Sonora Pass - Tuolumne Meadows

Mile 1016 - 942

A beautiful day to finish our Sonora Pass crossing.  Since I was the only one that received crampons in the mail yesterday, I had to break trail.  I wasn't too hip on the idea at first, but after a few 100yards in these sweet babies, Shadow couldn't catch up.  We climbed up and around a giant bowl full of snow to the other side and that was just the beginning.  Our highest point was 10,800ft.  What wasn't covered in snow looked like the surface of the moon.  Nothing but scree fields (rock) from one ridge to another.  We were in awe of the beauty that is the high Sierras.  Snowy mountains as far as you could see.  Ice blue lakes below with green meadows thousands of feet down.  No wind and warm weather made the crossing nice.  Just below tree line we stopped for lunch.  Our packs weigh a ton!  I forgot how heavy that darn bear box was.  This is our third long hike.  Why are our packs so heavy! Have we learned nothing?  

Back down into a meadow after lunch before passing the 1,000 mile marker.  1,100 miles for us since we are still SoBo.  Speaking of that, these NoBo hikers are quickly loosing their charm.  We will never get anywhere if we have to stop 20 times a day and regurgitate the same information about what's to come.  Geez...

This afternoon clouds rolled in and thunder shook the valley.  It reminded me of Alaska last Summer.  I was getting my haircut when a thunderstorm passed through town along with lots of rain.  The women in the salon went to the window.  Excited about the thunder.  It's rare to hear that I guess.  That same rumble made Shadow and I glad we were below tree line today.

We climbed to Dorothy Pass about 9,400 feet and entered Yosemite National Park.  I'm not sure what I was expecting to see.  Maybe "Welcome to Yosemite!"  Nope, just a sign with a long list of rules.  What the sign lacked, Dorothy Lake made up.  The clouds lowered along the granite mountains and snow touching the waters edge.  Along Dorothy Lake is where we made camp.  The weather was too crappy for Shadow to fish, so he started a nice little fire while I cooked.  Fancy style ramen with leftover salami cooked in a freezer bag.  All I need is one of those blankets with arm sleeves like you see on infomercials.

The low clouds that settled near the lake stayed overnight.  By 8am the first of many drops of rain began to fall.  Before I go into that story I first want to tell you about a hiker we crossed paths with today. Thermometer is his name.  I had been following his daughter on the PCT Facebook page.  She has been helping her dad plan for his hike.  They both are from Korea and he speaks no English.  I was hoping to see him at some point so Shadow communicated in Korean.  I can only order off a Korean menu so I'm no help.  I think he was happy to hear his native language on the trail.  We exchanged trail names and I'am pretty sure he said that I didn't look like a mouse.  

Back to the rain.  After 14 miles with low visibility Shadow and I called it quits for a while.  We had just received word that a hiker was helicoptered out due to a slip and fall so let's take it easy.  It was only 1pm and the plan was to wait in the tent until the rain stopped before continuing.  After 2 cups of tea and no sign of the rain stopping we decided to stay the night.  Shadow went out to pee and noticed the creek near us rising.  We repacked our bags and moved two more times before finding safe higher ground.  Luckily we found a perfect flat spot on top of a 20 foot tall Boulder.  We also marked spots where the swollen creek ran to keep an eye on the water levels.  By 5pm the rain had stopped.  Shadow and I had dried the tent the best we could and watched the river below.  I'm beginning to think the High Sierras don't want us here.

By 3am the sky was clear.  A good thing because everything was wet...everything.  The first order of business was to see if we could even ford the creek that had flooded.  The creek was running fast, but had receded back into it's banks.  Shadow crossed first then came back for my pack and crossed again with me.  It wasn't the worst creek we had crossed, but it was still tricky.  Our first climb of the morning was less like climbing a mountain and more like climbing a waterfall.

Today was a challenging day.  The trail was very similar to the Maine section of the Appalachian Trail.  Lots of fords, granite rocks, and few switchbacks.  We would climb 1,500 feet up to a pass only to descend 1,500 feet down to a canyon over and over today.  Lunch was perched high above with awesome views.  Everything was laid out on a rock including us to dry.  To our surprise we managed to make 20 miles today.  The nice thing about getting to camp is not eating dinner, but laying down.  We inflate our sleeping pads and release a sigh of relief that another day is over.  As I write this, my sleeping pad is deflating and I am slowly drifting back to the ground.  It's going to be a long night...

Today is our last 20 miles to Tuolumne Meadows.  The views today are no different than the views from the last few days and they are spectacular!  The ground was soft last night and everything we were not wearing was laying under me.  My air mattress flattened out with 30 minutes last night.  No worries though because tonight we will be at Shadow's Aunt Nancy and Uncle Bob's house for a few days of R&R.  

By 4:30pm Shadow and I were sitting at a picnic table at the Tuolumne Meadow's Grill eating hotdogs and ice cream waiting for his aunt and uncle to arrive.