I leave camp at 6AM today, later than usual. It’s a light day I think, 2,700’ of up to get over Donahue Pass. I start off heading up the trail and quickly catch up to Steve from NY. He took a leave of absence from PWC to be here, nice. We hike 3 miles together before my pace is too fast, next I’m solo for miles 4-5. I see a few other hikers I’ve seen before and say hi, I cross a stream and see Craig taking a break.
“What’s up man.”- Craig
“Not much how bout you? You ready for the slog?”- me
We sit and chill for a minute and get ready for the climb. Luckily there is not much snow and we can see the top. Another mile and we’re breathing heavy, 11k feet and we’re moving. 2.3 MPH, we hit the top and decide to take a break. I enjoy some food, a ton of water and have to chase off a Marmot. It try’s to steal my trekking pole! It grabbed the handle and starts running away. I catch up and grab the pole, wtf man cut it out.
After our break we see some JMT hikers and chat with them. They are on day 7 of their 16 day trek, awesome. From here we officially enter Yosemite National Park, my second time being here and I’m still in love.
I tell Craig in 6 miles I’m camping, we are actually not allowed to camp in Yosemite’s Tuolumne Meadows area. Imagine that, we have to rip the 14 miles without camping, and with 20 miles already done, 14 more isn’t happening. He is going in to grab a burger then going to stealth camp somewhere.
On the way down I see a ranger Sean and we chat for a bit, he checks my PCT permit and is just genuinely stoked I’m out here. He says I’m the first person from New England he’s seen in a while, he also says he’s going to camp up and Donahue pass for 3 days to see if anyone needs help.
That’s how a ranger should be. Awesome interaction with him and I hope he has a great hike also. From here I keep it moving and go a few more miles and find a nice spot to set up camp. I send Seven a garmin message and tell him my mile marker. “Got a spot for you too.” I tell him.
An hour later he rolls into camp and we make dinner, chill, he’s battling the sickness I had last week now. After a bit we then head into our tents for the night. I am heading into Tuolumne meadows for the post office in the AM to ship some more weight back home (ice axe, microspikes).
The Pacific Crest Trail 