Toulumne to Sonora Pass

Toulumne:
Toulumne is a small stop with a general store, grill and PO attached in one building in Yosemite National Park.  We stayed with 10 other hikers in the hiker/biker camp. This included the Buffalo 6 pack. They got in earlier and had found a ride down Yosemite Valley to see Half Dome. They said there were so many people down there that it was like Disneyland, they where overwhelmed. While they were touring the park Tiffany and I enjoyed a hot dog in a tortilla dinner with Kip and Backup. That night we had a fire, drank wine, and shared more stories and brain teasers.

The next morning we packed up early enough to be at the Toulumne post office as soon as it opened. We picked up our food package and found we also had two additional packages. Thank you to Beth and Shannon for the birthday food and the XL glasses. Also thank you to Linda and the Metro gang for sending a care package too. It was so fun to hear from you.

We organized and re-packed our food so that most of it would fit in our bear vaults and into our packs. We had another 8 day stretch ahead of us which means a lot of food. This was also our last stretch with the damn bear vaults. They are required in both national parks.

Yosemite and beyond:
Despite what little most others see, there is a lot more to Yosemite than half dome. The hike out of Toulumne Meadows is so beautiful. Some of the trail is a few cairns placed over one massive rock.

On the third day out of Toulumne the rock began to change. Instead of the huge white rock slabs we started to see dark brown and red rock that looked like one big conglomerate of all sorts of other rock. I call it the trash rock, but I would guess it is some kind of sedimentary formation. The rock is very erosive and this makes for some pretty cool looking shapes.

The fourth day out marked two major milestones; Tiffany's birthday and passing Mile 1000. I wish we could say we celebrated mile 1000 with at least a photo, but we sailed right past it without even knowing it. We got to a trail junction we knew was mile 1002 and both looked back wondering were under the snow on Dorthy Pass had mile 1000 been.

Tiffany's birthday was supposed to be more exciting too. In Toulumne I had coordinated secretly with the Buffalo 6 pack and Texas Grit to meet at Sonora Pass to camp together and celebrate. The location changed to 1012 the first day out when Double-It said they wanted to take it slower on the first half of the stretch. 

On her birthday T and I didn't break camp until 9am and I tried to go slow in order to ensure that we would be behind someone in the 6 pack. Although throughout the day I didn't see anybody's footprints. After a long rest, drawn out by me to stall, it was time to climb to the crest and up to mile 1012. Tiffany couldn't understand why I didn't just dump the extra 3 liters we filtered. She didn't know I was hauling it to spend the night up high. I was slow on the climb, in part due to the water weight and part to stall. When we got to the spot I stopped for a break. Tiffany looked at me exasperated, "here!". It had been a very windy ridge walk and the wind was not better here. I could tell just sitting around was not going to work. It was already 6pm, as far as I could tell no other Buffaloes were anywhere near us and Tiffany wanted to keep moving. So I had to tell Tiffany about the whole plan. "Is that why you were so slow, and always looking back, and carried way too much water?" She said that was nice, but there was no way she was spending the night on this windy ridge. As disappointed as I was I cannot say I was too keen on spending the night up there either. So we left a note and carried on.

We made our way to a nice camp spot on Sardine Creek just before Sonora pass. The trail down was a bit more tricky than I was expecting. We crossed several large snow fields that were beginning to ice over for the night.  By the time we got to camp we had just enough light to set up the tent and throw back a swig of the Crown whiskey I had brought for the party.

Happy Trails!

Trail Statistics
Mile: 1,018
Days: 64
Showers: 11

VVR to Tuolumne

This time I will try to do a better job of editing as I feel that the last two posts were a little rushed and maybe not as easy to read.

Vermilion Valley Resort (VVR):
To get to VVR you take the ferry or a four mile walk around the reservoir. Tiffany and I chose to take the ferry. This year the water is so low the ferry is a small fishing boat. At the other end you get a one mile ride in a truck to the resort, driving over bare land that would normally be covered in water.

I'm not sure that I would describe VVR as a resort. I would consider it a camp or half Lodge & RV Resort. The main building has a store and restaurant with covered seating outside. Hikers camp for free in the wooded area adjacent to the store. One of the outbuildings has shower rooms and a few washer and dryers at the end. We took advantage of both. It was fun to take a zero day here. It seems to be a bottleneck for hikers and again you realize how many fun people you're hiking with.

Back on the trail:
Leaving VVR Tiffany and I split up between the first ferry and the second ferry because they were trying to maximize the number of people in each ride out. It always feels good to be back on the trail again after a zero day. Although back on the trail the winds were picking up and the skies were turning grey. As we climbed towards Silver Pass the weather got worse and thunder rolled in. Near treeline we decided to hide under a group of trees. Shortly Brownie joined us to watch the weather. As the thunder came closer we all agreed that staying put was a good decision. It didn't seem long before the three of us were huddled under our ground cloth to avoid getting soaked and pounded by hail.

Luckily the storm was just a short afternoon bout. Our group of 3 joined the 2 Australians and we made our way over Silver Pass. The pass didn't have much snow and it was a short walk down to camp that night. We made a fire which seemed to draw more hikers in and ended up with another 2 joining our camp.

Reds Meadow Detour:
The second day out of VVR was more of the same beautiful country. In the lower elevations the meadows seem to be longer, wider, and more green. We had a 20 mile day into Reds Meadow. Here I made a decision I was not originally going to write about, but just in case anyone else has a similar situation I thought I would share.

In the previous 5 and more often in the last 3 days in and out of VVR I had been having trouble breathing. At times it felt like someone was sitting on my chest. This was not a normal working hard going up hill difficulty. I was really reluctant to get off trail. Even more reluctant to see someone in the case they might tell me to get off trail for the year. But I also thought getting checked out here would be better than being air lifted out later if something was seriously wrong.

So we got a ride out to Mammoth Lakes and found a cheap hotel. There was no urgent care in Mammoth Lakes, only an emergency room. So the next day we took a shuttle down to Bishop where I was able to get an appointment at a clinic. I saw a PA and got a few tests. Everything came back normal and they found I had good blood pressure, a low heart rate, and to be in great physical condition. The PA handed me a prescription and told me to take one of these the next time I felt the pressure and see if it helped. As I left the clinic to walk back to the hotel I looked at the prescription; Xanex. Great, so he thinks the problem is all upstairs. Well, there was only one way to see if this was a fluke, or maybe it was altitude, maybe the unplanned 2 days off would be the rest my body needed, or maybe drugging myself up would settle the crazy in me.

Back at Reds Meadow:
Reds Meadow is kind of in the middle of nowhere, so getting back took a while. In the morning we took a shuttle back up to Mammoth Lakes, then got a hitch up to Mammoth ski resort, then got another hitch up over the ridge and into the meadow.

Little did we know what a surprise we were going to get back at Reds Meadow. As I was talking to the people who gave us a ride I heard screams of glee and delight coming from the front of the small restaurant. As it turned out our detour put us right back with Gumby, Double-It, Samba, and Tallywa. Hugging and lots of chatter you would think we were old friends who hadn't seen each other for a year. The Buffalo 6 Pack was back together again! Tiffany and I decided to split a second breakfast (brunch by this time) with the group so we could all hike out together.

Back on the trail:
Armed with my crazy pills and some natural recommendations from my sister I was set to continue on.

The first night out of Reds Meadow is a National Monument, Devils Post Pile. It is an amazing look at a wall of basalt columns. Then we headed back UP!

As fun as it was to hike together again with friends Tiffany and I stopped an hour or two short of everyone else. Considering recent events we were taking 3 days to get to Toulumne vs 2 like everyone else. Our first camp back on the trail was a rewarding rock outcropping overlooking a valley and a view across to the John Muir Trail and the magnificent mountains framing it.

The second and third day into Tuolumne Meadows included Thousand Island Pass and Donahue Pass. Neither had significant snow and provided us with rewarding views of the broad valleys below. Because of our relaxed schedule we had long 2 hour breaks by lakes and late starts. I could get used to this! Although, I might not finish the trail until next year...

We had a beautiful walk into Tuolumne. You can always tell when we are getting close to a road or town by the number of people you run into. You can smell their clean clothes before you see them!

Walking into Tuolumne we found some fellow Hiker Trash hanging out at the picnic tables in front of the small store/post office/deli. We found out we made it just in time to get some hot dogs for the night and a swirl ice cream cone.

Trail Statistics
Mile: 942.5
Days: 60
Bars: 45
Bags of Chips: 11
Doctors Visits: 1

Kennedy Meadows to VVR part 2

Pinchot Pass
Pinchot seemed to take forever! We had to climb 4,000 ft to get there. We got to the top about noon. At the top of the pass I gave a big hoot and holler because the other side was relatively snow free and an easy grade down the other side. We still managed to lose the trail crossing a snow patch, but not to worry it was easy to find again. That afternoon we found a large flat rock area to eat lunch by a stream. It was a great place to do some laundry and a little splash bath.

Mather Pass
Mather was another easy climb on the way up. A lot of switchbacks and only a couple small patches of snow. The other side had some steep snow that was still iced over from being so early in the morning. We opted to work our way around the first patch of steep hard snow, then down some hard snow that didn't seem as steep. Eventually we were down and on our way to another beautiful lunch spot.

Muir Pass
Muir is a long flat pass and is the most picturesque with all it's lakes leading up to and from the top. We hit Muir pass early as we got word that there was snow for 2 miles on either side. This information was correct. The most concerning part of the pass was a short low segment of snow where I could hear water running underneath. I wondered, if I fell, how far down I might go. I was glad to be crossing over on solid cold snow. At the top of Muir pass there is a shelter built for winter hikers who get caught in storms. The North side of Muir held more snow and and we felt like we barely made it to the end of the snow in time. We were punching through patches of snow we crossed toward the end. By the time we got over the pass and over the snow we realized we had been hiking for 6 hours without a stop. We found Juice and Peanut Butter resting on a lakeside rock. We stopped and took a long break with them before moving on.

Selden Pass
Selden pass is the lowest pass in this stretch. It had little snow. Our greatest concerns regarding this pass were the river fords on either side. In the guide books both Evolution Creek and Bear creek had warnings regarding the dangers of crossing. The first crossing we chose to take the high water crossing. At the high water crossing the water level was about knew deep and wasn't nearly as scary as we were anticipating. Bear creek was a bit more intimidating because the water was flowing quite a bit faster. There is no alternate option for this one, but we do think we found an easier crossing about a quarter mile North of the trail crossing. Here the water again was knee deep. Yeah we made it through both!

Being able to cross the creek in the afternoon left us with a short day out to the ferry landing to get into our next resupply at Vermilion Valley Resort.

Overall our trip through the high Sierras was wonderful and the beauty was breathtaking. I think we are very lucky to be hiking this year with such a low snow pack. It is hard to imagine what the passes would be like with lots of snow and how much higher the river crossings would be.

Happy Trails!

Trail Statistics Mile: 887
Days: 52
Bars: 36
Bags of Chips: 8
Jars of Peanut Butter: 7 (Shared) Showers: 10