After a nice night on a rock, we headed into the snow. If all goes well, it would be our last day in the High Sierra, and our last day with a bear can.
We trudged up Lake Dorothy Pass and made it out of Yosemite. It was beautiful but it was a TOUGH section. Soon after leaving the park we made it to another, literal, milestone.
We’ve officially gone 1000 miles. That wasn’t the end of the day though. We climbed down from the pass into a different forest. The mountains around us changed too. You can see the contrast here.
There was less snow now and we were able to make better miles. A stretch goal for today was Sonora Pass, the “end” of the High Sierra and hopefully the end of the really hard stuff. Sonora Pass is a highway pass and a place we can hitch to and get some food. We started climbing a ridge and our guide said that the next water was in 10 miles. Sonora Pass was in 11. It looked like we were committed to making it to the highway.
This section turned out to be one of the most beautiful of the whole PCT. The mountains were bare with patches of snow. It looked like we were on mars. We spent most of the afternoon walking on a ridge, seeing Yosemite behind us and the mountains around Lake Tahoe in front of us.
I think I saw a mountain lion today too. I saw a large animal sprinting along a far off ridge. It had a long tail and was cream colored. I’ve never seen any animal move like that through the mountains.
At this point I had gotten pretty far ahead of a few people I had been hiking with. When myself and two others got to the trailhead a truck pulled up from Kennedy Meadows Resort. They asked if we wanted a ride. We weren’t sure what to do, since we wanted to wait for our friends, but when they told us the restaurant was still open we hopped in the bed of their truck and rode to Kennedy Meadows.
For some reason there are two Kennedy Meadows. One marks the start of the Sierra and one marks the end. I don’t know if that’s a coincidence or what, but the northern Kennedy Meadows is WAY better. There aren’t any overflowing portapotties and they actually seem to like hikers.
Their special for the night was a turkey dinner. It had everything you’d want on thanksgiving. I even got a piece of pumpkin pie. It was one of the best meals I’ve had during the whole trail.
This is the satisfied face of someone who just finished the Sierras.