Day 72 June 29, 2008

More cereal for breakfast, 11 miles to Carson Pass and were there by 1030, the rangers had a box of clementines out for the hikers.....yumm! Hiked over Elephant's back (little snow on the trail still) Stopped at Shower Lake for lunch with "the crew" Rolling meadows, easy walking and we were not sure if we'd make it all the way to Echo lake, but it was looking good at this point! As we got closer to the road, Neighbor came upon this little pup howling in the woods, the little guy was lost and followed us to the parking lot! He had a couple phone numbers on his tag, so Slider called one and a lady came and picked little Kabyah up! Only 2 miles from the Echo Lake PO/store, but it was going to close soon, so I gave Shirley my license and a note and she was able to get our packages for us! Nice! Now, all of us at Echo Lake piled into the 2 vehicles (Shirley's car and Gordon's van) and went down to South Lake Tahoe (big spread out city) We got a room for the night, grabbed some dinner and went in the hot tub! What a day and we hiked about 26 or 27 miles! Care packages from Gram and Grampa (homemade molasses cookies and some bars!) Pilgrim (get this 4 CANS of Moxie!, some Trader Joe's ginger chews, trail mix and mango slices, toblerone, Jambalaya and some other fun trail foods) Priscilla (freeze dried meals, cookies, ghiradelli, spices, green tortillas.....hope they were green when you mailed them! and some other treats)

same day, amazing different terrain!

Day 71 June 28, 2008

Skipped the cereal this morning, too many mosquitoes! Uphill right away and we are off! Beautiful terrain, canyons and meadows. About 7 miles in the "crew" met their support team. (Graybeard's wife is meeting him at road crossings so he doesn't have to carry a full load) And Nimblewill Nomad is being supported by Gordon in "the van" but Nimblewill is not hiking right now due to an infected foot (which he is pretty upset about, but he'll be back in the trail in no time) Slider, JZ and Thrust were hiking with Nimblewill until the foot issue, but they are still meeting up at roads until Nimblewill gets back on the trail. Anyway, we hiked the short side trail to the parking lot and ate our cereal there this day. Back on the trail, lots of hikers out and about (it's a Saturday) More PB and oreo's for lunch (love this diet) We had hiked 24 miles by 4pm, so we camped with the crew near a parking lot and they let us in on their dinner, so for $5 each, we had Chop Suey, green beans and hot dogs for dinner....on the trail! Nice!

Day 70 June 27, 2008

Hank whipped us up some hot tea/coffee for breakfast, we ate some cereal and started hiking around 7am. Little more snow to walk over, but easy going for the most part. We had hiked 14 miles by noon, enjoyed a PB sandwich, some Mollie brownies and were on our way! Around 3:30, the sky darkened again and we thought we were in for it, but it only sprinkled a little (lucky us) Today was the first day in a long time that we didn't have to take the shoes off for even one river crossing! Yeah! Neighbor wore shorts today (2nd time on the trip) and I rolled my pants up a bit (it's hot) Stopped early, but we had hiked close to 25 miles, so that's good enough. Neighbor did a little sewing job on my backpack (it was starting to tear at the shoulder strap and we wanted to fix it before it came out completely) Mosquitoes were a little rough, but I just jumped in the tent!

The rest of our day in Brigeport!

What a great town Bridgeport was. After I finished updating our blog, Mollie cooked us up some fried egg and cheese sandwiches and we enjoyed the great brownies she made! Then it was time to go, Mollie gave us a to-go baggie of brownies (thanks again!!) We checked back in at the Post Office for post card stamps (no stamps, so I carried the Yosemite postcards another 75 miles.....) and walked past the laundromat where we saw Slider, Thrust, Cruising, JZ, and Graybeard, they remarked on how clean and refreshed we looked, so we told them how we had just met the nicest couple and they all wondered if they could get showers too......so, off they went! (Sorry Mollie if we had your house invaded by stinky hikers that day, but it was definitely appreciated by one and all) Then it was off to Buster's Market to buy some food for the next 75 mile stretch. That is a pricey little market and we found it cheapest to resupply with candy bars! (fine by me!!) And the only bread product we could find was a loaf of bread! That was wonderful in the bear cannister! So, candy bars and a loaf of white bread and PB for the next stretch! Yummy! We hitched for a ridge outside of Busters and saw a lady in a green Subaru outback drive by with NH plates! small world, got a ride to the Sonora Pass junction with a local man and then the sky darkened and it started pouring like mad! Yikes! He told us how there have been lots of dry lightening fires lately (no rain, just lightening!) Luckily the rain slowed as he dropped us off and we were picked back up again in no time by a young lady on the way to her dad's 60th b-day party. So, back at Sonora Pass, we ran into Hank who was doing a little trail magic for a couple days, we hung out with him for the evening. He said it hailed up there earlier when it was pouring in the valley below! Crazy weather. Thrust, JZ, Slider, Graybeard and his wife Shirley, Nimblewill Nomad and Gordon all showed up and camped there at the pass that evening.

sunrise on Day 69 June 26, 2008

Hiking early, 3.5 miles to Sonora Pass, warm night. Saw Gordon and Nimblewill Nomad at the Pass. Caught a ride down to Bridgeport with this great couple going fishing and found a cafe for breakfast (where we ran into the couple again) and when we finished with our Cheddar and Bacon Omelette.........we found out that the couple had paid for our breakfast! Wow! Went to the laundrymat, cleaned clothes, then to the PO and mailed home some more stuff that we don't need. Then this man (Steve) comes into the PO and says that he takes hikers to his house if we need anything! Well.......I couldn't tell you how much I wanted a shower! So, we followed him home (like puppy dogs!) and we are here now with Mollie and she made us brownies (after we weighed ourselves......and I'm 110.5 and Neighbor is 187...yikes!!) and wow, we are clean and feeling GREAT! I love this town and it's only .5 mile long, so we don't have to walk far at all! Now, we'll go to the little store, buy some food for the next 75 miles to Echo Lake and get ourselves back up to Sonora Pass and back on the trail.........headed North! Thank you so much Steve and Mollie......people like you are amazing and make our trip what it is.

Barren trail, but nice views!

Day 68 June 25, 2008

Mosquitos were awake before us! Skipped the cereal and just got moving! Still easy walking, gotta love the terrain change! Passed Dorothy Lake (picture to the left) Hiked 20 miles by 2pm and only saw Cliff Clavin all day long. Felt good at 3pm, so we kept going, but it brought us up to this barren, treeless landscape with drops on all sides and no where to camp! Finally, we found a beautiful spot just below this bowl of snow that looked like a mini Tuckerman's Ravine! Slept on the Tyvek with no tent (no bugs up here) The stars were amazing! Wow, what a great day and we didn't have to use any DEET! Funny how 1 day makes all the difference!

Day 67 June 24, 2008

Lots of ups and downs today. Down into a canyon, cross a raging "creek" and then climb back up the other side, then do it all over again and again and again. Oh and the air is still filled with smoke and now the mosquitos are out in full force. Creek crossings were a little rough today, 2 of them were up to my waist and had some force behind them. And the whole time, the mosquitos are in full attack mode. Fun stuff. I know I was thinking, "why am I here?" thoughts today. I live 5 min drive from 3 major stores that sell lots of food and I'm here?! Crazy! Eventually I just hiked with the headnet on. Came very close to just crashing through one creek (instead of taking the shoes and socks off) because I was covered in mosquitos, but in the end, just pulled out the 29% DEET that we bought in Tuolomne meadows! Hiked 22 miles and put up the tent and jumped inside in the end! Only saw Cliff Clavin today (another thru-hiker) Only 30 miles from Sonora Pass. Filled out some postcards, but forgot to mail them, so I'm carrying them for the next 75 miles!

Day 66 June 23, 2008

Hiking by 7am - easy walking, couple of creek crossings that I thought were going to be tricky were no problem!! (Cathedral Peak in the distance in the photo to the left) The air is filled with smoke, you can see it and smell it and it makes us wonder if we are walking straight into a wild fire that we don't know about yet....rather unsettling. Had to cross a small creek today that I thought I could just throw my sneakers across (instead of strapping them to my pack for the short crossing) well......the first one made it to the other side, and then it bounced off the banking and into the river........and downstream it started to float, so I had to jump into the river and grab my now soaking wet shoe. Ugh. I won't be doing that ever again. Hiked about 23 miles today.

Yosemite National Park!

Day 65 June 22, 2008

Caught a ride down to "The Valley" with Kentucky Graybeard's wife (it was an hour and 30 min drive!!) Then we played tourist for the day! Saw Yosemite Falls (walked up to the lower falls) Took some great pictures of the falls and Half Dome and walked around a bit. Some hikers were going up Half Dome, but we'll save that 16 mile hike for some other day! Hitched back to Crane Flat and were about to stick out our thumbs to get back up to Tuolome Meadows, when who comes around the corner but Gordon in the Van with Nimblewill Nomad!! Yes! What a great day! Camped behind the store with Gordon again and will be back on the trail in the morning, we are ready to hike!!!!

Heading down to Tuolomne Meadows

Day 64 June 21, 2008

3.5 miles to the pass were a breeze! We were at the top of Donahue Pass by 8am! (view from Donahue Pass to the left) While the snow was still hard for once! No slipping and sliding around for us this morning!! Nothing steep or scary either, pretty mellow pass. Then the trail flattened out and meandered along a river/creek for the next .....oh 12 miles?! All the way to Tuloumne Meadows! Picked up a care package from Priscilla (homeade cookies, freeze dried meals, jolly ranchers, spices, tootsie pops! yummm) And a box that we mailed there to ourselves with extra stuff. Then we raided the store! ice cream, yogurt, soda, donuts, chips, you name it............we ate it! :) Then the sky darkend and the strangest thing happened....it rained! Wow, only the 2nd rain in 64 days! No complaints here! We took refuge in the store (which had a canvas roof that nearly blew off) Camped behind the store with Gordon and some people are talking about going down into the "valley" tomorrow (I've never been to Yosemite National Park...........it would be nice to see since we are sooo close)

Thousand Island Lake

Day 63 June 20, 2008

Slept great, cereal for breakfast, then took a side trail to the Devil's Postpile (picture to the left) (interesting geographical feature). Then the PCT and the JMT split for the next 14 miles, so we stayed on the PCT (we can always come back and hike what we missed of the JMT some other time) Passed by Thousand Islands Lake. Saw 3 deer today. Feels good to be rid of the ice axe (I nearly speared myself on that thing a few times while packing up in the morning!!) Found a great camp spot just across a creek, Chief came along later and camped with us. Seeing more and more JMT hikers now, which is great because there are more footprints over the snowy passes! 17.6 miles to Tuolomne Meadows and only 3.5 in the morning to Donahue Pass!

The rest of our day in Mammoth Lakes

We went back to Von's for some lunch and then caught the bus back up to Red's Meadow, skipped the second steak dinner at Whiskey Creek. Camped with Nomad and Sunny at the campground and checked out the hot spring showers! Back to the trail in the morning!!

somewhere in the Sierras

Day 62 June 19, 2008

Good night's sleep at the campground $9 for all 3 of us! Went to breakfast, then packed up the tent and left our stuff at the outfitter in town (so we don't have to carry the packs all over town, looking like the homeless people that we are!!) Went to Von's, bought a pint of Ben and Jerry's for the "early lunch" and now we are back here at the library! Thinking of going back to Whiskey Creek tonight for the $9.95 steak! I had a filet mignon last night with asparagus........oh my, that was just some amazing food! I will have the same thing tonight! And then we'll head back up to Red's meadow and be back on the PCT. My sister fixed the "comments" section on this blog, so anyone can say hello now, (just be nice) :) Thanks Chels! The Chief is uploading more pictures to his site right now and all I can say is, WOW! He has almost captured what our eyes have seen! You never know when he's snapping the pictures! Oh and he and Neighbor had a Lakers vs the Celtics bet going......looks like the Chief lost......that might cost him! Chances are before this hike is over, the Chief will be wearing a GREEN MOHAWK! Ha ha! Never bet against the Celtics! :) Oh, another thing I wanted to mention, the chickadees out here.....they don't say chick-a-dee-dee-dee. They say Cheese-burger! If that isn't annoying! ha ha! Ok, way over the 1 hour time limit at this library (but they have like 20 computers!) and the stomach is telling me, it's time to go! So, that's all for now!

Day 62 June 19, 2008

Good night's sleep at the campground $9 for all 3 of us! Went to breakfast, then packed up the tent and left our stuff at the outfitter in town (so we don't have to carry the packs all over town, looking like the homeless people that we are!!) Went to Von's, bought a pint of Ben and Jerry's for the "early lunch" and now we are back here at the library! Thinking of going back to Whiskey Creek tonight for the $9.95 steak! I had filet mignon last night with asparagus........oh my, that was just some amazing food! I will have the same thing tonight!

Day 61 June 18, 2008

Happy anniversary guys!

Got up and started hiking early, withing 20 feet from where we camped was a river crossing, sooo, after getting all packed up, shoes on and off we go........then it's take off the shoes, put on the crocs, roll up the pants, cross the river, sit down, dry the feet, socks back on, shoes back on, crocs on pack and away we go! 11.5 miles of easy walking to Red's Meadow. Met the Chief there (who saw a big bear on the way) and then we caught the bus down to Mammoth Mtn. Ski area and then caught a ride to town. Got a campsite for the night, then found the laundry mat, picked up some food, updated blog, showered, wandered around town, heard about $9.95 meals at Whiskey Creek (good steakhouse in town) and went there for dinner (yummm) Crashed at the campsite for the night.

day 60 June 17, 2008

We got to sleep in! Had breakfast at VVR (I had a breakfast sandwich, 2 pancakes and Tazo tea and thought of Karin at work, hi Karin!!) and then caught the big boat back across the lake and started hiking around 1030. Crossed Mono Creek 3 times, the first was the strongest and the last was the most beautiful water crossing ever! We basically crossed the river in the middle of a waterfall! Just beautiful. Hiked up and over Silver Pass (the pass with the least amount of snow yet) And then past a bunch of lakes and hiked until almost 8pm and got in about 20 miles which is pretty good considering we didn't start until 1030! One lake we passed, we had to cross the outlet of water and there were stone steps to walk over, but the water was up over the steps and it seemed like an optical illusion, the water was sooo still and clear that you felt like you were going to step on the rock........but it was really atleast 6 inches under water! Almost like the rocks were under glass!

Day 59 June 16, 2008

Hiked 8 miles to VVR ( a campground with food!) We took a "ferry" across the lake (the ferry was actually a boat that had to be smaller than my dad's fishing boat!!) and stayed the night at the campground. The owner (Jim) was just coming back from the store in town (over an hour's drive away) and was resupplying the store with goodies! We just sat outside and watched him bring in box after box of food, waited a few minutes and then went in and bought something else to eat! The store has a scale outside and when we got there, it said I weighed 112 and Neighbor 183........we thought.........oh, no! But then someone said the scale was 4 pounds off. So, I'm down to 116 and Neighbor to 187. We made sure to eat lots! Had a cheeseburger and fries when we got there and the waitress was just putting the movie "Into the Wild" on, so I sat in the restaurant for the next 2 hours and watched the whole thing. Good movie. We managed to fix the belt on my pants that broke a few days back, so I'm back to pants that fit!

View from Selden Pass

notice the little marmot type thing in the bottom of the picture taking in the view!! he was just too cute!

View from Selden Pass

notice the little marmot type thing in the bottom of the picture taking in the view!! he was just too cute!