A friend on the trail once said “Town makes you weak” and I was really feeling it this morning. It’s hard being back on the trail, especially when you have cell phone service and you see what you’re missing out on.
Today was a hard day. We had two back to back mountain passes with more than 4000 feet of climbing in soft slushy snow. The first pass was Island Pass. It’s named that because of Thousand Island Lake that lies right below. It has a lot of islands, but they kinda just looked like rocks and trees in a snow field since the lake was still frozen.
Then we had the big pass, Donohue. It was long and the incline was mellow, but it was hard with the soft snow. Eventually, I made it to the top and stopped to eat. I thought my Doritos were going to blow up but lucky for me they didn’t.
I had the pass to myself for a whole hour. I went to the bathroom on some rocks and immediately a marmot sauntered over for a salty treat. It didn’t even care that I was there.
After some food and letting my tent dry out (ground was wet where I camped) I headed down the pass into Yosemite National Park.
I followed footprints and ended up on top of a waterfall. I could either go back up and take the normal way down, or downclimb the waterfall. I downclimbed the waterfall. It wasn’t as bad as it sounds and I was never in a life or death situation. It just would have been really cold and wet if I slipped.
The pass was steep and I got out of the snow quickly. Soon I was at the bottom and the trail followed the Lyell Fork of the Tuolomne River. It was everything I expected from Yosemite (Except for the stuff in Yosemite Valley of course.) It was beautiful.
I ran into a JMT hiker who was going to take her pack and her husband’s pack up because he hurt his knee. She must really love him.
I followed the river for awhile, making good time and enjoying the view. I saw several deer that didn’t seem to care that I was there at all. I passed a few more hikers, but not as many as I would expect on a holiday weekend.
Finally, after 20 miles, I made it to camp. The funk of the morning was gone and I’m happy to be back on the trail.