Through Yosemite and Beyond
Hey folks!! Due to some seriously crappy WiFi, I’m only now finally getting to some uploads.The below post was actually written on July 4th and summarises my experience after leaving Mammoth, CA on June 20th to my arrival in South Lake Tahoe, CA on July 3rd. I’m starting to work on a post about my experience since leaving Tahoe, but it’s been a complex, full, beautiful, and challenging month, so we’ll see how long it takes for that one to be done!!! In the meantime, here’s my last post!
July 4th, 2018:
I’m back in a town again after being out on trail for about 16 days, shower and laundry free. I am holed up in a bed inside the house of a wonderful trail angel, finally clean and laundered, and so happy to not smell the way I have for the past week.
The next morning the plan was for all of us to catch the 8am bus out of the valley, but as the rest of the crew decided to chill in the valley for the day, Mibs and I headed out alone, and it’s been back to our dream hiking team since. Although the rest of the group caught up to us eventually, it seemed that they have been taking a different pace than works for me - doing longer rests and hiking more miles at a faster pace - so I’ve had to accept that the time for a disbanding of the group has come. Some of them will continue hiking together, but I think it’s evident that I need to separate from the group and hike in a way that works for me, and that is a hard thing to do. A lot of people talk about the relationships you form doing a hike like this, and they also talk about how hard it is to have “trail families” break apart, as they always do, but I didn’t expect to find it so challenging. Being around so many different people and personalities, and feeling often very vulnerable and emotional out here, means a lot of my insecurities and fears around relationships are regularly brought up. A huge part of me wants to hold on to the emotional support and familiarity of relationships I’ve formed out here, and that part of me feels hurt and rejected when I don’t see other people trying to hold on as tightly. There’s lessons to learn in that, of course, there always is... just haven’t been quite sure what yet. In the meantime, I have a few more weeks with Mibs before she heads home to Switzerland and I have lots of introspective time while I’m hiking to figure out what it means for me to be doing this for myself and no one else.
For 4 days in a row, we hiked alongside the worst mosquito hordes I have ever experienced. We started an evening routine of throwing our packs down, stripping off our clothes and immediately donning our rain gear and head nets, and then setting up our tents while sweating buckets in the not-so-breathable rain gear. We would then make dinner quickly and then sit in our tents in our underwear, eating our dinner and setting up our beds, only leaving the tent when necessary to remove our bear cans and go to the bathroom, jumping out of the screen in quick bursts in order to minimise mosquitoes flying into the tent.
The rest of the time to KM North involved some beautiful lakes (yay for alpine swimming!), incredible displays of wildflowers, and the very beautiful, desolate Sonora Pass, which mixed long rocky expanses with colourful flowers and stunning views of snowy mountains, all the way to the highway where we got a friendly hitch to the store. Mibs and I got a delicious dinner at the restaurant, resupplied for another 4-5 day hike to our next town, and split a campsite with some fellow hikers for the night, heading back on trail early the next morning.
The last 4 days into town - South Lake Tahoe - were for me characterised by the most beautiful wildflowers of every colour, many more lakes and ponds, a lot more day hikers and signs of civilisation, and the growing awareness that I smelled RIPE. On our final day before arriving in town, we were wondering where on earth we were going to stay - we would be arriving just in time for 4th of July and heard rumours that Tahoe would be insanely busy. We walked by a day hiker who stopped us to say we should keep an eye out for her son who had been off trail due to a broken foot, but had just got back on the PCT a few days prior. It turned out that Mibs had met her son way back at mile 77 and his mom had actually heard about her from him! She offered for us to stay at her house, where she not only provided us with showers and a place to sleep, but also insisted on doing our laundry and feeding us dinner.
Trail Angels are one of the most magical parts of thru-hiking. It’s amazing to feel so supported while out in such unfamiliar and at times scary territory. In the past month I have had two separate occasions of someone paying my restaurant bill (conveniently leaving before I found out so I couldn’t even say thank you), someone who payed for my $75 grocery store bill, multiple people who have offered rides (occasionally going quite a bit out of their way), people who have sat in the woods cooking food all day for hikers to have a delicious meal break, and people opening up their homes to total strangers (who happen to smell pretty bad). I’m blown away by the generosity and kindness of strangers and grateful to see that in a time when we hear so much bad news every day, there are still truly good people out here, who really care about others. (By the way, I’ve also had a lot of Americans apologise to me for Trump, so there’s hope there, too...)
I’m now 235 miles away from the halfway point of the trail, and with that comes a lot of feelings. I’m anxious, because I’m more than halfway through my time hiking but less than halfway through my distance, meaning it’s time for me to up my daily mileage and cut down on my town breaks by a significant amount. I’m also weary... knowing I’ve done so much already, feel so tired, and miss parts of home so much, but still haven’t even done half of what I set out to do. It’s crazy to feel so close to the end but then realise there is still an immense amount of trail ahead of me, that could bring so many sights and experiences I haven’t even thought of yet. At my core I am still loving this experience and determined to keep going, but also a big part of me feels so ready to be home, to see my parter, kiss my dog, laugh with my family, and maybe just sit on the couch for like a week straight.
After finishing my 10 day stretch in the high Sierras, I expected the trail to get much easier, but as it turns out the last two weeks has contained some of the steepest and rockiest terrain on the PCT. The weather is getting hotter by the day and the mosquitoes have become a constant companion to the trail. The PCT has been making me work for it, but these sections have also been incredibly beautiful and unique.
After leaving Mammoth Lakes I continued hiking with the crew with whom I’d traversed the high peaks, with the addition of my previous hiking buddy Mibs, who decided hiking in Oregon entirely alone wasn’t her cup of tea. Immediately after getting back on trail, we all took a minor detour to check out the Devil’s Postpile, a super cool basaltic rock formation in which molten rock hardened and cracked into perfect hexagonal columns that were then smoothed and polished by glaciers into a strangely alien-like landscape in the middle of a forest.
After that, we carried on for a 5 day stretch to Tuolumne Meadows. The trail was beautiful and changing daily, still containing the familiar snowy, granite peaks, but adding lush, green meadows and unique, craggy rock formations. Bugs were increasing too, but more on that later. When we arrived at the top of Donahue Pass, a sign welcomed into the Yosemite Wilderness.
Tuolumne Meadows is a tiny stop on the PCT containing a small resupply store (which required a bit of creativity to find solid meals for the next stretch) and a little grill where I was able to get a delicious burger and ice cream. The PCT only goes through Yosemite Wilderness and National Park for a limited time, and sidesteps some of the more famous Yosemite landmarks. Several members of our group were interested in heading further into Yosemite in order to climb Half Dome, a large granite dome-shaped peak that rises above Yosemite Valley, which can be hiked all the way to the top, with the final 400 ft involving a steep ascent assisted by two steel cables bolted to the cliff face. These days Half Dome is so popular it requires a permit which is quite hard to get - we all applied for the permit lottery and also aimed to be at the ranger station by 10am in order to get in line for the day-of permits. By a stroke of luck, Bits got the last 6 permits at the ranger station and then also won the lottery for 4 more permits, allowing our whole group to go!
We hiked out that evening, now continuing on the John Muir Trail, off the PCT, towards the heart of Yosemite. After camping by the beautiful but buggy Cathedral Lakes, we got up early for a long day of hiking and climbing.
It was a tiring, beautiful, exciting day. We hiked about 12 miles to the base of Half Dome, and saw our first (and so far only) bear along the way - a yearling who was happily eating flowers beside the trail and didn’t give a crap that 10 hikers were staring at it. After depositing our packs in the trees, we hiked the 2 miles up to the start of the cables. When I looked up the cliff to the top, I was very close to deciding against going up, my slight fear of heights getting to me, but I made it this far and decided I had to go for it.
Honestly, it wasn’t scary at all, and was definitely one of the cooler things I’ve done. The rock was steep, but thanks to the cables and some rickety wood slats every few feet on the way up, it was easy to find stable places to rest. It was also crowded. Many people do this climb every day, and many of them probably shouldn’t. Due to being either terrified or out of shape (or both), a huge chunk of people on the cables could only go a few steps at a time before taking extended breaks, meaning that we were in a large traffic jam on the side of a cliff. Luckily it meant lots of time to take pictures!
After finishing the Half Dome climb, we still had to do around 8 miles down to Yosemite Valley, where we were hoping to catch a 5pm bus back to Tuolumne Meadows. It was a long descent, which got more and more crowded as we went, and after having done around 18 miles, the last 4 felt ROUGH. In the end we missed the bus by 5 minutes, and ended up camping in the “backpackers” section of the campground, which was luckily only $6 per person.
The next morning the plan was for all of us to catch the 8am bus out of the valley, but as the rest of the crew decided to chill in the valley for the day, Mibs and I headed out alone, and it’s been back to our dream hiking team since. Although the rest of the group caught up to us eventually, it seemed that they have been taking a different pace than works for me - doing longer rests and hiking more miles at a faster pace - so I’ve had to accept that the time for a disbanding of the group has come. Some of them will continue hiking together, but I think it’s evident that I need to separate from the group and hike in a way that works for me, and that is a hard thing to do. A lot of people talk about the relationships you form doing a hike like this, and they also talk about how hard it is to have “trail families” break apart, as they always do, but I didn’t expect to find it so challenging. Being around so many different people and personalities, and feeling often very vulnerable and emotional out here, means a lot of my insecurities and fears around relationships are regularly brought up. A huge part of me wants to hold on to the emotional support and familiarity of relationships I’ve formed out here, and that part of me feels hurt and rejected when I don’t see other people trying to hold on as tightly. There’s lessons to learn in that, of course, there always is... just haven’t been quite sure what yet. In the meantime, I have a few more weeks with Mibs before she heads home to Switzerland and I have lots of introspective time while I’m hiking to figure out what it means for me to be doing this for myself and no one else.
Anyway, Mibs and I hiked out of Tuolumne Meadows that afternoon and continued on another 5 day stretch to Kennedy Meadows North, another small campground/ “resort” with a small shop and restaurant. Those days were some of the hardest climbs we’ve had so far - the steepness, huge rocky steps, beating sun, and relentless mosquitoes made for hard hiking.
For 4 days in a row, we hiked alongside the worst mosquito hordes I have ever experienced. We started an evening routine of throwing our packs down, stripping off our clothes and immediately donning our rain gear and head nets, and then setting up our tents while sweating buckets in the not-so-breathable rain gear. We would then make dinner quickly and then sit in our tents in our underwear, eating our dinner and setting up our beds, only leaving the tent when necessary to remove our bear cans and go to the bathroom, jumping out of the screen in quick bursts in order to minimise mosquitoes flying into the tent.
I really cannot describe the determination of those winged beasts. On our 2nd night out of tuolumne, the mosquitoes patiently sat on our tents awaiting our exit all evening - I could see at least 200 mosquitoes covering every surface of Mibs’ tent, and could hear their high pitched drone even as I tried to fall asleep that night. Those few days were the closest I’ve felt to really wanting to get off trail. While some people may really enjoy the hiking part of the PCT, my favourite parts are the breaks and camping in the evening. Being out in beautiful, remote places, and being able to rest with a feeling of accomplishment for the day’s work is what makes the challenge of hiking feel worth it. With hordes of bloodthirsty monsters ruining my favourite part of the day, it seemed like the trail was losing its appeal very quickly. Luckily, after about four days, the mosquitoes did thin out a bit, and now I feel at least somewhat prepared to deal with them when they come back, as they are likely to do in Oregon or even sooner.
The rest of the time to KM North involved some beautiful lakes (yay for alpine swimming!), incredible displays of wildflowers, and the very beautiful, desolate Sonora Pass, which mixed long rocky expanses with colourful flowers and stunning views of snowy mountains, all the way to the highway where we got a friendly hitch to the store. Mibs and I got a delicious dinner at the restaurant, resupplied for another 4-5 day hike to our next town, and split a campsite with some fellow hikers for the night, heading back on trail early the next morning.
The last 4 days into town - South Lake Tahoe - were for me characterised by the most beautiful wildflowers of every colour, many more lakes and ponds, a lot more day hikers and signs of civilisation, and the growing awareness that I smelled RIPE. On our final day before arriving in town, we were wondering where on earth we were going to stay - we would be arriving just in time for 4th of July and heard rumours that Tahoe would be insanely busy. We walked by a day hiker who stopped us to say we should keep an eye out for her son who had been off trail due to a broken foot, but had just got back on the PCT a few days prior. It turned out that Mibs had met her son way back at mile 77 and his mom had actually heard about her from him! She offered for us to stay at her house, where she not only provided us with showers and a place to sleep, but also insisted on doing our laundry and feeding us dinner.
Trail Angels are one of the most magical parts of thru-hiking. It’s amazing to feel so supported while out in such unfamiliar and at times scary territory. In the past month I have had two separate occasions of someone paying my restaurant bill (conveniently leaving before I found out so I couldn’t even say thank you), someone who payed for my $75 grocery store bill, multiple people who have offered rides (occasionally going quite a bit out of their way), people who have sat in the woods cooking food all day for hikers to have a delicious meal break, and people opening up their homes to total strangers (who happen to smell pretty bad). I’m blown away by the generosity and kindness of strangers and grateful to see that in a time when we hear so much bad news every day, there are still truly good people out here, who really care about others. (By the way, I’ve also had a lot of Americans apologise to me for Trump, so there’s hope there, too...)
Both of us being international, Mibs and I decided to stay in South Lake Tahoe for a zero, in order to experience an authentic 4th of July celebration (despite the fact that we’ve been told to expect utter chaos). After that, we will get ourselves back to the trail tomorrow morning, and continue on for a 100 mile stretch to Sierra City.
I’m now 235 miles away from the halfway point of the trail, and with that comes a lot of feelings. I’m anxious, because I’m more than halfway through my time hiking but less than halfway through my distance, meaning it’s time for me to up my daily mileage and cut down on my town breaks by a significant amount. I’m also weary... knowing I’ve done so much already, feel so tired, and miss parts of home so much, but still haven’t even done half of what I set out to do. It’s crazy to feel so close to the end but then realise there is still an immense amount of trail ahead of me, that could bring so many sights and experiences I haven’t even thought of yet. At my core I am still loving this experience and determined to keep going, but also a big part of me feels so ready to be home, to see my parter, kiss my dog, laugh with my family, and maybe just sit on the couch for like a week straight.
I definitely plan to push through this slump, which I have heard hikers talk about and fully believe will pass, at least to some extent. But in the meantime, to my friends and fam at home, please feel free to send your prayers, good thoughts, and encouragement my way, because I could use it! I knew this experience wouldn’t be easy, but sometimes I’m facing challenges out here I really didn’t think about or expect.
Still, I’m pushing on, and I’m looking forward to what else the trail has in store! (Hopefully some good stuff thrown in with the hard!)
Bye for now!!
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