Hey there! This is your long awaited and highly requested update that I have been oh so tardy with. SO many pieces of my trail life have been moving and grooving around, as it is in the ever changing times on the trail. I am past the halfway point of the trail mileage wise and am 60% done with my time on the trail (as my body is accustomed to higher mileage days and the terrain flattens out in Northern California/ Oregon, I’ll be able to be a speed goat for a bit!).
After all of the miles and experiences I’ve had between, Mammoth feels like a lifetime ago. The trail took me into Yosemite National Park following my trip out of Mammoth, and it was my first time there! I enjoyed the views immensely, but found that I much prefer the back roads of backpacking- it felt like the trails in Yosemite were much more crowded (even if it was just a few more folks in camp sites or on trail), I felt like the quaint solitude of the trail was missed for a bit. But the views were immense- the trail takes us into Tuolomne Meadows, rather than the valley (what you’d normally think of when you think Yosemite), so I got to see some sights of the park that only backpackers will ever see. There were meadows that made me feel like I was in the Hobbit, and rivers and creeks that were likely the muse for the ‘Lazy River’ at Wild Rivers (where the 5 meets the 405??). Just out of Tuolumne, I spent the night at a campsite called Glen Ayulin, where I drank a little trail whiskey with my friends and took a dip in the waterfall. There is nothing more refreshing or baptismal than a waterfall that is so loud you can’t hear your thoughts and so cold you can’t feel the soreness of your muscles. Pretttty much the perfect through hiking medicine.
The marmots were as active as ever, and I saw exponentially more deer than I normally do, which was quite a treat. But who really took home the cake on wildlife appearances this section was the mosquito. I don’t know if we were walking through a fresh hatch of moquitoes, but BOY did they want to play! It often felt like I was a character in Harry Potter and I let a Boggart loose and my greatest fear was being bitten by mosquitoes. The only way to keep mosquitoes from landing and biting is to keep walking (it was great for mileage!). When you’d find one on your skin and slap it silly, you’d find blood spurted all over from the kill- your blood from not slapping too soon, or a fellow hikers blood from a recent bite? You didn’t know. Smoke fends them off, so we were making fires a lot more than normal, even at lunchtime. It feels like they’re TRYING to ruin your life out here- they surround you while you’re fetching water, so much so that you grab your water and run away without filtering. You can’t stop to pee, you’ll get surrounded. You better hold it. FORGET number two, you’ll have bug bites in your bootie. When you finally get into your tent after screaming at the buzzers the whole time you’re setting up, you take account of how many got in and you play wack a mole for a few minutes until they’re all killed off. One day they swarmed so bad even while I was walking that I had to use my trekking poles as windshield wipers to just see ahead of me. I got bit so many times that I had hives all over my legs because of all the histamine running through my body. No bueno. I surely invested in and now regard highly an over sized bottle of Benadryl cream. Needless to say, I get why deet exists. I don’t condone it, but I get it. It’s wack a mole for me, I guess.
(Me featuring my prized full body bug suit) (I don’t care how it looks, it works and you’d wear it too)
Along with mosquitoes, this section was filled with new hiker friends- we were in a different bubble of hikers than we were normally surrounded by, so I felt the fun new energy of new friendships, different stories and fun new trail routines.
With the plethora of small creeks and lakes, the trail was often mudded over or flooded, so I played a lot of hop scotch to keep my feet from submerging- that kept me engaged! It always felt like a win when I made it past a patch of mud or a totally washed out section of grass with dry feet.
Tuolumne lead into Sonora Pass/ Kennedy Meadows North- the unofficial end of the high sierra. We’d still be in the Sierra range for a bit, but wouldn’t be hitting high mountain passes quite like we were before. To get to Kennedy Meadows North (and to drop off our 2 lb bear canisters and free ourselves of that extra weight!), we had to first walk up and over Sonora Pass. I thought that the dangerous snow walking and windy exposed ridges of the Sierra were behind us, but boy was I hit with surprise when I arrived at Sonora Pass. It was the first time on trail that I felt like my footing REALLY mattered- there were some patches of snow on steep climbs that if you slipped, you would be falling on snow for a lot longer than anybody would ever like. My legs shook like Bambi. After passing the snowy ridges, we were hit by huge wind gusts that would push us to our knees. My only coping mechanism was to just yell “aaaGHHHHH” (or something of the sort) at the wind for at least an hour. After FINALLY getting down the endless snowy switchbacks with more and more exposure, we hit the road where we’d be hitching into Kennedy Meadows North. I decided that I’d never, ever never ever willingly or happily choose to do Sonora Pass ever again. It was great commiserating with all the other hikers in Kennedy Meadows North after we had all been emotionally (and some of us, physically) ripped to shreds by Sonora. I might be dramatic about this, but I didn’t like it and I’m glad it’s done. :-)
About 50 miles before hitting South Lake Tahoe, there was a drop in temperature and we were walking through snow flurries and freezing weather. Snow travel can be tough on the trail, but active snow fall is SO fun! It’s a welcomed change in environment and I find it extremely peaceful. For some reason, snow flurries always bring a loud sense of silence to the outdoors. I really adore it. I don’t adore waking up to a snow covered tent after a sleepless and freezing night, though. Very luckily, one of my trail friends, Porcelain, has a family cabin in Arnold, CA and was staying a few nights there to wait out the storm. He came and picked us up from a road crossing on the trail and we made a warm meal, milkshakes, and all slept in comfy beds. Such a treat. It’s most specifically special when you get moments on the trail with friends that are serendipitous and unexpected- we had not been looking forward to packing up wet tents or trying to fall asleep in the cold. Spending an evening with a speaker, fun music and puzzles inside a cabin filled with friends? A hugely unexpected treat that was warmly (very warmly) welcomed.
Getting back on the trail after the night in Arnold was not hard for me, as my dear friends Gillian and Lisa had just told me that she’d meet me in Tahoe the next day (coming from SF). So I walked with huge smiles on my face knowing I was being picked up by my girls. This short section brought us around Aloha Lake and through the Desolation Wilderness, where the Tahoe Rim Trail joins the PCT. Therefore, there were a few more new folks to meet on this section (it’s not hard to tell that someone hasn’t been on trail for more than a month- I can still smell their deodorant from when they left, or their pack doesn’t have any rips in it. It’s a fun game to play, picking out a non PCTer from far away). 
Seeing my girls in Tahoe was so special. I have plenty of friends and social time on the trail, but to be with people who know you and the parts of you that transcend the trail really helps put the whole experience into perspective. I’m grateful, grateful, grateful to have folks that willingly travel to see me or vehemently support me from afar. I’m a very lucky hiker :)
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