Author: Julie Blouin

We spent a good deal of time lounging around town today.  I grabbed some mochas for us and a breakfast burrito at a little coffee shop near the hotel.  We hung out in the hotel until checkout at 11:00AM. I needed a gas canister for my stove and was worried I wouldn’t be able to find one in town, as there is no outdoor store here. I tried texting Yote and 2.Toe (who are across the river on the Oregon side, in Cascade Locks) to see if they could find any gas canisters there, but my phone was not sending/receiving texts. I checked out the hardware store near our hotel on a whim and was excited to discover they sold gas canisters! Unfortunately they only had the large size (I usually get the small ones), which will add quite a bit of extra weight, but perhaps it will last me until the end of the trail.

Tofu was more efficient than Wolf Bird and I and she set off to Walking Man Brewery to hang out and wait for us to finish up our chores. Wolf Bird and I stopped by the library to catch up on some blogging. He then went to meet Tofu at the brewery while I headed to the grocery store as I hadn’t resupplied yet. I got the food I’d need for this next section and also sneakily bought a couple things for Wolf Bird’s birthday (coming up on 9/4), as I didn’t think I’d encounter another fully stocked grocery store before his birthday.

Finally I headed to the brewery myself and discovered Wolf Bird and Tofu hanging out on the patio with huge flights in front of each of them! This brewery has the largest size taster glasses I’ve ever seen! When you order a flight, you get to sample 9 beers and each glass is like a mini pint. The two of them had already put in some good work on their flights. I of course had to join and ordered my own and then we all ordered some food as well. We planned to hang out here for a bit then get a hitch back to the trail mid to late afternoon and put in maybe 10ish miles before dark.

While we were hanging out, my phone (which was still acting weird and only receiving/sending every third text) shut off all of a sudden and wouldn’t turn on. Finally I got it to start up, but it got frozen on the start-up page that shows the white Apple logo. No matter what I did I couldn’t get my phone to move past that start-up screen. Ugh! Not what I wanted right before we were to head out. I could definitely get by hiking without a phone, especially since I could rely on Wolf Bird and Tofu, who both have working phones. However, I really wanted a working phone to be able to take photos of Washington, a section I’d heard is incredibly beautiful and have been looking forward to the entire trail. Also, I love having music or podcasts to listen to while hiking. Wolf Bird generously offered to basically give me his phone for the remainder of the trail but I just wanted my own phone to work.

I decided I wanted to try to get my phone working before heading out, while Tofu opted to head back to the trail as originally planned. Wolf Bird accompanied me back to the library where we tried to find a way to reset my phone. Unfortunately the library only had Chromebooks available which don’t have iTunes–and you need iTunes to reset an iPhone. I asked the librarian and the nearest phone repair place was about 30 miles away, and I also looked up the nearest Apple store, which was over an hour away in Portland, OR. Both of these would require a long hitch. Ugh!

We decided to go back to the hotel we stayed at last night, as they had a computer in the lobby. I was pretty frustrated and upset at this point, as I didn’t want to spend my time in town dealing with such a trivial problem, but also wanted a working phone. The hotel computer didn’t have iTunes on it either, and when I tried to download it, it asked for the computer’s master password. Ugh! I asked the woman at the front desk, who it turned out co-owned the hotel with her husband, and she said she’d get her husband to come out and type in the password. I was nearly in tears out of frustration and she was so incredibly kind and said it was not a big deal at all for us to basically take over their computer for hours and for us to download iTunes. Fast forward an hour or so (including Wolf Bird having to mad dash around town to find me a new charging cord) and my phone was back in business! It turned out that a software update fixed the issue. Wow, was I relieved… as well as so grateful for these kind hotel owners. They were having their own tough day–their housekeeper had a breakdown and hadn’t cleaned any of the rooms, and now they had to tell all the guests coming to check in on a Friday evening that their rooms weren’t ready yet. Yet they still helped me out and for that I am so amazed and thankful.

Finally Wolf Bird and I started hitching back to the trail. It was late in the day, around 6:00 or so. So much for making miles today. We got a hitch with a couple of friends who were maybe in their late 20s and were on some type of road trip? They were a little sketchy seeming, but they were actually nervous to pick us up since they’d never picked up hitchhikers before.

We arrived back at the trail and devoured some amazing blackberries growing alongside the road before setting off to hike about 3 miles before dark. The sun was setting and it was pretty warm out. This section was almost jungle-like with a lot of lush green undergrowth. Before long, we encountered HUGE swarms of tiny little gnats flying through the air. The air was almost thick with them and it was impossible to dodge the thousands of tiny bugs. I started walking as fast as I could with my head down to block them from getting in my eyes and nose and mouth. Ick! It was pretty miserable being all hot and sweaty and dodging gnats and walking uphill. Luckily we only had 3 miles to walk and it passed quickly and the gnats eventually died down as we approached our intended campsite.

There were a bunch of people already camped here (it was about 8:30PM and nearly totally dark now), but Wolf Bird found us a sweet secluded camp spot near a little pond. It looked like a retaining pond and we later found out that Tofu had swam in this pond that she described as super refreshing–and we thought was sort of gross! Ha! It’s all in the perspective I suppose.

Today marked the much awaited event of this section of trail: the Timberline Lodge breakfast buffet! Some call this the best breakfast of the entire trail, and I have to say, it did not disappoint. We woke up around 7 and packed up our tent quickly so we could get to the lodge right when the buffet opened at 7:30AM. We were not the only ones with this idea–there must have been at least 40 other hikers here for the breakfast too! We by far outnumbered the ‘normal’ guests. It was comical looking at the long line of packs leaning against the wall outside of the resort.

We all lined up outside the dining room and they started letting us smelly people in group by group. Tofu, Wolf Bird, Gentleman, and I sat together and proceeded to pig out for an hour and a half (disappointing, I know.. I thought we would last the entire three hours that the buffet was open).  I could write in great detail about every food we ate but I will simply write a quick overview as I imagine most people don’t care as much about food as we do… Anyway, there were eggs, potatoes, bacon, sausage, french toast, a belgian waffle bar, fresh fruit, smoothies, many different types of pastries, yogurt and toppings, as well as unlimited coffee. It was quite tasty and we were all pretty full by the end.

We proceeded to spend the next couple hours sitting around in the lodge digesting and looking at our phones, since we haven’t had phone service in many days now. Timberline Lodge is a really interesting and beautiful place and felt so welcoming and homey. I would love to come back here sometime–I feel like any time of year would be amazing… it is cozy in the summer and I imagine even cozier in the winter with warm fires going amidst the cold snows outside.

Tofu set out a couple hours before Wolf Bird and I. We eventually mustered up our strength and headed out at quarter of 1. We planned to do about 21 miles so we had to walk for about 7 hours straight in order to get to camp before dark. We succeeded in doing so and were helped by the fact there was a long downhill that helped us go faster. Oh, I forgot to mention! We saw White Spot and No Steps at breakfast! We somehow got ahead of them with all of the fire closures and didn’t even know it. They are the two German guys who also started our day (May 2nd) and have been way ahead for a while. It was great to chat with them and we even hiked with them briefly today.

Not much else to report about the actual hiking today, except that it was beautiful walking with a view of Mt Hood for much of the day. We had to camp 0.2 miles before the water source we had wanted to stop at… I guess there was a huge group of boy scouts taking up all the spots at the spring so us PCTers were left to camp without water. I offered to set up the tent while Wolf Bird walked up the trail 0.2 miles to get water at the spring and then walked 0.2 back to where we were camped. We chit chatted with Tofu and a sobo hiker for a bit before bed then hit the hay.

Eclipse Day today!! We woke up and it felt almost like Christmas morning with everyone abuzz in anticipation for the eclipse. Totality was to happen at 10:18AM but the eclipse would start about an hour before. We got up and hung out for a bit before boarding our little wooden rowboat that we’d reserved for the big day!

Tofu, Wolf Bird, Gentleman, and I piled in the small rowboat (I was very nervous we would capsize it as it was tiny) and figured out how to row. Well, more like we watched Gentleman figure out how to row… then Wolf Bird took one oar and Gentleman took the other and Tofu and I relaxed while the two of them paddled us around the lake. Many people were set up along the shore of the lake, but a few others also rented rowboats for the occasion. Tofu and I eventually took our turn rowing around. I was notably the worst at this out of the four of us, which luckily meant I was quickly relieved of my duties.

We didn’t pay for an anchor (well actually I don’t think we were aware this was an option when we reserved the boat) so we had to constantly row around so we wouldn’t be blown by the wind toward shore and shallow waters. We all had eclipse glasses and started around 9:15 or 9:30 could see the beginning of the shadow covering the sun. Wolf Bird’s eclipse glasses blew out of his hand while Tofu and I were paddling. Unfortunately I was not talented enough at paddling to be able to paddle us close to the glasses laying in the water… so they sank before we could reach them. We each took turns lending Wolf Bird our glasses so he could take peaks at the shadow over the sun too.

It was crazy how the conditions started changing the closer it got to 10:18. The light grew dimmer, our shadows grew longer, and it got colder out! Finally at 10:18 the shadow completely covered the sun and all that was visible was a small circle of light around the dark shadow. It was absolutely amazing. It looked like dusk all around us, with a dark sky with pinks and oranges near the horizon. We were near the center of the path of totality which meant we had a full 2 minutes and one second of this darkness. Words can’t do justice to how special an experience this was. As quickly as it started though, it was over, and the sun came back out and it got lighter and lighter and warmer as time passed. What a special experience–I still cannot believe how well the timing worked out for us to have walked so far and arrive right in the middle of the path of totality on the day of the eclipse!

After all that excitement the rest of the day was a bit of a blur.  Wolf Bird rowed us back to shore and we packed up pretty quickly and headed out around 11:30AM. The days always pass quickly when we are leaving town and today was no different. We hiked about 22 miles to a couple spots just beyond a dirt road and powerline. Gentleman fell behind so it was just Wolf Bird, Tofu and I camped together. We luckily arrived at camp before dark and got to bed at a reasonable hour.

What a great day that I know we will all remember for a very long time.

1We woke up this morning with a breakfast buffet on our minds. Wildfires have closed nearly all of the PCT for the next 90ish miles beginning at Elk Lake Resort, which is six miles from where we camped. So we have to get off trail at Elk Lake Resort and find a ride around the closures and conveniently it is a Saturday morning which is when the resort has breakfast buffets!

The six miles to the resort was extremely easy and flat walking. When we got to the side trail to the resort, pink tape with CLOSED signs blocked us from going any further on the PCT due to the fires. We headed down the side trail and arrived at the resort just in time for the 9am buffet. There were a bunch of other hikers there as well and we all pigged out on eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes, fruit, French toast, and pancakes. I of course also ordered an ice cream cone once I finished my multiple plates from the buffet. As we are, Wolf Bird, Tofu, Gentleman, and I discussed our plan for the upcoming section. We needed to get a ride around the fires and would reconnect at the northern end of the closure, at another resort called Olallie Lake Resort, which was about a four hour drive from where we were. We planned to try to get a ride to Bend first which is more populated and then hopefully find a way from there to the other resort. We were prepared for this to take a full day or two since it is a long way to hitch. We also were prepared for crazy traffic due to the upcoming eclipse. The Olallie resort is nearly right in the middle of the path of totality for the eclipse.

Just as we finished paying our checks at breakfast, another hiker asked if anyone needed a ride to Bend–she already had a ride secret but met someone willing to drive four hikers to Bend. Us four immediately claimed the ride and hopped in a car with Cindy, who was a hair stylist who had been working at a wedding at this resort. Cindy drove us the 30 miles to Bend and told us a lot about the area and the city. She dropped us off at a post office downtown, where I was hoping my package containing my contacts had arrived (I’ve been having issues with my eyes and contacts the past few days). Unfortunately this post office was the wrong one and closed, but nearly immediately after Cindy drove away a couple of guys asked if we needed a ride just upon seeing us. Unfortunately they were heading the opposite direction but we were amazed at their unprompted generosity. Then minutes later a couple asked if we were thru hikers and if we needed anything. We were shocked at this generosity once again! We told them about our need for a ride and they said they’d be happy to take us part of the way around the closure! They said they’d run home to get their truck and would meet us in a few minutes. What crazy luck! Before the couple (Katie and Tim) returned we also received an offer of a place to stay if our rides didn’t work out! Bend has got to be the town full of the nicest people yet along the trail–we were in town only 30 minutes and had three offers of help from complete strangers!

Katie and Tim soon arrived and drove us first to a different post office to check for my contacts (no success, I will have to have them forward it later) and then up to Sisters, OR. They were a really nice couple who have lived in Bend for about ten years. They have a cute dog named Jake who also rode with us. As we drove to Sisters we soon saw a huge cloud of smoke from the wildfire! It was insane to see how big the smoke cloud was and how close it was to the actual town of Sisters. Tim and Katie stopped at a grocery store so we could pick up a few things before dropping us off up the road a bit. They headed off to trail run in the area while we started to hitch again to find a ride to Ollalie Lake Resort.

We weren’t hitching long when a guy, Two Forks, stopped for us. He is from MA and hiked the AT and was in the area to hike and see the eclipse. He was sort of killing time today until the eclipse but still drove waaay out of his way and ended up taking us all the way to the resort! Mind you this involved about ten miles of dirt/gravel forest roads with huge potholes and bumps. He was driving a tiny sedan rental car that bottomed out a couple times but still drove us all the way to the resort. What kindness!!! We could not believe it–we arrived at the resort by 5pm… We were originally doubtful we’d even be able to get here before the eclipse. Thanks to the kindness of strangers though we got here super quickly.

Olallie Lake Resort is quite remote and right on a beautiful lake with Mount Jefferson looming behind and reflecting into the still water. There are cabins here but everything is super rustic–there are only pit toilets and no electricity except at the store where they run a generators one day a week. There are boats you can rent in the lake but you can’t swim in the lake due to it being a water source. They are letting us camp in the day use area. We plan to take tomorrow off and hang out here and then watch the eclipse the morning after from a boat in the lake! Because we had to skip about 90 miles of trail we are already almost done with Oregon! Only 100 miles to Washington. Pretty crazy that our trip is starting to wind down.

Today was an interesting day. We planned to stop by Shelter Cove Resort midday to eat some real food. We had 17 miles this morning to get there and they passed insanely quickly! I listened to some standup comedy this morning which was a nice change and probably helped the time fly by. Wolf Bird listened to his Harry Potter audiobook which is his new addiction.

We arrived at Shelter Cove by 1pm and it was super nice! They had a well stocked store and were located right next to a beautiful lake and best of all had tasty food. We of course immediately ordered food–to show just how obsessed with food we are: wolf bird was willing to wait 1.5 hours for a pizza. We spent several hours just eating and lounging and it was wonderful and relaxing. We ran into a couple hikers we knew and chatted with them as well.

Eventually we had to get hiking again and were on the trail by about 5. We planned to hike another 10 miles. Again the miles passed really quickly. We met a girl Long Legs and chatted with her for a bit. The trail was mostly flat which helped us make good time. We had to walk in the dark for the last half hour or so. We planned to camp at Bobby Lake, which is about .3 miles off trail.

When we finally reached the junction a little before 9pm, I looked at the sign and headed left, where the arrow pointed to Bobby Lake Trail. After a few minutes hiking Wolf Bird found out via his god that we were going the wrong way! We headed back to the junction. I was frustrated because I triple checked the sign and was sure it’s pointed left for Bobby lake! We arrived back at the junction to find Tofu and took another look at the sign. I wasn’t wrong– the sign did point left for Bobby Lake TRAIL. But apparently Bobby lake is not on Bobby lake trail. It is on Miller lake trail to the right… Makes sense. There was a second sign behind the first one that did say Bobby Lake and pointed right but I hadn’t seen it.

Oh well. We headed to the actual Bobby lake and found Uncle Jesse camped there. We all chatted as we set up camp and got to bed late once again.

We had a nice warm nights sleep last night in the shelter. However after finding the BIGGEST cockroach I’ve ever seen right before bed, I did have some trouble sleeping out of constant fear of one crawling on me in the night. Luckily nothing got me.

We packed up and walked to the road to start hitching into Crater Lake National Park. It was still early and there was not much traffic. After about 15 minutes though a car stopped and a woman who works as a ranger in the park drove us in and dropped us off at Mazama Village where we were expecting a package. We couldn’t pick up our package until 930 so we headed to the restaurant nearby where we pigged out and had many cups of coffee. Wolf Bird even ordered two breakfasts! I headed over to get our packages while Wolf Bird waited for the check. while getting the packages I found out we could take a trolley to where the PCT picks up (the trail to there was closed due to wildfires in the area). Conveniently the trolley came every hour and there was one outside waiting right now!

I headed outside hoping Wolf Bird would be finished at the restaurant in time and was relieved to see he was! We hopped on the trolley only for me to realize just as it was pulling away that I left the GPS charging at the restaurant. The driver was nice enough to be willing to wait while I ran in to retrieve it in record time. We had a fun ride to the Rim Village. The driver was playing fun music and driving faster than he probably should’ve been given this was a trolley in a crowded national park. Once at Rim Village, we sorted through our packages and were happy to discover that a part of the trail we’d thought was closed was in fact open and we wouldn’t have to hitch around. We chatted with some other hikers at the store–Jackpot, Storm and Yeti.

We set off to hike the Rim Trail starting at about 1130am. This is technically an alternate and not the official PCT. However right now the official PCT in this section is closed due to fire and the Rim Trail only just reopened after also being closed for the same reason. The Rim Trail skirts the edge of the giant lake and was surprisingly steep for the first couple miles going up and down quite a bit. The lake was quite beautiful and a vibrant blue, although smoke from the nearby fires made it less vibrant than I imagine it typically is.
We had a nice leisurely walk along the rim trail. We could spot plumes of smoke coming from the fires nearby. Once the alternate reconnected with the PCT, we stocked up on water from a water cache provided by a trail angel. We decided to carry quite a bit of water, as the next water wasn’t for about 16 miles and we weren’t sure if we’d hike it all tonight (if we were camping Before the water, we’d need to carry more to cook our dinner etc). The next 9 miles were relatively flat. The trees were all spread out and many were dead and the forest was eerily quiet. Because we were carrying so much water, our packs felt quite heavy and walking felt difficult. I was feeling tired and like I wouldn’t be able to make it to the next water tonight.

Wolf Bird and I took a break at the next road crossing and while he took a bathroom break, I looked at our guthook app on my phone. I discovered there is another water cache just ahead!! We didn’t need to carry so much water after all! So frustrating and even more frustrating because we’d talked with a southbounder who didn’t even mention the second cache. We were frustrated and decided to eat dinner now and just hike the extra miles to a creek tonight. We were sitting eating dinner at the second water cache when who walks up the trail but Tofu!! We’d caught her because she did the road walk part of the fire closure whereas we hitchhiked the road part. She sat with us as we ate dinner and the three of us hiked the nine miles to the creek together.

It was a nice change to hike with tofu and we all chatted as we walked which made time pass quickly. It was growing late and the sun started to set which was quite beautiful over the mountains below. We eventually needed our headlamps as it grew dark for the last couple miles. We arrived at camp at 9pm and tried to be quiet as we set up next to a tent that was already there. They seemed to still be awake though and knew Tofu so it wasn’t a big problem. We finally were set up and ready for bed by about 10.

We did not sleep very well last night at all but we were so excited to get to town and to be done with our flip and the Sierras that we didn’t care. We woke up at our usual time of 6AM and packed up. We met the guy we camped next to and apologized for coming in late last night and making noise. He didn’t seem to mind at all and in fact was excited to almost be done with his JMT hike himself. He had a fall on his hike and broke his hand but was continuing on even with a hand in a cast! After chatting briefly we said our goodbyes and set off for our 8 miles to town. 

We have been excited to hike this 8 mile side trail over Kearsarge Pass for a while now. The reason for our excitement besides the fact it means we are done our flip is that this is the only section of the Sierra that we will have seen both in June and in August. Thus it will be our only opportunity to firsthand experience the difference in conditions and truly know just how much the snow and water levels have changed over the last month and a half. 

Although we already are aware that our experiences in the Sierra stand in stark contrast to those who went through a month earlier, this section we hiked today really made that sink in. I vividly remember hiking this side trail back in June after falling through a snow bridge in the frigid river at 5AM. The entire section was snow covered and we moved so slowly as we had to be constantly checking our phones to see where the trail was and which way to go. It was so cold and also exhausting walking through the snow, and even once we reached the top of the pass it was slow going as we had to cross steep fields of snow and walk carefully so as not to fall down the steep slope. 

This morning was so different. There was no snow in sight! It was all dry trail that we were able to easily follow and walk our normal pace. We walked alongside Bullfrog Lake, which was serene and reflecting the surrounding mountains, but only a month and a half before was frozen over and snow covered. As we walked we recounted where we must have deviated from the actual trail months before and remembered where we took breaks and ran into other hikers. 

We began climbing up to the top of the pass and climbing switchbacks and as we did I grew more and more excited. This was our last pass in the Sierras, the final marker of our southbound flip. We finally trudged our way up to the sign marking the top of the pass and we touched the sign at the same time. I couldn’t help but tear up a little from my excitement and feeling of relief and pride at being done this section. We high fived and took some photos and then set off downhill with town (and food) on our mind. 

What was once a steep snowfield was now just dirt and actual trail. We flew down the trail, propelled by our excitement. We had a good time listening to some music on the way down and even met some hikers that knew of us from Carly!! WhiteWalker and Muffin Teaks. It was great chatting with them and we told them to tell Carly we say hi again! We made great time on the downhill, partially now motivated by the need to use the outhouse in the trailhead parking lot. Finally we made it down to the parking lot, used the bathroom, and started looking for a ride. 

What a different scene! The parking lot had been empty when we were here before, as the road was closed for the last half mile due to potential for flooding. This morning though it was full of cars of people out hiking. We had to wait about an hour until someone was finally leaving. A nice couple from Canada, Russ and Valerie, drove us down to the main highway where we then hitched north to bishop and got a ride in a Hummer with Craig for the last leg. We had him drop us off at the brewery in town where we pigged out on burgers and fries. 

We spent the rest of the day doing town chores and figuring out a plan to get back to Ashland, Oregon so we can hike our remaining 937 miles north to Canada. There are some wildfires in Oregon that have closed some parts of the trail so it will be interesting to see how that affects our hike. Regardless, we are excited for Oregon and Washington and are so happy to have made it 1716 miles so far! 

Brrrr last night was cold and so was this morning! It was tough finding motivation to get out of our sleeping bags and it took us longer than usual to get walking this morning. We had a couple miles of climbing up to Muir Pass. There was an alpine lake that was still mostly frozen over and we walked over a largely snow covered trail as we ascended the pass. It felt very wintery! I was glad we only had a short ways to go because hiking was feeling tough at this altitude. At the top of the pass was Muir Hut, a stone building that offered shelter to hikers caught in bad weather. It was surprisingly clean inside and offered protection from the cold wind. Wolf Bird had spotted a couple hikers below us when we were ascending he pass and we suspected it might be Yote and 2.Toe so we hung out for a while waiting for them. Soon enough the two of them appeared! They also introduced us to Wes, a guy from Asheville hiking the JMT that they’d met. After a while a couple girls section hiking the PCT also showed up. We all hung out and chatted in the shelter for a bit and snapped some photos making for a long leisurely break. Eventually we bundled up and set off to descend the pass. It was mostly snow for a couple miles and then transitioned to dry trail and then hot trail as we got to lower elevations and the sun beat down on us. Wes’ hiking pole broke on the descent which was a bummer as he didn’t plan to go into a town for the remaining 80 or so miles of his JMT hike, so he didn’t have a way to fix or replace it. 

As soon as we got to the end of the downhill from Muir Pass we began climbing uphill again and would do so for about 11 miles until we reached the top of the next pass, Mather Pass. Wolf Bird and I took a lunch break about two miles into the uphill. Wes caught up to us and was excited to tell us that he had run into a guy who just so happened To be carrying an extra hiking pole and lent him parts from it to fix his broken pole! The trail provides. 

 

After lunch we had 9.5 miles to the top of Mather Pass. I mustered up my mental strength and did my best to walk a steady pace for the next 3-4 hours. The climb started gradually and then changed into switchbacks and a steeper climb after a while. I was feeling pretty good but started getting tired about 3 miles from the top of the pass. It was getting late in the day, around 6pm and I was feeling a time crunch as I wanted to get to the top of the pass while it was still early and light out.

Wolf Bird started walking with me and telling me about ideas he had for a book he wants to write. Listening to him helped distract me from my growing exhaustion. As we walked we passed many (mostly JMT) hikers with their tents set up already. One group asked if we had enough water to get over the pass and another group told us there weren’t any good campsites before the pass. It felt a little strange to be getting unsolicited advice and also their words made me feel worried about our plan for some reason even though we definitely had time to get over the pass before dark. As we neared the final two miles of the pass, a dark cloud appeared over the top of the pass. I got worried that it was about to thunderstorm, and was especially worried that we’d be on the highest elevation in the area in an open exposed section. I started walking as fast as I could to try to get up and over the pass quilt. That didn’t last long as soon I ran into snow. 
I waited for Wolf Bird and we navigated he snow together.  Well more like he went in front and I followed. There were a couple really scary and sketchy areas with steep snow and also loose rocks but we got through it just fine. The last switchbacks to the top of the pass took every ounce of eedfort we had. Luckily the dark clouds cleared and I felt less pressure to get over quickly. Finally we reached the top! We felt so accomplished… What a long climb! We later would decide this pass and Benson Pass were our two toughest passes, at least going southbound. 

The view from the top of the pass was beautiful and also startling. The other side of the pass revealed a starkly different terrain. It was much flatter and open on the other side. It looked like the moon! Everything was illuminated by the setting Suns rays and it was just beautiful and peaceful. 
We descended down the switchbacks on the other side of the pass quickly and had to also do some scrambling down loose rock and sand which ended up being fun. It was growing  late and darker out and we were aching to get to camp after such a long day. We finally reached the flat open terrain at the bottom of the hill and began looking for campsites. We ran into a group of young guys who were hiking the High Sierra Route and chatted with them briefly. Finally we found a place for our tent and set up quickly as it was growing cold. I cooked dinner and set up the tent while Wolf Bird got us water. It was one of our later nights, as we didn’t arrive at camp until almost 8 or so. As I was about to get in the tent for the night I heard a howling shout from up on the pass. This is the classic noise that Yote and 2.Toe do to us from far away! We were wondering if they’d make it over the pass tonight as we hadn’t seen them since noon or so. Guess they made it! Wolf Bird howled back at them and we snuggled in the tent until Yote and 2.Toe arrived about a half hour later. I was super impressed, as 2.Toe is coming down with a cold but still managed to do a huge 27+ mile day!! We chatted with them through the tent walls, as it was cold out already. We went to bed late after a long and tiring but rewarding and beautiful day. 

This morning we had a big climb up Silver Pass that I was somewhat dreading. In the end, it actually was not bad. We passed a couple of beautiful alpine lakes on the climb up to the pass–Purple Lake and Lake Virginia. There was some snow on the way up to pass but only near the very top. It is interesting how in the Sierra our days are shaped by these passes. We are either on an approach to one and walking uphill or coming down from one walking downhill. It is definitely a different way of hiking than other parts of the trail in that there is a clear goal for the day (a pass) whereas most other parts of the trail are much more gradual. At least for me this equates to a different mental approach where I have to prep myself for these big climbs whereas on other parts of the trail the challenge can sometimes come from the monotony of the trail. 

After Silver Pass we had about six miles of downhill which went by quickly. At one point we had a crazy creek crossing where we crossed right next to and almost under a waterfall!! It was pretty wild to stand next to a monstrous flow of water. I was very grateful to be doing so now when the water level is not as high rather than a month or so ago when it was higher and peak snowmelt. As we continued downhill, dark clouds started rolling in and it began thundering and drizzling a little. Wolf Bird and I planned to have lunch at the bottom of the downhill before we had to climb uphill again. Luckily it wasn’t really raining too much and we were able to find a dry and protected spot under a tree to eat, right next to a junction that led to Vermillion Valley Resort, a place many hikers stop by to resupply but one that we opted to skip since we are hoping to make good time through the Sierra. During lunch we chatted with a JMT hiker named Jared, a young guy from Ohio heading to college in the fall.  

After lunch we had four miles of uphill and of course as soon as we put on our packs to start walking it began raining pretty steadily! Yote and 2.Toe also caught up to us right as we started to climb. The four of us climbed and climbed up many switchbacks as the rain poured down on us. After over an hour of climbing we were pretty soaked but also finally at the top of the climb. As the trail flattened and then went back downhill, the rain finally ceased. Unfortunately since we were no longer walking uphill and thus working a little less hard, we all got pretty cold since we were wet and the sun was still behind the clouds. We walked quickly to try to stay warm. 

All of a sudden we heard the noise of helicopters and looked to the sky to see where it was coming from. We noticed two helicopters flying pretty low following a river that wound through the mountains. They kept flying up the river away from us and then turning back around to fly toward us and then doing it all over again. We wondered what they might be doing. We thought they might be looking for signs of fire from  a lightning strike from the storm that had just happened. But they kept circling the area and then started flying very low that we thought they might be looking for someone. We hoped no one was hurt or lost! We kept walking but the loud noise from the helicopter blades was very distracting and soon the helicopters were flying insanely low, just barely over the tree tops! They were so close we could see the pilots! I was freaking out wondering why they were so low and seemed to be circling us! Wolf Bird said that the Garmin GPS that I was carrying must not be waterproof and must’ve been short circuiting and somehow triggered the SOS function and these helicopters were responding to it. A joke of course but he freaked me out because it was uncanny how closely these helicopters were following us! He freaked me out so much that I made him check the device to ensure it wasn’t actually sending some type of SOS! After a while we passed a family and we asked if everything was ok and if they knew what the copters were for. Apparently the dad had twisted his ankle badly and they’d called for help! They didn’t seem too worried and the guy was actually standing on both feet when we saw him so my guess is he will be okay. 

As we continued on the sound of the copters faded away. We had a creek crossing ahead of us that our app stated was “one of the wildest crossings” of the trail. I was slightly nervous but heard there was a log over the creek so was hopeful it wouldn’t be too tough. We arrived at the crossing and Yote and 2.Toe seemed like they were going to cross in the water right at the trail crossing. It looked a little too fast for my liking, especially if there was a log option. Wolf Bird and I set off downstream to find the log which was not far. Wolf Bird went first and helped me over the sketchy part at the end. Not bad at all! Again I was grateful that we were here now and not at peak snowmelt. 

We decided to camp right after crossing and as we set up our tents it started thundering again. We rushed to get our camp chores done and were glad to be in our tent when it eventually started raining. 

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.