JMT Hiking Day #3: Lower Cathedral Lake to Lyell Canyon. Aug. 7, 2014

**11 or 12 miles with minimal elevation gain.

In spite of our best efforts to hasten our routine, it took us two hours and fifteen minutes to break camp.  As I previously wrote, we'd eventually get this time down to an hour and forty-five minutes.

Many of the tents were gone when we made our way past the lake, though we did see the Japanese couple from the train station and two other backpackers.  We waved at the Japanese couple, who recognized us and waved back.  One of the other backpackers asked if we'd like our photo taken.  I thanked him and replied in the affirmative.

By Lower Cathedral Lake

The walk into Tuolumne Meadows wasn't as straightforward as one might hope.  From Lower Cathedral Lake, one hikes about 5.5 miles into the area.  If you follow the JMT proper, as we did, then you won't walk by the post office or the grill (both of which we needed to visit).  If you walk toward Tuolumne and, instead of taking a right and following the trail which roughly parallels the road, you continue straight and take a right ON the road, you will more easily find the post office and the grill.  We followed the trail proper, which had a few intersections, and found ourselves about to walk out of Tuolumne before we realized we had to veer off the path and walk the road a bit in order to pick up our resupply and order some cheeseburgers.

From Cathedral Lake, heading toward Tuolumne Meadows

Entering Tuolumne Meadows

Walking along the trail, as opposed to the road, brings you close to a natural soda springs.  Alex wanted to take the 0.1 mile detour to check it out.

Onward, toward the post office -- and cheeseburgers!

The post office, convenience store, and grill are all in the same building.

The post office fellow -- who was incredibly kind and cheerful, in spite of probably having to say the exact same thing to about a billion thru-hikers every single day -- explained that he distributed the hiker resupply buckets/packages every hour, and that we should relax and hang out until he heard us call our name.  This was fine with us -- the grill beckoned, and the line wasn't long.  We took our place behind a few day hikers and waited to place our orders.

Cheeseburgers and Sierra Mist (a Sprite-like drink) and french fries -- oh my!  It all tasted WONDERFUL.  We'd been living off almonds and trail mix for three days, so this food was ambrosia.

We took a seat on an outside picnic table and fielded questions from tourists/dayhikers.  It was obvious, from our body odor and filthy appearance, that we'd been away from civilization for a few days.  Folks were supportive and impressed with our thru-hiking plans.  We had some nice conversations with various people.  We also recharged our cameras and phones (there's a power strip inside the convenience store).

When our name was called, I approached the post office and listened to the spiel -- recycling goes here, empty buckets go there, and please go through your resupply by the specific tables across the parking lot from the post office.  I took the bucket and the cardboard tube I'd mailed to myself, walked across the parking lot, and joined a few other thru-hikers in the designated area.

My pocketknife and hiking poles were in the cardboard tube.  I'd mailed them so as not to deal with TSA agents confiscating them at the airport.  The resupply bucket was filled with far too much food.  We still had 1/3 of our original food left...there was no way we'd need all the calories I'd sent to myself.  Alex and Sage picked out the things they wanted most (sesame-bran sticks, dried fruit, specific types of flavored almonds, various kinds of M&Ms, electrolyte mixes, granola, Snickers bars, pistachios, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, and power bars).  I then gave our leftovers (summer sausage and extra granola) to a fellow who was hovering nearby and hoping for hand-outs.  This young man was "backpacking around the Sierras all summer" and could use any extra food we hikers wished to give him.  That was fine with us -- it was a win-win situation.  He got free food and I got to lighten my pack weight by three pounds.

The girls and I had originally planned to stay in the backpackers' camp, but, once again, it was early in the day (around 2pm) and we didn't feel like stopping.  We therefore agreed to hike another 4-6 miles and camp in the canyon.

Before we took off, I used the restroom and, at the sinks, met a woman named Connie.  Connie introduced herself and asked if we were hiking onward.  When I said yes, she asked if she could camp near us that evening, if we happened to end up in the same vacinity.  I told her of course, and she left the restroom and hiked onward.  We'd catch up with her later.

The girls and I gathered our things, walked out of Tuolumne Meadows, and headed toward Lyell Canyon.

It was a flat trek, so the miles went quickly.

We couldn't search for a place to camp until we were past an avalanche slide, roughly four miles from Tuolumne Meadows.  In the photos below, the girls point at what we think is that slide.

A mile or so later, roughly five miles from Tuolumne Meadows, we decided we'd look for our evening spot.  We were now in the trees, and the sky was looking ominous.  We wanted to get the tent set up before the boomers arrived.

We consulted the guidebook and looked for a certain camping spot.  As we were looking, we caught up with Connie, who was also searching for a place to pitch a tent.  We joined forces and, unfortunately, discovered the guidebook is wrong about a supposed camping spot by  the Ireland Creek junction...that camping site doesn't exist (or it's incredibly well hidden).  We therefore continued up the trail a bit, mindful of the overhead rumbles and increasing cloud cover.

I eventually saw a faint herd path leading off the trail toward the Lyell River.  The girls and I followed it and found a few camping spots within the trees.  We decided to make this our home for the evening.  Connie, however, wanted to see if there was another site farther up the trail.  We said our temporary goodbyes -- the girls and I would see her again the next day.

As the girls and I pondered exactly where to pitch our tent, a couple slowly walked by on the John Muir Trail (we could see the trail from our camping spot).  They looked like they were searching for a place to stay, so I hollered to them.  They came over to check out the area, then asked if it would be okay to camp nearby.  Their names were Melissa and Bobby.

Melissa and Bobby were newlyweds, and their faces glowed with happiness and serenity.  It was truly a pleasure to meet them.  The John Muir Trail was their honeymoon.  They carried a ton of photography equipment; Bobby explained he wanted to document their adventures so they could experience the trail all over again when they were older.  They also had fishing gear and a ton of other miscellaneous items.  They stated they had to move more slowly than they would otherwise because of the weight they were carrying -- each of their packs weighed over 40 pounds.

The thunder was getting louder, so the girls and I got the tent up and safely stored all our belongings.  Then the rain and the hail came, just as it had done the previous evening.  The girls enjoyed watching the small bits of ice bounce off the ground as the storm briefly raged.  The tempest lasted about half an hour, then the clouds moved on and the sky cleared.

Deer came along and wandered around our site just before we turned in for the evening.  I could see Melissa and Bobby sitting together on a log by their tent, watching the wildlife.

Once again, the girls played cards inside the tent until we ran out of daylight.

**JMT Hiking Day 4: Lyell Canyon to Thousand Islands Lake, will be posted by late Thursday evening.

JMT Hiking Day #2: Little Yosemite Valley to Lower Cathedral Lake. Aug. 6, 2014

**About 14 miles with roughly 3600 feet of elevation gain.

We slept well.  Before our trip, I worried I would fret over potential nightly bear visits and therefore rarely sleep a wink.  I had envisioned difficult hours of auditory paranoia -- every sound would be something large and hairy trying to break into our tent.

Thankfully, I experienced absolutely no unnecessary mental anguish.  The sight of that bear submissively turning and walking away at the sound of my yell had dispelled all my worries.  I slept soundly that night, knowing that if a bear did indeed try to come into our tent, a shout and a blow of my air horn would scare it away.

I woke at dawn (around 6am).  I roused the girls, and we proceeded to break camp.  This took much longer than expected.  We put our hiking clothes back on, loaded our backpacks, took down the tent, brushed our teeth, tied our camping shoes (Crocs) to our packs, and ate breakfast.  The entire process took two and a half hours.  We'd eventually get this routine down to one hour and forty-five minutes.

Our hiking clothes were still damp from the washing I'd given them.  Ack.  Lesson learned -- from this day forward, I never washed our hiking clothes (except our underwear, which almost always completely dried overnight).  Wearing dry but stinky clothes is far better than putting on ice-cold, wet clothes first thing in the morning.

By 8:30, we were ready to roll.  We walked out of the campground (leaving the Dartmouth fellows still sleeping in their tents...we wouldn't see them again until Muir Trail Ranch, eleven days later).

After 1.3 miles, we reached the intersection with the trail that leads to Half Dome.  Alex, Sage, and I looked at one another with huge smiles on our faces.  From this point on, we'd really be on the JMT.  Yes, we'd technically been on the JMT all morning, but now, we'd likely meet only other JMT thru-hikers.  At least, that's what we thought at the time.  This turned out not to be all that true, since we were heading toward Tuolumne Meadows.  Tons of people dayhike and do two or three day backpacks from Tuolumne, and we would end up meeting quite a few such folks.  Not that there's anything wrong with dayhikers and three-day backpackers.  Usually, those people are us.  Meeting fellow thru-hikers, however, is something special.  You know you'll likely see them again, and a camaraderie often develops.  That's what we were looking forward to..and we'd eventually get it.

Heading away from Half Dome,
toward Sunrise High Sierra Camp and Cathedral Lakes

We left the Yosemite/Half-Dome crowds behind and continued along the trail.

The tree in the center of the photo below was stripped of most its bark.  The bark was at the base...massive chunks!

There are plenty of intersections between Half Dome and Sunrise High Sierra Camp, but each intersection is well-marked.

Onward...

The open woods were gorgeous.  Walking through the tall, stately pines felt liberating.

The climb to Sunrise High Sierra camp was surprisingly tough for us.  The path was rarely steep, but we were hiking at 9500+ feet and we weren't yet acclimated to the altitude.  We felt good, but we needed to stop after every few switchbacks to catch our breath and drink water.

We met a nice father-son team on our way up; they were heading in the opposite direction and they let us know we were close to the top of our climb.  Congrats to the son, Thomas, who begins his college career this year at Middlebury College in Vermont.

We also met a young man named Matt -- Matt did the Camino last year, just a couple months after we did.  We enjoyed sharing our memories of Spain.

We reached the top of the switchbacks and were rewarded with this view --

From here, Sunrise High Sierra Camp is only a couple tenths of a mile away.

We reached the Camp, filled our water bottles, and took a food break.  The girls and I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast, so we broke out our large bag of peanut M&Ms and snacked away.  The bag was demolished in less than five minutes.

We had originally planned on sleeping at Sunrise High Sierra -- it looks like a nice place and the manager, who I ran into while walking to the compost toilet, is charming and nice.  However, it was early in the day and the girls felt strong.  We decided, therefore, to head over Cathedral Pass and sleep next to Upper or Lower Cathedral Lake.

On our way up the pass, we met a friendly, energetic family hiking in the other direction (coming into Sunrise High Sierra).  The man called out, "This must be Trish, Alex, and Sage!"  Then he said his family had read my book.  The encounter was flattering -- it really lifted our spirits.  The man and his wife have three kids, Zack, PJ, and Mia, and each looked like they were hiking strong.  It was truly a pleasure to meet them.  We spoke for a while and the family was so kind!  Our conversation seemed to give us an energy boost; after we said our goodbyes, the girls and I hiked onward with renewed vigor.

Cathedral Pass is minor as far as passes go.  It's isn't all that exposed...still, when the clouds gathered and the thunder began, I became uncomfortable.

View from Cathedral Pass

We hurried over the pass and into the trees.  The thunder came closer and boomed with greater frequency, but, thankfully, we remained on the outskirts of the fury.  The next day, I heard from other hikers that the storm had unleashed most of its drama over Tuolumne Meadows.

Upper Cathedral Lake from the JMT

We reached Upper Cathedral Lake and saw "Restoration Site -- No Camping" signs posted everywhere.  We therefore hiked another mile or so down to the intersection for Lower Cathedral Lake.  There's a half mile trail leading off the JMT toward the lake -- we followed it.  The thunder was now LOUD and I thought the lightning was going to fly in our direction.  There were a few, tiny, sad looking sites where we could technically pitch our tent, but our guidebook said there were tons of great sites close to the lake.  We had reached the end of the trail, but we couldn't see those fabulous sites.  Befuddled, we turned right and walked to the small ledges by Lower Cathedral Lake.

From there, we still couldn't see anything obvious.  The thunder was constant and we were standing on rock, so I hurried the girls around the right side of the lake and into the trees.  There -- a few tenths of a mile from the end of the path, in the trees -- were the campsites.  At least fifteen tents were already set up.  There really are a zillion beautiful sites around that lake -- you just have to walk down the path, take a right to the lake, walk over the ledges, and go into the trees to get there.

We found a flat spot and set up camp just in time.  One minute after we safely stowed our gear, rain and hail came pouring down.

The storm only lasted twenty minutes (by Cathedral Lakes...apparently, the storm lasted for hours over Tuolumne Meadows).  The sun then came out, melted the hailstones, and dried the ground.

Camping by Lower Cathedral Lake

I didn't bother washing our hiking clothes this time.  Instead, I hung them up outside to air out overnight.  This strategy worked well for the rest of our thru-hike.  The night air never eliminated the stink from our clothes, but it did lessen the smell substantially.

The girls played cards until it was too dark to see, then we began our snoozing.

*The next post, Hiking Day #3 - from Lower Cathedral Lake to Lyell Canyon, will be posted by late Sunday evening.

**Gear Review -- Backpacks!  See the Gear page for my reviews on the Gossamer Gear Gorilla and the Gossamer Gear Quicksak.  I used the Gorilla and the girls each used a Quicksak.  In sum -- we LOVED them!  A+