I wake up and it’s day 100 of hiking. Wow, I can’t believe it’s been that long. Over 1,450 miles hiked since March. The PCT, the Grand Canyon, Sequoia, Yosemite, Death Valley, Kern River Valley… It’s been a fucking ride, excuse my language. . . But for now, for today it’s 6.5 miles to get to Tuolumne Meadows Post office and the small general store they have there. I get moving at 6:20AM and notice on the map the trails relatively flat the whole way. Nice!
At mile 2 I run into a father son group who I’ve been leap frogging for a few days. They’re heading in to grab breakfast and find a place to stay for a night in Yosemite valley. We chat for a few minutes, I tell them how awesome it is they’re hiking together. Then I leave them in the dust for miles 3 through 5. Flat ground, light bag and town in the distance I’m like Forest Gump.
The trail is muddy and the mosquitos are bad but still it’s showing views of beautiful meadows and granite cliffs all around. Classic Yosemite, when I finally hit mile 6 I cross the first paved street that the trail touches since Kennedy Meadows South.
A nice paved road too, no potholes. As I cross the road I see Steve who I met earlier this week sitting down eating a pancake at a national park bench. Everyone there looks at me and I get waved over as well.
Legend, his wife and two guys who were just climbing Yosemite are dishing out food for hikers. I first met Legend back at Lake Morena on day two. I then saw him again at Warner Springs a week later, and then in Idylwild and again in Bishop last week. Guy is all over the place.
I grab a piece of sour dough bread from the basket and skip the pancake. I appreciate it, I just don’t really like breakfast while I’m active. It’s now 8:45AM and I tell them I got to go. Thank you again for the hospitality but I want to hit the post office right when it opens.
Steve says the same and him and I walk the last small bit to the post office and store and talk to the guy working there. He was absolutely amazing, he shipped my ice axe and microspikes home and decorates everyone’s packages as they arrive. Steve grabs his resupply box and we look at the cool art work on the box.
After the tiny post office visit I grabbed some snacks and a sandwich from the store. I’m a sucker for skittles out here on trail. $3.25 for a normal size pack. Robbed. Seven arrives a half hour later and does the same thing. We chat with some other hikers Poppa Duck and Cruisy. I actually went over kearsage pass with them last month, wild how our paths cross again and then like that it’s time to say good bye and get walking again.
From here I hiked through Yosemite National Park for another 16 miles of gradual uphill around multiple beautiful waterfalls. I didn’t take many pictures. Last time I was here I saw soo many waterfalls it’s underwhelming now. We run into two lady rangers who were checking permits and bear cans. This is the second time in 2 days I’ve been checked. The girls are lovely and give me some tips for where to camp. They also say to side quest to Benson Lake is a must. I thought one of them was really cute.
After two nice river crossings to cool off I grabbed a flat piece of ground right after Return creek. I pitched my tent, walked back to the river and took a nice dip. The water was perfect for my sore legs, ice cold. After my dip I went back and laid everything out to dry. I smell camp fire, I walk back down to the water and see Steve lighting a fire in the fire ring in the middle. NICE!
I cook Annie’s Mac n cheese for dinner and talk to Seven about our day. He cooks Annie’s white cheddar Mac n cheese and then heads off to bed early to watch some shows. I head into my tent as the mosquitos are vicious and watch an old movie “Blood Diamond.” Leo just crushing it again. I’m going to get an early start tomorrow, it’s going to be a 5,000’ elevation gain day.
Day 2 Yosemite-Day 101
I wake up at 5AM and get a move on, Seven says he’s going to sleep in and will catch up. He’s still sick and slowly getting better. It’s almost all uphill today so I have no doubt he will. I put 2 miles behind me and see a new couple I haven’t met yet.
Snoopy and Juggernaught who are from Germany, I’ve hiked with sooo many awesome people from Germany on this trip. Reaper, Stumbles, Vigand, Fearless, Feather, and now Snoopy and Juggernaut…… Luckily now I’ll definitely have a couch to sleep on when I visit Germany next year.
Snoopy sets the pace, she is getting us up over Benson pass and then down into Benson lake for lunch. Another mile goes by and we see Steve from New York, damn he must’ve got up stupid early. He joins us and we continue on up the pass, 12% grade and rocky trails. Reminds me of home, and I hate it haha. We reach the top of the pass and the views are as always beautiful. We bask in the views of the alpine lakes and really enjoy the moment. The mosquitos are bad so we can’t stop and take lunch here.
From there we decide to head down a few miles to Benson lake and do lunch there and wow I am soo glad I did not skip this side quest. It starts with a 5 way river crossing that’s confusing as hell. Then It’s a half mile off the PCT but I tell the two others “you can convince me to go.” Steve says he’s going too and “it can’t be missed.” Ok I’m convinced.
The four of us arrive at the beach and it’s like an ocean beach but with softer sand. I can’t believe this exists way out here in the middle of nowhere. I kick my shoes and socks off to dry, I then take a quick dip in the lake and then enjoy some lunch. Today meat sticks and cheese wrapped in a tortilla. It’s day 4 and my rule is this needs to be eaten today versus getting food poisoning.
After lunch and relaxing it’s time to leave, I ask Snoopy and Juggernautht how much farther they are hiking. “4-5 miles” they respond. Roger that. We get moving and again it’s 2700’ of uphill from here, we reach the top soaked in sweat but again can’t stop due to the mosquitos.
We start the down hill and run into 3 guys hiking SOBO to Benson lake. They’re going to spend a night or two there. Nice, we tell them how beautiful it is and then say goodbye. As we’re talking to those guys Seven walks up behind us. I say “Damn. Took you 7 hours to catch up.” But he did it.
Seven now leading the pack we finish the last 2 miles and see some tent sites to grab. We say goodbye to our two new friends and that we will see them tomorrow or at Kennedy Meadows North. An hour later Steve arrives at the same campsite.
I pitch my tent and immediately the mosquitos are violent. I put all my stuff inside and say fuck it I’ll do this later. I run to dig tomorrow mornings cat hole on some stupid hard ground and then head to my tent. At 5:35PM it’s time for dinner and then talking to each other from 10 feet away through our tent walls. The bugs are just that fucking bad right now.
Day 3 Yosemite-Day 102
I wake up at 4:45AM and notice Steve’s already gone. Damn he got up early again, it’s not even light out here yet. I pack camp up and get moving. It’s 3.5 miles of luscious forest and a deep river crossing before I start to climb.
The climb starts off gradual and then immediately turns to steep steps. Oh Yosemite you are exactly as I remembered, the trails are well maintained but it’s always tall steps or short steps. It’s tough on the legs and today it’ll be never ending. I pass by 4-5 other hikers still in their tents half way up. Nice spots.
I didn’t want to start the hill yesterday, and today I think that was the right move. I make it up the first climb and it levels off at a small pond. The mosquitoes are firing right now and I can’t even stop. I grab a snack from my bag and keep on walking fast.
It’s another eight miles to Dorothy Lake, I Garmin Steve and ask him if he’s stopping there for lunch and if the bugs are bad? He responds he is actually behind me. He stopped earlier and climbed up a rock to avoid the mosquitos and still said it sucked, I didn’t even see him as I passed him.
I carry on up the trail when I’m a quarter mile away from Dorothy lake I hear someone yell “Hey Mouse!” I look over to my right and it’s Snoopy and Juggernaut. They’re having lunch right next to Dorothy lake and they picked a beautiful spot. I duck through the woods and go chill with them. They’re shocked at how I caught up to them. I believe it, I crushed 19 miles before noon. I walked fast so the mosquitos couldn’t catch me and I never stopped because I couldn’t.
I toss my tyvek down and chill, I eat some snacks and filter water straight from the lake. I don’t have much food left to eat for lunch today. We chat about the day and they say after we split yesterday they ended up going another 6 miles. Today they’re going to hike 10 more miles to be only 10 miles from Kennedy Meadows North for tomorrow morning.
After a while Steve walks by, we yell him over and all chill. The two leave first to get those 10 miles done and Steve and I wait another hour. After a swim, and some more water we both get going.
Another mile goes by and we pass the 1,000 mile marker. Actually we walk by a few of them and then we both say after the next few streams we’re going to grab some ground. I see some nice flat spots and tell Steve I’m setting up. He says him too.
After setting up camp only 15 miles out of Kennedy meadows North, finally charging my devices from my battery banks and eating dinner. I head into my tent to watch a movie and get a nice night sleep. Early start tomorrow as I’m hoping to catch the 10AM shuttle.
Day 4 Yosemite- Day 103
I wake up to my 4AM alarm, I didn’t get a nice night sleep. Surprise surprise, Standard Operating Procedure. I hear Steve ruffling around in his tent. It’s go time, I pack up my stuff, hit my cat hole and tell Steve I am ready to get walking. We start off up the trail in total darkness, today’s the longest day of the year but we don’t need it. I expect to be at the trail head by 10.
We hit the first climb and pass four water sources, I tell Steve at water source 6 I’m filling up two liters for the climb. We kept our feet dry for all of them. We hit the 6th and we both fill up, I expect the uphill to require me to drink water.
We reach the bottom of the valley and see our actual ascent. wtf is that we both say, it looks never ending. As soon as we start the winds picks up. Forecasts today say 60MPH winds. A half a mile goes by and we are tucking into the trees to get a break from the wind.
Steve stops and says “hey look people way up top!” And like that I see 2 figures way ahead of us. Nice at least we now know it’s possible. We keep on and notice two different trails, the actual trail and then a blue blaze that shoots straight up the side. One has snow and one does not, we chose the one with no snow.
It was steeper but that’s fine, we’re hoping to get it done. We stop every few minutes to get out of the wind, it is absolutely whipping today. We finally hit the top and sketch across the snowy traverse. That’s when I look and see we are not done with the up.
We have 5 more miles of ridge line that looks absolutely beautiful. Both Steve and I say forget about a break keep walking. At one point we were almost being blown over, luckily we were being blown into the mountain not off of it.
We hit the final climb and see the descent. Ugh even worse than we expected with snow snow snow. Steve looks at me and says “ Mouse, are you down to skitch down this mountain and skip the snow?” Yes sir I reply. Let’s hit the skree and ski down. We start down and it’s like ice, tiny pebbles on top of granite. I giggle because it reminds me of cartoons with marbles.
We reach some clean trail finally and turn the jets on. We missed the 10AM shuttle by an hour. We reach the trail head and see a couple there taking pictures. We introduce our selves and start chatting. I detect their accent and they detect mine. They’re from New Zealand and they tell me they are in the US road tripping. Their son goes to MIT! I laugh and tell them about how I grew up 5 minutes away from MIT, also studied engineering and that I spent 2024 road tripping New Zealand to move there.
They offer us fruit and a banana but decline to give us a ride to KMN. Totally understandable as they were heading in the opposite direction as us. Before we part ways she asks if I’ll take a bottle of wine? I look at Steve and he looks at me… “sure I say, we’ll definitely end up drinking it tonight.” I toss the bottle of wine in my water holder and we start to try and hitch hike.
10 minutes goes by and I’m at the side of the road hitching, standing there holding out this bottle. A guy stops and says “hey what the fuck are you doing?” I respond “Trying to get to Kennedy Meadows North! I’ll trade you this bottle of red for a ride there sir.” He thinks it over a split second and then says to jump in. Steve and I jump in the car and find out was from Bishop, and was going to Sacramento to visit his parents. He said they’d enjoy the wine.
The guy drops Steve and I off at Kennedy Meadows North after the quick ride and we check in to the mixed dorm. 50$ for housing, laundry and a shower, going to enjoy a zero day tomorrow before the 3 days hike to South Lake Tahoe.
Seven shows up at 5PM saying the same thing I did. That was a much harder day than I could’ve been. The wind was whipping. He’s also taking a zero tomorrow, he’s flying north the same day I am. While at Kennedy Meadow North we run into a few other hikers we’ve seen. Snoopy and Juggernaut, Mark from Israel who we hiked Mather Pass with and we even get to meet some new hikers. It’s always interesting to see all of us doing the exact same thing, just totally different than each other. I just remembered I mailed my self a resupply box here. I wanted to skip the hiker mark up. See Sevens resupply below.
The Pacific Crest Trail 