Mon. August 29         Miles today: 13.1          Total so far: 1,855.5         Sierras Section H  Tuolemne Meadows

Boy, was it windy last night near the top of Donohue Pass!  We really had to burrow into our sleeping bags!  But we were eager to get up & over Donohue and on to Tuolemne, so shivery or not, we had to hit the deck at packup time, as the wind continued to blow. Brrrr!   It was a slow climb up to the summit–the trail is bouldery and rough–but it was spectacular, scenery-wise.  By 6:15 am, we were at the top, and didn’t linger, because the wind was really pushing us around!  On the way down, slowly and carefully picking our way, we enjoyed the great views of Mt. Lyell, Yosemite’s highest mountain.  The wind was still blowing so hard that it was a long time before we were down far enough to get out the fuel bottle which had been travelling inside my jacket next to me, and we had hot mochas to warm us up. 

In the meantime, we’d already had TWO slightly scary crossings of the Lyell Fork of the Tuolemne River.  (The usual tall steppingstones through deep water).  It was a great relief to get to get at least one crossing with a bridge!  Far below in the valley, we could see the river coiling its way through the meadow, but getting down to it was a very tedious business on the steep, rocky trail.  And by now we were thinking, “Hamburgers at the Grill!”  We cheered when we got “down on the flat’ on soft dirt trail, through the meadow by the river and across wide, flat granite slabs and through the forest.  My family used to hike here when I was a kid, so it was sort of like coming home.  I love the wide-open meadows and the spectacular, unique mountains. 

We met wo Korean backpackers, a father and son, who got so excited about what we were doing that they wanted a picture with us!  I guess we are going to be in yet ANOTHER family photo album.  We charged on ahead and finally reached the campground, with its Grill and yes, hamburgers and ice cream and resupply box!  Hurray!  It turned out to be very windy even down by the store, making resupply sorting at the picnic table across from the store a bit of a challenge.  The store is just as I remembered it–all made of canvas.  I got us some treats for supper–fresh tomatoes, foccacia bread and other goodies.

Then we wandered over to the backpacker campground and claimed a spot.  When we opened the bear box, surprise!  Somebody had left some Bass beer behind with a note about “Take this, it’s yours.”  All right!  It was good beer, too! We used it to raise a toast to our coming adventures in Northern Yosemite.  Then we set up our camp, much to the fascination of another backpacker nearby, who came over to inquire about our rather “different” gear. Turned out he was from Washington, DC, and he’s doing the John Muir Trail.  He said that for him, adjusting to the altitude had been tough, but he MUCH preferred altitude problems to having to deal with back East HUMIDITY.   He admired our homemade gear and said he hopes to do the PCT someday.   We had a great conversation, then happily stowed our BIG food bags (7 days supply!) in the bear box and went to bed.  We could hear the singing and goings-on at the ranger campfire nearby, and it was very homey-sounding.  Actually I did almost feel as if I had come home–some of my happiest times as a kid were in this campground.  I can remember when the Tioga Pass Road was a one-way and at times pretty scary drive, but worth it all, just to be here in the beauty of Tuolemne Meadows.  We usually came right about this time of year, too, just before school started up again, only usually we had thunderstorms every afternoon.  Bill and I are blessed–since that horrendous storm before Kennedy Meadows, we’ve had clear and lovely weather.