Today was “big canyon” day, and it was pretty brutal. The trail and the terrain threw everything they had at us and by the end of the day, we were pretty “wore out”! We had to deal with finding trail in the snow, crossing steep snow, long uphills so steep that I could only plod along, trail so rough and rocky that sometimes we had a hard time figuring out which was the trail and which was just rocks, trail that was one long mudhole, trail that was a creek, and increasingly difficult creek crossings. And there were the mosquitoes– clouds of them.

OK, to start, we were up at 5 am, with the idea of “Let’s beat the mossies and try to get big miles!”  But the trail wasted no time in showing who was boss–and it wasn’t us!  Just after we left our campsite, we were into snow that hid the trail and reduced us to wandering around trying to figure out where to go.  When we did locate the right path, that final climb to the top of Benson Pass was so steep that all I could do was plod.  On the other side of the pass, the terrain & trail were so rough and rocky that again, I could not walk fast.  GRRRR!  Frustrating!  

To add to the fun, by our best estimate, besides the repeated multi-thousand foot ascents and descents, at least half the time today the PCT was just one long mudhole that we couldn’t even walk on.  Trying to walk along rough terrain on the EDGE of a trail is tricky!  By noon, we had only done 4.5 miles!  Considering we started at 5:30 am, that’s pretty pathetic! 

But finally we were  down into Kerrick Canyon (it took awhile because of having to climb over snow), and finally we could really HIKE along a nice trail with minimal snow issues.  Kerrick Canyon is a lovely forested valley, and we enjoyed the views as much as the trail.  But finally we came to the ford of Kerrick Creek.   Scaaaary! I had to go behind Bill, holding on to his pack.  It was a much more difficult crossing than Return Creek! 

 Then came another huge, steep climb up (I cheered myself by looking at the lovely wildflowers along the way) and another long downhill to Stubblefield Creek.  Partway down into the canyon, a roaring river basically took over the trail and we stood there wondering how to proceed.  It was not a “normal ford”, but a situation where we were on a steep mountainside and the trail itself had become a roaring cascade.  But we tackled it and got through.  Whew! 

At the canyon bottom, though, we faced our worst ford yet–Stubblefield Creek.  The guidebook described it as “wide and placid”. Wide it was, but not very placid.  It was moving right along and deep (waistdeep on me, as it turned out).  When we were standing on the near bank making plans for where and how to cross, though, it didn’t look TOO bad, so Bill and I crossed side by side, with Bill in the lead.  When we were about 3/4 of the way across, Bill shouted, “I’m losing it, Monty!   Don’t count on me for help!”   Sure enough, the creek was starting to push him backwards.  All I could do was say, “Oh Lord, please help me!” and continue to “move one thing at a time” (trek pole or foot), fighting to stay upright and not be knocked over.  What a relief when we made the other side!  By this time, it was 7 pm, and we were exhausted.  We sort of staggered up from the river, soaking wet, and walked to a nearby lovely grove of trees, saying, “That’s it!  We’ll just camp here!  And wow, what a blessing!  There were lots of nice, dry, flat campsites!                                                

 Too cold, wet and tired to set up the net tent, all we could do was get out of our wet things ASAP  (the mosquitoes were swarming us)  throw on dry sleeping clothes, burrow into our sleeping bags with headnets draped over them, and call it a day!  But hallelujah!   Stubblefield was our last big creek crossing, AND tomorrow, hopefully, we will be OUT of Yosemite with its awful trails.  I am so glad that we did the PCT in 2005, because that’s when I discovered that the minute you leave Yosemite National Park, the trails become very nice.  I am SO looking forward to those trails!

Walk to Rauros:  Bare winter trees on both sides of river

I never thought I’d be able to get up at 5am and start hiking, because I was so exhausted from yesterday, but the realization that “I can get rid of the bear can at Echo Lake!” was a HUGE motivator!  The sky was full of little puffy clouds, moving fast.  “I wonder what kind of weather we’re in for today?”  I wondered.  It wasn’t a cold morning–only 50 degrees, which is “warm” for this altitude!

I love walking the PCT around Tuolemne Meadows, because my family used to camp, fish and walk here for a week every August. As we followed the trail through the meadows, across some more creeks, and over the vast sheets of glistening granite, I enjoyed the views of what I call “the Tuolemne Meadows icons” like Lembert Dome, Cathedral Peak, etc.  The farther we got from Tioga Pass, though, the worse the mosquitoes got, till we had to put on our headnets just to hike in peace.

We reached the bridge over the Tuolemne River, where the placid waters start their whitewater plunge steeply down into the Grand Canyon of the Tuolemne.  Several hikers were lounging at the bridge, and as we began the descent into the Canyon, we met quite a few more.  They were all so clean!  I’m afraid at this point on the PCT, our own clothes look pretty grungy, even though we wash them every time we’re at a resupply.  All the hikers were “heading home” from overnight camping at Glen Aulin.

The PCT turned off and began to climb up along Cold Canyon creek.  The trail was actually DRY!  Wowee!  No mud!  We were making good time, but I was dreading the crossing of Return Creek, a notoriously “dangerous” ford up ahead.  Along the way, we caught up with a sweet old guy out backpacking with a TON of photographic equipment.  He was very cheerful about the weight he was carrying.  I was impressed!  We stopped for lunch just before Return Creek.  A little bit more hiking, and we could hear the roar of Return Creek just ahead.  I was praying silently, “Please, Lord, help me get across OK”.  Well, not to worry!  One look at it, and I said, “Bear Creek was a lot worse! I  can cross this, no problem!”  So I crossed Return all by myself, and cheered when I made i to the other side!

 A long uphill climb through slowly increasing patchy snow and several more creek crossings brought us to pretty Miller Lake with a sandy beach. Nice! A bit more up, and we were at the spectacular dropoff of Matterhorn Canyon. To me the Canyon looks like scaled-down Yosemite Valley.  Beautiful!

A lot of switchbacks (and snow travel too) and we were at the canyon bottom. It’s a nice long walk along the valley floor, with plenty of time to savor the spectacular views, and plenty of tributary creek crossings. Oh, for just one day of dry shoes, socks and pants!

After eating supper with a lovely view of Matterhorn Creek and the canyon, we tackled the long climb up to Benson Pass.  The PCT follows a very pretty, cascading creek lined with green grass and wildflowers.   The trail tread crisscrosses the creek several times, and we ended up camping just before the last ford of the creek, where the PCT turns for its final climb up to Benson Pass.  There were plenty of mosquitoes around, but we were too tired to do anything but toss down a groundsheet, our sleeping pads and sleeping bags and then collapse.   I wore my hat and mosquito headnet to bed, hoping that would more or less protect me from those “mossies!”   But what a relief to know that Return Creek is behind us!  I know there are more big creek crossings ahead, but Return is the one I dreaded the most.

Walk to Rauros: Bare winter trees on both sides of river

The 20+ miles we did today were tough miles, but we managed to land up in the end at Tuolumne Meadows! We were up ‘n at em at 5:00am, knowing we had TWO snowy passes to cross. First was Island Pass, with its gorgeous views of Banner Peak and Thousand Island Lake. The snow was definitely a factor, but not too bad compared to what we have been through. We never lost the trail for very long.

Then the PCT took us down into an area with a multibranched creek, and we got totally messed up. Wel missed a turn of the official PCT, and unknowingly headed off on some other trail that eventually just petered out in the woods.  We tried to go back and find the PCT again, which involved a lot of creek crossings, and no luck in locating any trail.  Bill finally said, “Forget this!  Let’s just go for it.  We’ll go straight up and get to Donohue Pass somehow.”  So we just headed off through the woods and uphill.  Eventually we came to a very rocky area, and oh joy!   There was the trail again!   (I think Bill may have been a little disappointed, though.  He sort of likes bushwhacking adventures!) 

The rest of the climb up to Donohue Pass was a rerun of what we’d been through before–watching for bits of trail appearing out of the snow, and heading for them.  When in doubt, oh well–just head for the top of the pass.  One really nice thing was that Donohue is not a steep, scary pass like some of the others, and it isn’t rough and rocky.  Instead, it’s huge sheets of smooth granite–very comfortable to walk on.   When we reached the top, we were very amused by a drop box where people could leave their survey forms (not sure where they got them originally) to give their opinion about their trail experience.

As we started down the other side of Donohue, we began to meet more and more JMT’ers–all sorts of folks, both old and young.  Partway down we stopped to cook a hot lunch, but didn’t linger over it, because we were determined to reach Tuolemne Meadows post office before it closed. So once we were across the last “big ford” of the Tuolumne River, Bill took off. I followed as fast as I could.  The trail was very rocky and rough as it headed down into the Tuolemne River valley–which made for slow going (for me), but the flowers (especially the “heather” ) and the views were so beautiful!   Whenever I am anywhere near Tuolemne, I alwasys feel as if I’m “coming home” because my family camped here several times when I was a kid.

Once I made it down the rocky hill, the PCT goes for many miles through green meadows, forests,  and creek crossings.  I very much wished it were earlier in the day so that I could linger and walk more slowly to enjoy the beauty,  but instead I pushed along as hard as I could.  A couple of miles before I reached the campground, I was so exhausted that I had to slow down, and by the time I reached the “hiker hangout” by the store, I was totally wasted.  All I could do was just collapse on the ground.  It was 6:15 pm, and it turned out that Bill had only beat me by 40 minutes. 

 However, he did have our box, and he had bought some Odwallas,  so I lay on the ground and slowly sipped an Odwalla till I felt revived enough to tackle sorting the box.   Lots of other thruhikers were doing the same thing–it was fun talking with everybody and seeing what they had in their boxes!  The Disraeli Gear had really interesting stuff–they are from Israel, and their food items were not like ours.  I particularly enjoyed talking to “DoubleCheck”–he’s a very enthusiastic, interesting chap.  Meanwhile, Bill had gone off to find us a place to camp.  His final conclusion was “Let’s just go to the backpacker camp.” 

So with heavy packs (7 days of food to get us to Echo Lake), we strolled over to the backpacker zone.  I was concerned about finding a water faucet where we could fill our platypuses.  I asked several people, but nobody knew anything.  All they could say was, “I guess you could get water at the bathroom.”  At this point, I was so tired that all I wanted to do was collapse, but instead I ended up wandering all over the campground, looking for a faucet.  No luck.  I couldn’t believe it!   Finally, almost ready to cry, I dragged myself back to our camp and voila!   Not too far away, near the campfire circle, I found the faucet!  As soon as I filled the platypuses, I crawled into my sleeping bag, completely wasted.  Bill and I are cowboy camped, and surrounded by lots of JMT’ers in big tents.  I couldn’t believe they were planning to drag those big heavy tents with them!  And they were equally astounded that we only carry a tarp, and only set it up if we HAVE to.

The ranger campfire program nearby was a familiar sound, and it was nice to know that our food was safe in a bear box for the night.   All through the Sierras, Bill and I have been keeping only our “smellier” food in the bear cans (things like Snickers and cheese, etc).  The rest of our food just parks in the food bags as usual, and we sleep with the bags right next to us and trek poles at the ready in case a bear comes around.  We’ve never had a problem, since we never camp near water, nor do we camp where other hikers are.  But still….it was a good feeling to have that nice bear box!   And it is so wonderful to have reached Tuolemne!

Walk to Rauros: Leave the border of Lothlórien and are given gifts from Galadriel

We dawdled around getting organized this morning, and enjoyed the Motel 6 Coffee while we ate a breakfast of leftover this n’ that from our food.  It felt so good to be just resting!  But finally we said, “OK, enough!”, filled the bear cans, loaded our packs, and headed for the trolley to The Village.  It was another clear, beautiful morning.

The trolley driver directed us to the “bike Bus” up to Mammoth Mountain Resort, and soon we were on our way back up the mountain.  The Bike Bus pulls a long trailer, which was loaded full of all kinds of bikes–everything from kid’s bikes to dad bikes, to crazy mountainbiker bikes.  Two of those “crazy mountainbikers” were sitting right behind us, looking very impressive in their black and silver protective gear.  Never mind the gear–the guys themselves looked pretty fearless!  After some of the video footage I’ve seen of mountainbiker stunts, all I can say is, “I hope they get home in one piece!”

Mammoth Mountain Resort was now totally converted from skiing to mountainbiking, and there were hordes of people everywhere. We had to wait a half hour for the next bus to Red’s Meadow, where we stopped off at the store for one last snack (ice cream and Odwalla) and chatted with thruhikers who’d just come in off the trail, notably Chocolate Bandido.

We met lots of folks hiking, riding and fishing. At Agnew Meadows there were a lot of CCC vehicles, including a couple of trailers full of very antsy mules who were making quite a racket, kicking and fussing.  “Hey, looky that!”  I said.  “Maybe there’s a trail project up ahead–I hope we get to see it!”  

After Agnew Meadows we began the long, gradual climb that took the rest of the day. The “flower gardens” at the springs on the High Trail section were gorgeous, and so were the views of the rugged snowy mountains on the other side of the canyon, where the JMT is.   Butterflies were everywhere.  Along the way, at an awesome overlook just off the trail, we caught up with “Dude” and “Trouble.”  We hadn’t seen them since Guffy Campground, before Mt. Baden-Powell!  All of us were oohing and ahhing over the stunning view of Shadow Lake across the canyon, with its backdrop of jagged, snowy peaks.  Trouble offered to take our picture, and we were glad to accept!

We stopped for supper (bagels & cream cheese!!) at the top of a long set of downhill switchbacks.  An aspen grove nearby was literally shimmering green–very pretty!  The trail itself in this area is mostly pumice–the kind that floats if you put it in water–so it felt (and sounded) as if we were hiking on potato chips.  By 7 pm, we were at Badger Lakes, but didn’t want to camp there–WAY too many mosquitoes!  So we kept on going till the trail climbed up higher again, out of the “mossie zone”.  But finding a dry place to camp was hard.  There were so many snowdrifts and snowmelts.  We finally found a dry spot and could cowboy camp.   Hooray!   We are hoping to reach Tuolemne Meadows by tomorrow, but with TWO snowy passes to cross first, well, we’ll see.

Walk to Lórien: Reach the city of Caras Galadan in Lothlórien

We “slept in” till 6:15 this morning. The sky was clear and blue— nice to see after yesterday afternoon’s dark gray clouds that dripped a bit. Looks like the Sierras are going into their normal summer pattern of clear sky each morning and cloud buildup in the afternoon. We packed up and headed for the Red’s Meadow cafe to have some coffee and wait for the bus to Mammoth. “Just Paul” and Eric were there, too— we enjoyed one last chat.

On the ride to Mammoth, a whole bunch of Boy Scouts and leaders got aboard. They were very excited and interested in what we are doing, and gave us a ride from the bus stop at the ski resort into town. We love Boy Scouts! They do a wonderful job of getting kids into backpacking.

Next on our agenda was breakfast at the Base Camp Cafe, a room at Motel 6, our resupply box and shopping for food. Getting around town in Mammoth is really easy, with a free trolley every 20 minutes. It’s a really pretty place with dramatic Sierra backdrop, tasteful buildings that “blend in” without the usual garishness of tourist towns, and best of all, gardens in bloom. I noticed that most of the garden plants are perennials— I guess they best handle a snowy winter.

Bill and I needed this zero day— we were so tired, and we both have lost an awful lot of weight. I don’t have much “padding” left on me. Hope that good food and a day of rest will help. I was worried about taking a whole day off, since we are only 1/3 done with the PCT, but Bill was very firm— “we need this rest!” he said, and I realized he was right.

Walk to Lórien: The hill of Cerin Amroth