The songs they sang at the ranger campfire last night had a great “lullaby effect”–we slept like logs!  When the alarm went off, we woke up to a VERY cold morning (30 degrees). When I was a kid and we camped here, we used to build a campfire in the MORNING because Tuolemne Meadows is so cold.  I guess it hasn’t changed.   My brother and I used to get the fire going nicely and then make a 3-course breakfast for ourselves: hot chocolate first, then bacon sandwiches (bacon cooked over the fire), then pancakes (also cooked over the fire; it gives them a sort of smoky flavor!!)  The rest of the family never got up till WAY later, and I think they had cereal or something; I don’t know, because my brother and I at that point were usually down messing around in the Tuolemne River.

Well, mornings are STILL cold in Tuolemne!  As we walked out of the campground, I noticed that cars parked in the open had ice all over their windshields.  Brrrr! As we hurried along, trying to get warm, I took a few pictures of the familliar sights i remembered from when I was younger.  When the sun finally made it up over the mountains, we found a “sunpatch” down by the Tuolemne River where we could eat a quick breakfast.  It was still so cold that even the sunlight didn’t feel warm yet.  On we went, still “wearing our woolies”, till we came to another place on the PCT that brought back memories for me–a stretch of trail that’s just acres of granite.  “Dad,” I remember asking, “how do we know where the trail goes?”  “Just follow the ducks.”  “What are ducks?”  “A stack of rocks.”  And there they still were–ducks to guide us across the granite! 

Finally we came to the most special place of all–the bridge over the Tuolemne where the river begins to plunge into the Grand Canyon of the Tuolemne.  It was at this very bridge that I first heard of the “crazy but cool” idea of going from Mexico to Canada in one season.  I NEVER ever dreamed then that I myself would do it.  Wow!  My family never walked any farther along the trail than this bridge, because at that point we’d stop and go fishing for quite awhile before returning to the campground.  So once Bill and I crossed the bridge and headed onward, I was in “unknown territory”.  The trail at first follows the roaring, cascading Tuolemne, and goes past Glen Aulin High Sierra Camp.  Then the river “took off” downcanyon, and the PCT began to wander peacefully through a “forest park” that eventually opened out into a large, long meadow that reminded me of a small scale Tuolemne Meadows.  It was beautiful, and the trail was easy–no rocks!  We met some PCT SOBOs who were headed for Kennedy Meadows.  They told us, “Don’t worry, once you get past Sonora Pass, the going is WAY easier!”  Encouraging news, that!

Then it ws up, up, up through forest to a crest, and as we were going down the other side, we met a lady park ranger in what seems to be the official backcountry uniform, which includes shorts instead of trousers, plus the carrying of a shovel.  She was polite, but firm, and insisted on SEEING our thruhiker permit and our bear cans.  I guess we passed the test OK–she complimented us on how far we’d come, and left.  Whew!  We heard that the only place on the whole PCT where you are GUARANTEED to meet a ranger is Yosemite.  No kidding.  That made two of them so far!

Our lunchtime goal was Return Creek, about which we’d heard many horror stories, but hoped that since it was late August, it wouldn’t be too bad.  Weeeeelllll, it was still an impressive bit of water!  The current is so strong that it has actually sculptured the rocks in the river and along the shore.  I was a bit nervous about crossing it (the procedure involved some big boulders), but with Bill’s help, all went well.  I always stop once we are safely over these nasty river crossings, and thank God for helping me be brave, and for helping us to make it safely.

Next was a 1,000 foot climb up over a ridge, and then down to beautiful Miller Lake.  Wow! It had TWO sandy beaches, clear water, and a lovely setting.  If we weren’t thruhikers, we would SO have stopped there!  Another climb, and we met another SOBO, Twisted Sister, who was headed for Walker Pass.  All of these folks basically did the same thing–hiked as close to the Sierras as they could back in May/June, then flipped up to Canada, and are now heading back to their various “finish lines.”  Again came the assurance, “Once you get past Sonora Pass, the trail is eeeasy.”  

Shortly after we met Twisted Sister, we found ourselves at the begining of “BIG canyon coutnry.”  We knew that for the next few days, we’d be going multi-thousands of feet up and down, beginning with a 1,100 foot DOWN into the Matterhorn Canyon.  What a canyon!  It is just like Yosemite Valley, only on a smaller scale, and minus the waterfalls.  We got water and ate supper there and just soaked up the gorgeous views.  Then it was time for the last project of the day–to reach Wilson Canyon and follow it up toward Benson Pass.  Wilson Creek, running down the canyon, turned out to be very pretty, with lots of wildflowers.  

We camped for the night just beyond the last ford of the creek, where the trail began its final switchbacks up to the pass.  We could have gone farther, but not knowing whether there would be any good campsites beyond the pass made us decide to stop there.  And, we were VERY tired from carrying packs loaded down with a heavy load of food.  A stretch of 5 days worth of food is not bad, but man, once we have to go for 6,7, or 8 days, the packs are horribly heavy.  Oh well,  every day the food bags grow lighter, and  we were very glad to be on our way towards Sonora Pass and easier going! 

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.