Sierra Archives - Yeti Hikes

PCT Day 81-82 – Zeros

Yeti — Fri, 14 Jun 2024 17:00:01 +0000

Days 81-82

Start: South Lake Tahoe, CA

Finish: South Lake Tahoe, CA

Daily Mileage: 0

PCT Mile: 1091.2

South Lake Tahoe marks the unofficial end of the Sierra on the PCT. Though from a geologist perspective, it ends further north, it should be the end of the challenging terrain and trail representing the Sierra region, so I will call it the end of the Sierra. Since the trail was taxing on our bodies, Cookie Monster and I took 2 zero days to make sure our bodies fully recovered for the trail ahead. We will be moving faster in the coming days, so want to make sure we are in good shape to do that.

South Lake Tahoe is a decent size city with everything we needed and free camping to boot, so it was an easy place to take some time off. Back to the trail tomorrow.

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PCT Day 80 – Tahoe

Yeti — Fri, 14 Jun 2024 03:00:01 +0000

Day 80

Start: The Nipple

Finish: South Lake Tahoe, CA

Daily Mileage: 20.3

PCT Mile: 1091.2

We had some good miles to get into town today, so we left reasonably early as it was getting light out. Snow speed bumps and then a snowy descent down a north face to start. It will be so nice when the snow is soon gone and don’t have to deal with it anymore.

The descent was uneventful and I was soon onto the next climb, up to Carson Pass. It was nicely snow free, but then towards the top there were some moderate snowfields to cross with good boot track. No big deal, though I did throw on my microspikes since I had them. I’ve barely touched them in the last couple days, and want to send them home soon.

Down from the pass, the trail was much more well trodden, and I soon arrived at a visitors center at the road over Carson Pass. It was before 8, and one of the workers offered me a beer. Why not?

Heading on with good speed to get to town, there was some easy but pretty plain trail over a minor pass and across some meadows. I stopped briefly to take off my shoes for a dry crossing of the Truckee River, and was swarmed by mosquitoes on the other side. I’ve seen a few here and there, but this was the first time that there was a swarm attacking me. I knew the time was coming, and it was nice to enjoy 1,100 miles of trail without them.

Some minor ups and downs and around a lake or two, but nothing too exciting, and with less than 10 miles left to town, I’m not sure I would enjoy even the best trail. Just how it goes.

There were some snowy stretches on the north sides on the way down, just more of the same until it finally disappeared on the final descent. Then out to a trailhead and the road as the temperatures were getting fairly warm.

It took about 10 minutes to get a hitch. There was a road closure on the way to town, and our ride dumped us to turn around and negotiate traffic through the closure to walk it out to Tahoe Valley Campground where they offer free camping to thru-hikers.

There were a number of other hikers here, and we relaxed and grabbed dinner at a Mexican place. Needed more food, so stopped by fast food, went to a brewery and was still hungry, so back to the fast food on the way back. Not much else besides a chill night.

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PCT Day 79 – Nipple

Yeti — Thu, 13 Jun 2024 03:00:01 +0000

Day 79

Start: Ebbetts Pass

Finish: The Nipple

Daily Mileage: 22.9

PCT Mile: 1070.9

Cookie Monster, Nomad, and I got a normal start but soon went our separate paces as per typical. I was out ahead and continued on mostly clear trail through volcanic landscapes.

After more than a couple hundred miles of not a single road crossing the trail, they are now a more regular sight. Shortly after leaving camp, I crossed a paved road, and it wouldn’t be the last for the day. I guess it is to be expected with getting into more regular terrain and out of the high Sierra.

For a couple hours the trail followed beneath volcanic ridges The ridges were sharp and broken and spectacular scenery, and were awesome to travel beneath. Each ridge was unique and had its own formations. The trail was also pretty sedate, allowing me to be looking up instead of at my feet or huffing up a climb. Truly enjoyable hiking!

It had to come to an end though, and there were some ups and downs over minor passes, and snow travel on the north sides. Still in the same terrain, but it allowed less for focusing on the mountains around you.

There were a couple areas with amazing old growth juniper that looked as big as an ancient cedar. They were full trees, and I have never seen juniper like that. They had lost some sprigs which were trampled on the trail letting off that amazing juniper aroma passing underneath them. Quite impressive.

We took an early lunch to regroup for the first challenge of the day. There was a steep snow traverse that had rather mixed reviews on Farout. Getting to it, we did a brief scramble down and around the first snow finger, got back up to the trail, and crossed the second finger. Not too bad. Then we turned the corner and saw it was far from over. The steepest snow chute was ahead, and it was quite a drop if you fell. Cookie Monster and I just sent our ice axes home, so it was down to careful stepping to get across it. I focused only on my feet and ensuring I had good steps kicked in since I couldn’t fall. I made my way across until I stepped onto the trail in front of me and breathed a sigh of relief. Should have had the ice axe on that one. We all got across safely though.

Then we were in for a treat. The trail became quite gentle, almost flat, and almost snow-free. I ramped up my speed and was flying through it, and it was amazing to stretch my legs. We were surrounded by forest and could only catch the occasional views of distant mountains, but that didn’t matter to me. I wanted to fly, and I did.

I kept up a good pace along with Cookie Monster for a couple hours, knocking down the miles. We came across a dirt road where a state worker was just passing in his truck. He said that there were some people set up giving out trail magic a few miles ahead. Now we had even more reason to fly over the trail, the promise of food different than our disgusting normal hiking fare.

We arrived at another paved road crossing, and sure enough, the Hoovers were there with chips, cookies, pop, and hot dogs. And shade and chairs. They had driven all the way from Nebraska to the PCT just to give out trail magic since their son was a triple crowner and they enjoyed doing it. That is quite amazing that they chose to spend their vacation time and all of the travel time just to meet and talk with hikers. Truly a great stop.

But we had more trail to do. We did a long gentle climb up the side of The Nipple, and once we got a view of the top, the reason for the name was quite evident and deserved. We crossed abreast above some lakes and towering above the surrounding landscape for a very enjoyable traverse.

Heading down, Nomad decided to keep hiking to get into town earlier tomorrow, but Cookie Monster and I stopped next to the Lost Lakes, splitting the mileage between today and tomorrow. A cacophony of frogs lulled us to sleep.

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PCT Day 78 – Carson

Yeti — Tue, 11 Jun 2024 17:27:32 +0000

Day 78

Start: East Fork Carson River

Finish: Ebbetts Pass

Daily Mileage: 23.6

PCT Mile: 1048

No rain, no condensation, beautiful night. We cruised downstream in the morning. Dropping elevation there was snow at the start but it soon virtually disappeared and we were left with just normal easy trail to travel. It was beautiful. No struggle or wet feet, just cruising along at top speed. Even when the trail went uphill at a decent grade, I powered right through it with energy from the recent town food or the pleasantness and lack of struggle on the trail; I’m not sure which.

The trail wasn’t anything spectacular or unique. It was mostly treed in with occasional views of the mountains above. Even so, that didn’t matter to me at all, just the ease of cruising right along.

The trail rolled around mountains, not gaining or losing too much elevation. Through meadows, across creeks we didn’t have to wade, just super mellow.

After 3 hours I had done 8.5 miles, nearly my top speed, offset slightly by a little bit of snow.

However, as we continued on, the patches of snow started getting bigger and more frequent. It was good to walk on since it was fairly firm with very few postholes, but it still takes more time and energy.

The terrain changed to be more volcanic with a couple big lava domes on top of mountains, and the general reddish brittle fractured rock look of the rest of the terrain. Mountains alternated between this and the old granite we have been passing through for a while. The land is still in transition.

Later in the day, as the mix of snow and clear trail continued, I climbed to a pass with great views of the surrounding area. The daily afternoon thunderhead was in the distance but not coming towards us, and the wind was blowing to cool me off from the climb. A great spot.

Heading down got to be the most adventurous trail of the day. Down a snow field, across a wet meadow, past a lake, and into jagged volcanic terrain.

We had to traverse across a volcanic mountain, crossing several deep and sharp gullies. Most of them were snow filled, but the gully with the biggest stream was solid snowfield except where we needed to cross the stream. I scrambled up and down a small ravine to cross on a snowbridge, but Nomad took a more adventurous route. We all ended up getting across just fine, but I’m not sure it was worth the effort to keep our feet dry.

Then it was just a small uphill jog to our campsite. I was getting water in a stream just before camp, and my phone slid out of my pocket and straight into the stream. I grabbed it out and dried it off, and it seemed fine. I will keep it on me to make sure it is dry overnight.

Camp is a large flat area at the end of a mountain ridge, nice spot.

I struggled to put together the entry today. Nothing was too special or unique, so it is a bit bland. However, today was much easier than most recent days even despite the snow in the second half of the day. At this point, I will take the pleasant and easier hiking.

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PCT Day 77 – Sonora Pass

Yeti — Tue, 11 Jun 2024 03:00:01 +0000

Day 77

Start: Kennedy Meadows North Resort

Finish: East Fork Carson River

Daily Mileage: 6.3

PCT Mile: 1024.4

Cookie Monster, Nomad, and I took a nero out of Kennedy Meadows North. With shorter days in and out of the campground, we effectively had a day off while being in civilization for only a night. I was good with that length of time rather than taking a zero because the food was already getting old. South Lake Tahoe ahead should be a much better town stop for a zero, and we plan to take one there.

We left on the 2:30 shuttle back up to Sonora Pass and took off up the trail on the mostly snow-free south side of Sonora Peak. The trail wound around a bit and there was snow in the gullies, but the great volcanic rock continued.

Some of the gullies had deeper snow, and one spot had a huge drift that was challenging to get around, but nothing impassable.

We climbed over a couple shoulders of the mountain, crossing into different drainages and hit 10,500 feet. Descending this would be the last time that we are above 10,000 for the entire rest of the trail north. Quite a change after being so high in the Sierra for so long.

The trail descended a valley on the north side of the mountain which was predictably snow covered. Something else that going lower will hopefully eliminate in the near future. Buried trail, so just made our way down and along the Carson River.

Dark clouds were rolling in this afternoon, and there was some thunder and occasional sprinkles around. Approaching camp, there was even lightning and thunder in close proximity. Luckily our planned camp was below treeline, so I quickly setup as soon as I got to our spot, but nothing really came to pass.

We should be getting into some less challenging terrain with less snow and big climbs and tough crossings. We are going to work on ramping up our mileage to get rolling on the trail. It is day 77 now and there is still a bit of trail to go before I’m even half way done. The seasons, future wildfires, and hot weather will drive me forward.

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PCT Day 76 – Kennedy Meadows North

Yeti — Mon, 10 Jun 2024 03:29:40 +0000

Day 76

Start: Kennedy Canyon

Finish: Kennedy Meadows North Resort

Daily Mileage: 10.1

PCT Mile: 1018.1

Cookie Monster, Nomad, and I got an early 4:30 start this morning since we would be crossing a higher area with snow and steep traverses. We were unsure how hard it would be and how long it would take, so we played it safe. We also wanted to get to town for a rest after a week of snow and creek crossings in Yosemite.

We had camped at the base of a high ridge, in sight of the climb up it. Our camp was in a clear patch of earth, but we were straight into snow. The night was fairly warm, but the snow had thankfully hardened overnight, allowing for easy travel; much easier than it had been getting to the campsite.

We headed up to the light of our headlamps on an old jeep road before it disappeared under a sloped snow field. The area had fairly high slope angles, sufficient for an avalanche, but with the snow hard and consolidated it was not a risk right now. However, it would have been a greater risk if we had started up it yesterday afternoon.

The jeep road ran out, and since it was dark, we couldn’t spot the boot path we knew was there. So we began making our own traverse up the slope to where we could next see a spot of trail above us. With the snow in good condition, it was not difficult, and just a touch exposed. Gaining the next stretch of trail we were able to hook up with the boot path and follow it the rest of the way up.

It got light as we were climbing, and as we made the ridge the sun was rising and there was some cloud cover, making for an excellent sight!

We started the traverse of the ridge which was so much different than the rock we had been on previously. This was cracked and brittle volcanic type rock and made for nice treadway. We started on the west side of the ridge which was snow free due to dun exposure, and made for great scenic and easy walking.

Flipping over to the other side of the ridge we had some icy snow slopes, and we had our microspikes on and our ice axes out most of the time as a matter of course. There was good bootpath for the most part, so it was not challenging, just the consequence of a fall was unpleasant at times.

However, the trail continued to be good and scenic, and we made good time along it despite ice gear changeouts.

Nearing the end of the ridge, we had to drop down to Sonora Pass. Usually we are climbing up, but running the high ridge we were way above the pass and road this time. The trail descended the north side of the ridge which was mostly covered with snow.

We definitely made use of or microspikes and ice axes on the way down. At times the path got steep and was a bit exposed even with the traction. We inched our way down and got to a flatter snow slope over a creek. The trail continued to traverse across the mountain, but we had no reason to do that since it looped back and crossed the creek again much further down. There was a great slope down the creek, so we just walked our way straight down that to save time and effort, and it was probably safer than traversing needlessly.

A fun descent, though as we went down the snow began to soften and our creek snow ran out. We bounced around after that but didn’t really try to stay with the trail since it was mostly covered. A lot more postholing, but we made it to the road running through Sonora Pass.

After about 15 minutes, 5 of us managed to cram into a pickup truck with 2 seats with a driver paying some attention to the windy road down. We got dropped off at Kennedy Meadows North Resort which is an off-grid campground offering all the ammenities a hiker needs to rest, fuel, and resupply.

Big meals, showers, laundry, and WiFi use ensued since there had been no signal in the deep mountains for the past week.

We were all really surprised and impressed with the trail today. It was not as difficult as I had expected, and it was amazingly scenic. Also, we had only seen a couple thru-hikers for the entire last week of walking. After we showed up, a steady stream of hikers started arriving. It’s amazing how we can be an hour or two apart and be traveling together so in-sync that we never see each other.

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PCT Day 75 – Dorothy Lake Pass

Yeti — Sun, 09 Jun 2024 03:00:01 +0000

Day 75

Start: Falls Creek

Finish: Kennedy Canyon

Daily Mileage: 16.8

PCT Mile: 1008.0

It was a chilly night and approached freezing for the first time in a few days. Didn’t quite get there since the loads of condensation on our tents wasn’t frozen in the morning, but there was some frost on the early meadows I crossed.

Cookie Monster, Nomad, and I were continuing up Falls Creek to its source at a pass. We had about 7 miles to go and I thought it could take a while judging by the slow travel through the snow and wet yesterday. However, upon starting out the snow speed bumps in the forest were rock hard and easy to walk over. At least the colder temperatures helped in that respect.

I flew through the woods, over snow, swamp, and endless submerged trail paralleling the creek. It was mostly just forest but there were a couple meadows, though not as scenic as some of the recent ones.

Higher up, the forest thinned and the snow and suncups took over. Luckily these were hard too. Still difficult to travel over, but way better than soft suncups.

The trail passed Dorothy Lake before continuing to the pass. The lake was mostly frozen but still very picturesque.

While standing by the lake, I saw a torpedo shoot under the ice, and then an otter popped its head up straight through the ice. I was not at all expecting to see that, and was surprised they would live at an alpine lake like this which is probably frozen 8 or so months of the year. They must hibernate or something. It grabbed a few breaths and shot off under the main ice pack.

Dorothy Lake Pass was only slightly higher than the lake, and an easy walkup. After a break, we started our way down. First through mostly snow and suncups around some lakes and streams, but then amazingly the snow mostly disappeared! We were left with nice easy walking through forests and along creeks, with even a couple bridges thrown our way.

I enjoyed the pleasant walk. There was nothing terribly scenic about it, but it was nice to not have the day just be a sufferfest like a couple others on this stretch of trail.

We took lunch on a granite outcrop which highlighted the differences in terrain we were entering. We left Yosemite National Park at Dorothy Lake Pass, where the mountains transition from granite to volcanic in nature. So much for the granite domes and monoliths, but change is good and it is always nice to get a fresh set of scenery.

We walked through our first of this terrain with reds and blacks and rougher outcrops. Still the easy hiking and we started to ascend to our first new mountains.

The snow came back and it was definitely softer now. We climbed up to the last campsite before the trail traverses a high ridge. We considered taking on the ridge and camping on it, but overall it seemed to make more sense for us to stop short and leave it for tomorrow. There was a soft snow climb on the way up, we weren’t positive there was a dry camp or water up top, and the trail up traversed a slope that could cause soft wet avalanches late in the day like this. It will be there for us tomorrow.

This stretch of trail from Mammoth has been quite the roller coaster between good scenic days and hard challenging days. Luckily it seems cyclic with good days balancing the tougher. Today was definitely a good day.

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PCT Day 74 – Seavey Pass

Yeti — Sat, 08 Jun 2024 03:00:01 +0000

Day 74

Start: Piute Creek

Finish: Falls Creek

Daily Mileage: 17.2

PCT Mile: 991.2

No visits from the bear last night, not that I was expecting any. Got an early start since we had a creek to cross before the water level rose during the day.

We first had to climb to Seavey Pass. The morning light highlighted some of the high peaks in the area which was beautiful. The climb was good and went fairly quickly. There was no snow until near the top where there were some small ice free lakes. The snow was good and hard for the most part, making for easy travel, though some stretches led to frustrating postholing. Soon enough the pass was behind, and I was on the way down to the next challenge.

We flipped over to the north side of a ridge, so it was snowy on the way down and fun to slide and glide down snow slopes and skip the trail. However, that soon changed when I got to Kerrick Creek. The trail started right alongside the creek and seemed to follow a narrow path between the creek and rock walls. With snow added to the mix, there was a sloped surface ending directly in the creek. Thus, the trail went on this steeply sloped snow drift where if you slid or fell, you would end up in the rushing creek.

I definitely put on my microspikes, and should have grabbed my ice axe too in hindsight. There was bootpath on the snow slope which really helped, but I did slide out with a foot a couple times, and postholed awkwardly a couple other times. Not the most comfortable stretch of trail, but I picked my way through it, and was glad when it was done.

There was still more snow to traverse going down the valley, but it was easy in comparison until I dropped enough elevation that it disappeared.

I got to the trail creek crossing and scoped it out before Cookie Monster and Nomad caught up. Kerrick (Rancheria) Creek is supposed to be one of those dangerous Yosemite creek crossings. The crossing at the trail did look more than waist deep and swift, and I would not want to cross it. However, the creek braided out into 3 parallel streams just upstream, and these turned out to be knee deep. In the end it was not a challenging crossing, and it went very well.

Up and over a minor pass with a snow descent on the backside and we were in Stubblefield Canyon, which surprise, surprise had its own creek crossing. This one looked deep and swift, but there was a fallen tree bridging the river right next to the trail. However, the first part of the tree was slightly underwater. The obvious path was to cross the tree because I didn’t immediately see a good ford. I crept out on the tree and the start of the crossing was slippery due to the water, and then my shoes were wet for the rest of the tree crossing. Even though the tree was a good size for crossing, I felt unstable the whole traverse because my shoes were wet and the tree smooth. I was very glad to be off the tree and on the opposite bank.

Again after crossing this stream we had a climb up and over another minor pass and down in snow. The descent was drawn out with a couple creek crossings and tons of snow traverse, and was not the most exciting thing in the world. The trail eventually got to Wilma Lake, and the trail went literally under the water, hugging what must be shoreline in the summer. A good bit underwater. Obviously that wasn’t going to work for us, and we were left with making our own way along the lake. The shore was steep and covered with snow, leading to tiring rapid ups and downs to make horizontal progress through the tight trees. It was very slow, but I was glad when I popped out at a campsite at the end of it.

We forded the outlet to the lake on submerged trail and soon arrived at Falls Creek, which, you guessed it, we needed to ford as well.

Falls Creek was pretty massive, wide and deep. The trail crossing looked like the best option, and we made it across the waist deep water.

The trail headed upstream the creek to its source, and we made it a bit through the piles of snow, bog where there wasn’t snow, and across the creeks that came down into the valley. Basically it ensured we spent the rest of the day with our feet wet.

We stopped when we had made enough progress for the day at one of the few dry spots along the trail. Dried out our stuff so it can be rewet tomorrow morning and planned out our next couple days to town.

There was a lot of elevation gain today, 4,500 feet. That doesn’t consider the snow travel and all of the creek crossings though which added much difficulty. Many challenges today, and yet we were mostly buried in forest with few clear views of the terrain we were traveling through. Not my favorite day of hiking, but part of the trail all the same.

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PCT Day 73 – River Crossings

Yeti — Fri, 07 Jun 2024 03:00:01 +0000

Day 73

Start: Return Creek

Finish: Piute Creek

Daily Mileage: 16.8

PCT Mile: 974

This morning started with the creek crossings we had put off from last night. We started at 6:30, and went straight into the snowmelt creeks. At least it wasn’t too cold in the morning.

The first creek crossing, McCabe, was about knee height, and not bad.

The second, Return Creek, is supposed to be the most challenging crossing in Yosemite. Since we had waited for morning, the water level was lower and it only came up to mid thigh for me. Still, the water was running fast so there was a good pull from it, but nothing I couldn’t handle.

Then we had to get moving since we were soaked, but there was an uphill waiting to oblige. That worked until the next creek crossing a mile later. Straight out of that into a snowy climb, but the snow was relatively firm and it was a good climb.

I arrived at Miller Lake which was actually not frozen for once and offered a great mirrored reflection of the mountains around it. Quite impressive.

The trail then had a nice steep descent, but it was mostly snow covered, obscuring the switchbacks. The snow was soft, and though it was pretty steep, it was easy to descend just cruising down on my heels. That can actually be easier than walking down, but just for the snow slopes. It’s still more work to navigate and get through the weaker snow between nice sloped sections.

The trail kicked out at Matterhorn Creek with another knee deep crossing and meadow walking, but it was hard to see much above the trees in the meadows. The whole area was flooded with snowmelt including the trail which is pretty typical. I have been jokingly calling it the Pacific Crest River. Well, today I actually saw a good sized fish swimming straight down the Pacific Crest River.

However, easy trail must come to an end, and we had a climb up to Benson Pass. It started easy enough on nice dry trail despite some more creek crossings, but soon the snow came. The really soft stuff. It wasn’t too bad walking up the creek we were following, but once the trail turned to head up to the pass proper, it was snow almost the whole way. And the snow was very soft. Most of the time a step would only sink in a few inches, but I postholed to my knees entirely too many times which made the climb a very slow slog. It was also suncupped to add to the joy. I had to take rests every few steps just from the energy used to move upwards. It was quite miserable and reminded me of Donohoe Pass a couple days ago. At least it wasn’t nearly as long though.

Finally reaching the summit, I definitely needed a break and found a bare rock to lighten my load. The Pacific Crest River was running reliably as always to refill my water bottle. I regained my composure and started down the dry trail on the other side of the pass.

But obviously, the dry trail only lasted so long and then it was back to exceptionally soft snow to slog through. Even going downhill and flat to the next lake it took considerable effort and after only another 2 miles I needed another break. However, the partially melted lake was as good of a spot as any.

Cookie Monster caught up and we stayed in the vicinity for the rest of the day. Descending from the lake, the trail made a big weird U turn, going way out of its way across a north facing snowy slope for no apparent reason. It circled back in a mile and a half just below where we were. Below us, it looked like it was just easy slab that we could walk down, so we opted to skip the likely snow traverse and navigate our way down the slabs.

The slabs were good and we could walk straight down them for the most part, while also using many ramps as switchbacks. Just the type of route-finding that I love.

Towards the bottom of the descent, snow picked up, and in the final stretches there was a small cliff. I could see two ways down, either a wet ledge drop, or cutting over a steeply cascading river back to the trail. The ledge drop didn’t look too inviting, and Cookie Monster found a snowbridge over the stream. It was far from the best snowbridge I have been on, and the creek dropped steeply beneath it, so not one you wanted to go through. It seemed solid enough though, so I poked and inched my way onto it and made it across just fine, and back to the trail.

I really enjoyed the brief scramble. I don’t know if it was easier or harder or safer or riskier than the trail, but it was just fun for me. Going down the trail I was smiling from enjoying the experience. I absolutely love route-finding, and it makes me feel more a part of the environment I’m in.

We cruised down the trail, becoming increasingly snow free as we got below even 8,000 feet. It has been quite a while since that has happened on the trail. The mountains opened up before us to magnificent views, and it was an enjoyable hike down.

At the bottom, we reached Piute Creek which is one of the other big Yosemite creek crossings. It was late in the day, but what we could see looked doable, so we started picking away at it. We crossed one branch that was mid thigh. Then another that got deeper to our waists. I thought that was it, but the creek kept going with another couple branches that I found logs across. Then I was through…until I came across a fifth branch to ford. And then another branch had just taken over the trail completely and the Pacific Crest River was a knee deep wade. Then it was finally over.

We planned to camp on the other side, and there was a dark and dreary and mosquito filled campsite. There was a ridge next to it, and I suspected there was something better nearby, so I took off uphill for some scouting and found an old campsite with a breeze to keep the mosquitoes down, and stunning 360 degree mountain views. A perfect spot! We definitely camped here instead and enjoyed our surrounds.

As we were finishing dinner, a massive brown bear strolled past out camp, about 50 yards away. It didn’t seem to see us. I don’t think there are grizzlys in California, and I know there are brown colored black bears, so that must be what it was. Oh well, no big deal, and nothing I’ll lose sleep over.

I was not having the best day with all of the snow slogging, the scramble really picked me up, then the great mountains we were delivered into. Despite the challenges, it turned into a pretty good day.

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PCT Day 72 – Tuolumne Meadows

Yeti — Thu, 06 Jun 2024 03:00:01 +0000

Day 72

Start: Tuolumne River

Finish: Return Creek

Daily Mileage: 22.6

PCT Mile: 957.2

A leisurely 6:30 start to the day since it should be a leisurely day. For the first 15 miles of trail today, we were headed down the Tuolumne River. The slope was flat to downhill with only the smallest of uphills along the way. And we were below the snowline, so it was looking to be quite the opposite of the struggles of yesterday.

The river had almost continuous meadow down along it for quite a while. The trail peaked out to the meadow from time to time, and it is just the most beautiful thing. The river which was a raging torrent just serenely winding slowly back and forth across the meadow with mountains as the backdrop. The meadows are a completely natural part of the landscape, and are not manmade.

The walk was super easy. Aside from dodging puddles and streams crossing the trail, and the occasional leftover snow drift, it was just a nice pleasant walk downstream. It was immensely enjoyable after the struggles of yesterday. The reward that was earned from that toil.

I just cruised right along the trail. About halfway to a road, I realized that I was travelling at 3mph. That is my normal hiking speed, but something that hasn’t happened since the easy trail of the desert. The terrain and snow in the Sierra are just too rough for it. From that point on, I made it my goal to average 3mph from camp to the road, over 9 miles.

I made great time while still stopping to take pictures and slight side trips to see the sights better. There were also some creative stream crossings to keep my feet dry. As I was approaching the road, I was a few minutes behind, so I put on some extra speed for the last mile when there was no scenery besides the pavement next to the trail and just barely made it to beat 3mph. Small victories. I still saved plenty of time for the sights along the way.

I meant to take a break to wait for Cookie Monster to catch up, but there were loads of mosquitoes at the road. I waited 45 minutes walking in circles in a trailhead parking lot while snacking to keep them at bay. I haven’t been carrying bug spray since there haven’t been mosquitoes yet. Though I don’t use it generally unless I have to since it isn’t that effective.

Cookie Monster showed up and we continued on down the river. We had yet another 6 miles of downstream travel. We were now in Yosemite National Park, and the famous rounded domes of rock carved by glaciers past peaked out every so often for a great change in scenery. There was lots of smooth rounded rock scoured by 2,000 feet of ice for many years, and its effect was apparent everywhere you looked.

Halfway through the day I did have to ford a stream and finally get my feet wet. Shortly thereafter I also had to step on some snow patches. Two things I had been trying to avoid out of the novelty of traveling a trail without their presence.

The Tuolumne River got more violent as we travelled downstream with many rapids and cascades. After dropping down a steeper section of trail, the river began to roar and I came to a waterfall which was a raging wall of whitewater. It seemed like a good place for a break. When I sat down, I could even feel the earth slightly shaking from the pounding of the water. I had followed this river down from its source yesterday where I first crossed it completely unseen, buried under the snow. I have traced many rivers from or to their sources on this trip, but this was perhaps the most scenic and fantastic. Besides the easy hiking, it was an excellent stretch of trail.

Shortly after the waterfall, we crossed the Tuolumne River for the last time and headed up another creek. Along the river there had been frequent views of the surrounding mountains and domes, but it was more socked in on the creek, mostly traveling through forest. It was getting warm out, so I just put my head down and pounded it out.

There was a meadow section in the middle of the ascent, but it couldn’t nearly compare to what I had experienced earlier in the day.

The day finished out in forest. The trail dove down a northerly facing slope where I had the first real stretches of snow for the day. I was hoping I would have a day where I mostly avoided the snow, but it wasn’t too bad.

Cookie Monster and I had planned to camp on the other side of the crossings of McCabe and Return Creeks. I got to the first crossing which was moving pretty good, and I read the trail comments for the two crossings. At this time of day, Return Creek could be waist deep and moving well. I waited for Cookie Monster, and proposed that we just camp on this side of the creeks and cross them first thing in the morning. Then we wouldn’t have wet gear to deal with tonight, and the creeks should be lower in the morning due to snowmelt slowing overnight. He agreed, and we set up just short of our goal. However, we did manage almost 23 miles for the day while still allowing time to enjoy the fantastic scenery.

Today was a great day that more than made up for the struggles of yesterday. Not every day on trail is good, and both of us hated yesterday, but the trail has its good and bad days. One bad day can never define a trip or cause you to make a rash decision, because there is always something better around the corner as long as you have the patience.

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