Today was an exciting day because we were doing a shorter day and ending our day at Tuolumne Meadows, which is a place in Yosemite National Park with a general store… Which means.. You guessed it, unlimited food!!! We had the promise of that food in mind all day as we hustled to get to the store by 5pm when it closed (although we discovered it actually closes at 8 once we got there).
Yote and 2.Toe got an earlier start than us this morning. We headed out and had an uphill that was only a mile or mile and a half but felt really tiring for some reason. At the top we came across a beautiful serene lake. Everything was so still and quiet. We then had a few creek crossings. These were crossings that were difficult earlier in the season but for us were easy and none higher than knee deep. I was very grateful for that!
We had a long flat section through a beautiful meadow where we finally caught up to Yote and 2.Toe. We also passed some new SOBOs, Captain Bubbles and Tin Man as well as a large group that we didn’t get any of their names. We passed a couple trains of pack horses too which was cool to see.
Soon we descended and came across Tuolumne Falls, a huge rushing waterfall. We also started encountering a lot of day hikers and Yosemite tourists from this point on. Luckily because we were now on well travelled trails in Yosemite, the walking was pretty flat and easy. Although we were doing a shorter day with easy terrain we were still feeling tired by the time we neared Tuolumne Meadows. Just before we got to the turnoff to the store, we stopped at Soda Springs. This is an amazing spring where water comes up from the ground and is carbonated!! We tried it and it was just like soda water, perhaps even more carbonated! They don’t know what causes the carbonation still.
After our detour we then headed to the Tuolumne General Store. There were so many people everywhere! We had a bit of a culture shock since we are so used to being alone in the woods and now were inundated with hundreds of people and cars and noises. We entered the store and proceeded to buy lots of snacks and drinks. There were some picnic tables just outside the store and we set up for the afternoon. There were a bunch of other day hikers and PCT hikers and JMT hikers also hanging out at the picnic tables. It was like a little hiker colony.
We ate a ton of food and also drank some beers. Wolf Bird opted to drink a bottle of wine since he is a classy gentleman. Finally after hours of hanging out I was ready to head to the campground where we’d spend the night. It was just down the street from the store. Wolf Bird and Yote and 2.Toe decided to hang out at the store for a while and I headed to the campground, mostly because they’d closed the bathrooms at the store and I needed to go! I walked to the campground with my bathroom needs turning to an emergency and was upset when the bathroom closest to the campground entrance had a sign that it was closed due to a water mane break. I then had to go find another bathroom and was power walking through the huge campground in my flip flops when I stubbed my toe on a rock. It hurt SO bad. My toe then started bleeding but I still needed to go to the bathroom so I kept walking as my flip flop grew bloodier and bloodier. I Must’ve been quite the sight to see amongst all these nice families with their campers out for a quality family vacation. Alas finally I found a bathroom and also was able to wash off my foot.
I then set up our tent and cooked dinner and finally the other three arrived. They had met a couple that took them to a whirlpool area of a nearby river. Crazy Wolf Bird and Two Point Toe took a dip even though the sun was setting and it was getting chilly out! We all hung out for a bit before heading to bed.
I hope your toe is ok!!! You sound tired.
love u big
stay safe