Sassy found us a gorgeous camping spot below a snow field. We are camped at 10,200’. As soon as the sun went down, it started cooling off fast. With any luck, we’ll finish the climb up Donahue Pass in the morning before it gets hot.

We ran into lots of people today. Tuolumne Meadows is a popular spot. We met a woman who had just retired 2 weeks ago and was out doing a celebratory loop hike with her son and husband. We will be heading to Maine after we finish the PCT to have a similar celebratory hike with Peter and Marcia. They are our oldest hiking friends (meaning the couple we’ve known the longest). Marcia retired just before we started the PCT and we’ve been planning to hike the Hundred Mile Wilderness when/if she ever retired.

Maybe we’ll get into some snow on the pass tomorrow

I’m a little somber today. I do have regrets in my life. I wish I could be a better person. I think of all the great examples I have: My dad is constantly saying he’s had a great life and he’s thankful for all he has. My brother-in-law is one of the few true Christians I have encountered in my life. I wish there were many more like him. I think of how positive Mizman (from the AT) is. I think of Good Chip Norris always being polite and thankful to everyone we met along the way. Bear and Sassy are always happy and positive. I’m lucky to have so many people of quality in my life. I wish I were more deserving of the luck I have.

EFG

Day 21, Thursday, July 22. Yosemite Valley—(Zero Day)

Tourists for a day

If you visit Yellowstone, you have to see Old Faithful. We’ve been in Yosemite for 5 full days and we’ve seen beauty that the average visitor doesn’t even know exists. When we hiked into Tuolumne Meadows yesterday, we missed the idea of Covid because it was so damn crowded. We had to wait in lines for everything. We’ve been in the backcountry where the only waiting we do is for Bear and Sassy to get ready in the morning and Bear and Sassy only wait for us to climb a hill (be it 10’ or 1100’, it’s sad).

Lambert Dome near Tuolumne Meadows—not to be confused with Lambert, home of the thrower rolls

As always when we come into crowds, we can smell the brand of laundry detergent of the people we pass. Thank god Axe seems to be falling out of favor with the twenty-something males. We present a unified single smell to the tourist, a subtle mixture of sweat, dried urine, and the occasional whiff of dead flowers since we forget we can’t fart in public. I’m thinking we’ve all become pretty deft at the clenched cheek SBD (silent but deadly). It’s fun to walk 50’ behind a hiker in a crowd of tourists and suddenly see the crowd disperse. It brings a tear of pride to the eye.

The Yarts bus schedule said there would be a bus to the valley departing at 8:31. I am my grandfather’s grandson. He told me three things as a little kid: 1) more than a mouthful goes to waste (hmm, that may have been part of my dad’s sex talk), 2) always go to the funeral, and 3) if you’re not 20 minutes early, you’re late. Bear suggested we leave the campsite at 8:15. I countered with let’s be at the store by 8. Bunny and I were cold and lonely until they arrived at 8:15. We all got on the same bus.

One of numerable alpine lakes on the way to the valley

It’s an hour and a half ride down to the valley. Not once do we leave the park. This is an amazingly large and beautiful place. It can also be scary driving by a few controlled burns that are active as well as seeing the results of recent, uncontrolled burns. After 7-10 years, the areas begin to look inviting again.

Other than burns, there are amazing alpine lakes with sandy beaches, stunning views, more granite domes than I ever knew existed, and then, there’s Yosemite Valley. We were expecting crowds: they were there. We were expecting high prices: check. We hoped for cell service and/or WiFi: got it. We thought we had seen the best of Yosemite already: hold the phone, we have and haven’t.

We made it, but…the stuff we wanted to do was closed because of Covid and it was over 100F

Yosemite Valley is a 2000’ deep box. The valley floor is pretty flat, level, and square with the walls. Usually a valley has an arced rise up the canyon walls. Not so here. It’s as square as nature can get. About 100 million years ago…wait, let’s go a bit further back, to pre cell phone times. The domes we see now were once lava flows that pushed up thousands of feet but didn’t break the surface. Over time erosion washed away the softer rock and dirt covering the granite domes. Then, 100 million years ago, (I knew I could get us more current) in a huge ice age, glaciers almost a mile deep pushed through the valley pushing all the sediments off of, and fully exposing the domes and valley walls. When the glaciers receded and melted, they left behind 2000’ of sediment that was trapped in the ice. The valley is actually 2000’ deeper than it appears. If we dug out the 2000’ of sediment, we’d have a granite floor that matches the walls we see. Instead, we have Half Dome, El Capitan, and the other formations we all know by sight, but only in their stunted 2000’ form.

The falls are a bit slim in the current drought

That’s really what we wanted to see, the canyon walls and the familiar formations we all know from Ansel Adams. Since we could see the actual items in his pictures, we chose to visit his gallery to see the pictures of what we saw outside so we could say “I just saw that” and not feel obligated to pay $7500 for a picture that isn’t even framed (did I mention we expected high prices?).

After that was accomplished, we had a few more tasks in mind. Mainly snacking followed by eating, followed by dessert, and another bite to tide us over until supper. We might be getting our hiker appetites after a mere 200 miles of hiking.

Once we got off the bus, we needed a snack to tide us over until we could find a meal. The first place we came upon was a coffee shop with a bakery. Cinnamon Rolls and coffee will work for the 20 minutes it takes us to walk to the Ahwahnee Hotel, a grand old hotel near the base of Half Dome. Here, we could have a semi-sit down meal.

Afterwards, we explored the hotel and took advantage of the presence of cell signal to call family we haven’t been able to talk to for almost 2 weeks and make use of WiFi. It was here that we discovered our Good Samaritan act we performed on July 11 was all for naught. I’m talking about the small fire we reported just off of the trail North of Sonora Pass near the rock formation known as the Nipple. What was a little smouldering burn of less than an acre has now grown into a major burn of 40,000 acres with less than 4% containment. The Forest Service opted not to extinguish the fire when we reported it and the storms about a week ago that pinned us down, hailed on us, and scared Bunny, whipped the fire up and allowed it to jump over the ridge. The PCT is still open in the area, but many hikers heading towards it are rightly concerned.

This would be cozy in the snow, not needed in the heat

We tried to go to the visitor center to see a film about Yosemite and some of the history of the area, but it was closed because of Covid. We wanted to have a canyon bus tour, but they were cancelled because of Covid. So we did what we know best, we had ice cream and I had another cheeseburger to hold me over for the hour and a half ride back to Tuolumne Meadows and supper. I think we ingested enough extra calories to cover our deficit for the next 3 days into Mammoth Lakes. To be on the safe side, we won’t leave until after the store opens in the morning and we can get one more high calorie meal…say a giant burrito and coffee.

I’m glad we did the side trip, but I wish it could have been cooler and non-pandemic

EFG

Day 20, Wednesday, July 21. Tuolumne Meadows, YNP, TM 1711.1–(12.7 miles)

Burgers or bust

As agreed, we all got going early. Sassy voluntarily got moving at 6. Bear started loudly clearing his throat around 6:30 to make sure we were awake. To speed things up, I had prepared the coffee, oatmeal, and orange Julius at dinner last night. All I had to do was boil water. Even Bunny could have finished up this morning since she claims all I do is boil water (all done while she sleeps).

Our neighbors were very quiet last night (and far away)…our alarm cough barely came through

All four of us were ready by 10 before 8. Even more amazing was that we were all at the top of the climb at 8. The race was on. Traditionally, (on this trip at least) we haven’t been hitting the trail until 8:45. We usually go about 3 miles before our first break around 10:30. We put in another 3 miles and have lunch around 1:30. That leaves us about 7 to finish the day sometime between 6:30 and 7:30 so we can set up camp before dark. That’s our typical 13 mile day.

8 a and already at the top of our first climb

That’s a problem for us today. We need to get 13 in before 5 if we want to get a hamburger from the grill at Tuolumne Meadows. We had motivation to get up early, but would that be enough to ensure we make it on time to order burgers.

It’s a good thing cows are ahead or these bad boys would be in real danger from the killer bunny

After cresting the hill, we let Bunny lead because she tends to be fastest hiking downhill. We agreed to have a break at 10 to check our progress and make any necessary adjustments. When we stopped at 10, we had 5.2 miles in. We were smoking. Behold the power of beef!

Don’t let that sweet smile fool you, her hips hurting and she’s hungry…BE AFRAID

The next agreed upon stop was Tuolumne Falls which was a total of 7.4 miles from our camp, leaving 5.3 miles with a half mile road walk. We have not eaten a single lunch this trip before 1. We were done with lunch and hiking before noon. Granted, our lunch was quick because we didn’t have much food left. Bunny had a pack of tuna, I had a pack of chicken, and we split a beef stick. Between breakfast, lunch, and snack, Bunny and I could not have had more than 500 calories. We also skipped all electrolytes in our drinks. We were “all in” on the burger and fries. If we ate a week like this on the trail, we would be walking zombies (if we could still walk).

Getting close to our lunch spot on the Tuolumne River

Now we were in the home stretch with less than 6 total miles to go. Our goal was no later than 4, but now we faced some uphill hiking. It was time for the A team to take the lead. Bear took over pole position with me in caboose. Bear had us knock out the climbs in a 4 mile uphill section in about an hour and 45 minutes. This is phenomenal if you know how slow Bunny and I handle inclines.

This is an area not seen by the majority of park visitors

We had less than 2.5 miles which was mostly level to downhill. It was hot. We were wearing sunglasses. Our hoods were up. It’s put up or shut up time. Who do we turn to? Bunny had the lead. Normally Bunny is not too food motivated, but after yesterday’s caloric scare on the first big climb, she was primed for a cheeseburger. In pilot vernacular, Bunny was a dot.

Bear claimed people were jumping off the trail as we passed them and then they would ask Bear “what’s up with the two smelly hikers flying down the trail?” He explained that we were trying to finish the PCT and that we have been out for 3 weeks, and that Bunny was not a vegetarian rabbit. There’s a cow in danger and the rabbit is taking it out. In other words, she’s a killer bunny with huge nasty teeth.

We made it to the grille a bit after 3. We needed to pick up our resupply boxes. We needed to find out about camping. We needed to make reservations for Mammoth Lakes. We needed to repair the bleeding gash Sassy had put in my leg when I slowed down unexpectedly. But all that could wait until we had burgers. Bear and I took our places in line while the lady folk found a picnic table and guarded our food. I ordered cheeseburger combos for us which included potato wedges and UNLIMITED refills on soft drinks. We had won the lottery again.

When we got our food, I was crushed. Our burgers were great. That wasn’t the problem. Bear and Sassy had gotten double burgers and bacon. It was devastating to see them get so much more food. Then Bunny proved why I love her. “If your still hungry, get another burger. Oh, and get me a twist ice cream.” She knows the way to my heart

We lost the trail along here causing a brief food panic

As I was heading back to the line, Bear said “get me a twist as well.” What about Sassy. “She doesn’t want one.” Wiki Task Force, what’s wrong with that woman. Little did I know, we were facing a major crisis. Sassy had ordered a gluten free bun—very good thing. Sassy plus gluten equals bad times for trees along trail. What none of us paid attention to was the potato wedges were breaded. If she gets another gluten exposure this close to the last, she could be out of the game for days.

It’s difficult to feel stress with this view

I came back to the table with the ice cream and Sassy was gone. Bear filled me in on the potato crisis and told me Sassy was in the bathroom. I enquired if she might induce vomiting to get rid of the gluten. “She might. I’ll check on her once I finish my ice cream.” Sassy came back from the bathroom with no obvious signs of recycled food on her clothes. She started reaching for straws. “Maybe they used rice powder in the breading.” Right!

Bear went in to check (once his ice cream was gone—creating an additional crisis by wasting ice cream will not lessen the first crisis). The first answer was they didn’t know what the breading was. The wedges come pre-breaded. Bear got a bit more persuasive and said “we ordered a gluten free bun. We have someone seriously effected by gluten we need to know (or she will paint your grille brown).” The guy went back and cut the ingredients label off a box of fries. I’ll be damned if it wasn’t rice flour and tapioca. Code brown averted!

A throw back shot of the falls from lunch

Now all we had to do was get our resupply boxes and camping worked out. We ran into Train who was with us at Kennedy Meadows. He already had a site and told us what we needed to do to camp. Bear went to find cell signal to call about hotels in the park (no chance!). Bunny and I got our resupply box from the post office. Whoever put it together did a phenomenal job. We have everything we need. (Actually, our Trail Angel, Digit Alice, came through again. She had acquired the majority of food for us, but I put it together and mailed it because she is recovering from hip surgery. This was a group effort.)

We set up camp then returned to the store to buy salads for supper. We sat at a PICNIC TABLE in our camp (high living on the trail) and talked with Train while we ate supper. Bunny called Sarah to find out how her grand baby is doing. The baby is fine but Sarah has major morning sickness and has already declared “one is enough.”

Advanced trail civilization…picnic tables and toilets!

EFG