Transcribed: October 12, 2013
The packing and the putting on of the pack were daunting
this morning. I have a vendetta against
my bear canister and we are at higher elevations than we have been (so
far). Just south of Sonora Pass the
trail climbs to nearly 11,000 feet! There
is some snow on the trail, which makes for careful walking since we are on
steep terrain. Once we climbed up, the
trail stays high on the ridgeline for miles, which made for spectacular
walking. We are just surrounded by
snow-covered peaks as far as the eyes can see.
It is how I imagine the Alps to look.
The winds raged and the clouds grew thick and hovered over us, but,
miraculously, all we got was a few snowflakes.
The clouds stuck around and made for some awesome photographs. Sadly, we did eventually have to descend off
the ridge and continue our walking in relatively lower country. This evening we walked past the 1,000 mile
marker, we have less than a thousand miles to Mexico! This feels pretty darn exciting! As the day went on, I am getting used to the
heavier pack and the altitude. We have
walked over 21 miles today – which is good given the new conditions our bodies
are adjusting to. It is cloudy and windy
again tonight, so we shall see what the trail delivers tomorrow.
John Muir Country
September 25, 2013
The morning started off sunny, cold and crisp, the kind of
day that makes September my favorite month.
The trail followed a creek for a good many miles, which was very
peaceful. Ben has been fighting a cold
and started feeling progressively worse as the day went on. It got colder and started snowing lightly and
it got to the point where he was just trudging along. We stopped after 14 miles and got some soup
and tea in him. Hopefully he will feel
better after a good night of rest. It
feels like summer is taking her curtain call, I’d rather we were past the high
country. It’s stressful, but we are
doing all that we can. We don’t have
much, if any, control over weather, exhaustion or illness.
September 26, 2013
Today went very slowly as Ben is still quite sick and
working hard to stay moving. It was a
quiet day, walking in a comfortable silence, enjoying the vast landscapes that
surround me. At lunch, we met Special
Ops, another south-bound thru-hiker. We
haven’t seen another Sobo (South Bounder) since Central Oregon, so it was very
exciting to swap trail stories. We
forged on in the afternoon as snow began to fall. It was so quiet, watching snow cover the
granite peaks. As darkness fell, we caught up with our new friend who had a
fire blazing. Ben and I were very low on
fuel and had planned on a cold dinner, but soon we were having cocoa and tea
and dehydrated chicken enchiladas.
Special Ops is one hell of a trail angel!
September 27, 2013
This morning, I woke up to an ice-crusted tent from our condensation
freezing. It was 22 degrees (inside the
tent). Motivated to get to Tuolumne
Meadows, we were up and walking before sunrise.
It was freezing. We started walking
in our down jackets. Eventually it did
warm up and we had some very beautiful walking today. Expansive granite domes tower above the trail
and we walk alongside water rushing over granite slabs. We made it down to Tuolumne Meadows by 6 pm
(about 26 miles, proving we can still do decent miles at altitude with
bear canisters). All services at Tuolumne
are closed, so we had planned to walk down Yosemite Valley in the morning until
I realized that tomorrow is Saturday and the Post Office would only be open for
a few hours and so we began the task of hitch hiking. The sun was setting and we were about to give
up hope when a seriously awesome couple squished all three of us in the back of
their car, fed us fresh fruit, cranked up the heat and delivered us to the
heart of the valley. We got to watch the
sunset as we made our way down. Once
there we went to the super market, had soda and sandwiches and then realized we
had nowhere to sleep. We were tired, it
was dark, and all the campgrounds were full.
And so we stealth camped in the bushes.
Usually I feel like a back packer, but tonight I feel like a vagrant.
The Evil Bear Canisters!
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September 28, 2013
Since we did not get arrested last night we went and got
breakfast this morning, complete with a coconut soy latte. I perused the Ansel Adams gallery while we
waited for the Post Office to open. I
wasn’t sure if our packages would be there, but they were, with so many treats
from Mom, Karen and our Zydeco family, and a letter from my Grandpa. I got really emotional thinking of all of our
loved ones and the support we have. I
feel very lucky. After going to the
store and grabbing lunch, we headed back to the trail. We parted ways with Special Ops who is
hitching back to the PCT. Ben and I are
walking back up to the PCT on the John Muir Trail (JMT), with hopes of going up
Half Dome on the way. There are hordes
of people, but the crowds thinned as we got farther from the trailhead. The guy that we hitched with last night
referred to Yosemite as “Nature Disneyland” which is an exceptionally accurate
description. I admired the majestic
granite domes, our first view of Half Dome and beautiful Nevada Falls. We are now two miles from the top of Half Dome,
which we will try to watch the sunrise from.
We weren’t able to get a permit, so we are hoping for either a kind
ranger or hikers with extra space on their permits. Either way, it is mind blowing to be in this
spectacular place.
September 29, 2013
It has been an exhilarating and exhausting day. We were up and walking toward Half Dome under
a crescent moon and brilliant stars. We
reached the base of the cables that run up the last 500 feet of rock just as
light was entering the sky. As soon as I
started up the steep cables with my heavy pack, I knew it was a mistake to bring
my pack up with me. It was pulling me
backwards and I felt like I was just heaving my way up these cables while
making sure my feet didn’t slip on the granite, which was slick with my trail
runners. We did make it up without
incident, just in time for sunrise. It
was amazing to watch light fill the valley and stare down the climber’s side of
Half Dome, a 2000 foot vertical cliff.
Next time I’m up there, I hope it will be by this route. Overlooking this awe-inspiring valley I let
BJ’s ashes sail into the abyss. And then
we headed down…..coming up was scary but starting down the cables was truly
terrifying. And I love rock
climbing! It’s not the exposure but the
fact that if you fell, you would have very little control or ability to stop
yourself. I normally can control my climbing
mind space, but I got really scared and it seemed like a bad idea to go down
with my pack on. Ben encouraged me to
leave my pack at the top, and I had minimal problems descending without
it. At least I was able to maintain my
composure. Ben was awesome and went up
and down to retrieve my pack. He was the
only person on the cables, and I was able to get some great footage of him. We headed safely back to the trail to share a
celebratory Dr. Pepper and cookies from Mom. And then we began our ascent of Yosemite
Valley. It was a beautiful day and we
were walking through Heaven’s country.
I’m not sure I have seen such vast and striking mountains. Granite domes and spires fill the valley,
calling out to be climbed. I wish it was
summer so I could stay and play. The
clouds were awesome today; stacks of lenticular clouds filled the skyline. We took our time, taking lots of pictures and
time to soak in the views. Of the day, I
think Cathedral Peak was my favorite.
From afar, it looks like a steep needle, but as you draw closer, it is
actually comprised of giant Lego blocks of rock stacked atop each other. We got back to the road leading back to
Tuolumne Meadows in time for a vibrant sunset in which all of the lenticular
clouds turned orange and pink like giant pastel flying saucers. We will hopefully get good rest tonight and
jump back on our trail in the morning.
Yosemite made for an unforgettable side trip, and I wouldn’t have missed
it for the world.
Half Dome
The final, cable ascent of Half Dome
Looking down from the top of Half Dome
Paintings in the sky
So how far did you guy's make it before the snow got ya? Hope all is well.
ReplyDeleteI chose to stop at Kearsarge Pass, we had a short snow system come in but it passed quickly. Ben was able to make it all the way to Mexico. It was an amazing journey!
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