Wolf Bird & Sherpa's Adventures

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. 

Our goal today was to do a full day out of Kennedy Meadows. It is always hard to get to trail at an early hour but we really wanted to do at least 20 miles. We of course still needed to pig out before leaving so we got up in time to be at breakfast at the restaurant at 6am. We got to listen to some real country music while we ate and Cowboys milled about. We finished up quickly and by 730 or so we were ready to hitch back to trail. Kennedy Meadows is located a mile off the main road so we weren’t sure if we would be able to get a ride from the resort guests (not sure who’d be awake and leaving so early on a Sunday morning) or if we’d have to walk the mile to the road. As we debated what to do, a man sitting on the front porch of his cabin asked if we wanted a ride. We of course accepted and got in a truck with Rick and his dog Katie (who we later found out he got at a garage sale?!). We arrived at the trailhead around 830am. Not too bad!

We immediately had a climb over Sonora Pass. This was the pass that many nobos said was the sketchiest part of the Sierra for them so we were ready for a challenge. The actual trail does very long drawn out switchbacks but much of the mountain is still covered in snow so most hikers have opted to go straight up or straight down. Yote and 2.Toe fearlessly headed straight up. Wolf Bird and I were a bit behind and went straight up until we reached a rock outcropping. From there we were able to follow the last switchback of the trail–it was not even snow covered. I was glad we went this route as going straight up the steep snow scared me and Wolf Bird had to talk me through some parts. We made it to the top and it felt great to have conquered such a built up pass… It really was not bad at all!

From the top of the pass on it really felt like we were in the Sierra again! Finally! We had sweeping views of snow capped mountains for much of the next part of the day. We had some snow covered terrain but it was all very doable even without using microspikes on our shoes. We had many footprints and steps kicked in the snow that made our job even easier.

After a while we descended from the ridge and had an easy nearly flat walk through the valley. We noticed some dark clouds approaching. Next we heard thunder and soon enough it was raining… Followed by hail! This was only our second rain of our hike. It actually felt quite nice. It is so consistently sunny that any change feels refreshing. We simply put on our raincoats and kept hiking. We soon passed 1500 miles as well!! 

After an hour or so the rain stopped and we ascended Dorothy Lake Pass. We crossed a couple creeks where we had to get our feet wet (for the first time since we were last in the Sierra). The crossings were quite easy and soon enough we were at the top of the pass and then descending down to Dorothy Lake. We had planned to meet Yote and 2.Toe here so we plopped down by the lake to have a late lunch–it was already 430! The other two showed up only a short while later. Lunch was a bit miserable as there were some of the biggest swarms of mosquitoes I’ve ever seen by that lake! This is the new norm–after such a wet snowy winter the mosquitoes are now out in full vengeance. Luckily Deet really helps us avoid the worst of it. 

As we finished lunch and got hiking again, more dark clouds started rolling in along with thunder and some rain drops. We set off as a group of four and hiked together the last five or six miles of the day. We don’t usually hike as a group so this was a fun change and we had a good time walking quickly dodging mosquitoes and rain. 

We decided to make it to the 25 mile mark for the day and then look for a Tentsite. We found a flat-ish spot not long after and set up in a somewhat less buggy spot than the lake. What a great day!

We did a long day today as we’ve been doing for the past few days, but today was a harder day than the others for me. It may seem like we are just easily cranking out big miles but we are definitely working hard for each mile. Today was no exception. 
The morning went by relatively quickly. We had a long ish uphill climb which wore me out, but halfway up it we ran into Slow Buffalo and his group. We hadn’t seen him since Tehachapi. It was great catching up and seeing a familiar face. It’s funny, most of the people we pass now who have been through the Sierra don’t even mention the river crossings when we ask how it was. They may mention a sketchy snow traverse but really no mention of the rivers. 2.Toe said someone told her they crossed the rivers at the trail crossing or within a tenth of a mile or so of there. That was crazy to hear as when we were going through the beginning of the Sierra people were hiking a mile or several miles up or downstream to find safe crossings! We are hopeful this means the conditions are better than when we were last in the Sierra. 

We took a pre lunch break (a rarity for us) and ate some snacks and relaxed for a bit after our climb. I’ve been feeling the hiker hunger lately and feel like I have an insatiable appetite! 
After that we walked another 7.5 miles until our lunch break. My legs were feeling tired and sore and I was counting down the miles until our break. We only had about 8 miles to walk after our break but again I was dragging. Just one of those days. 

We had a long ish downhill and then a slight uphill to camp. This was the beginning of a long 6 mile climb before town. Wolf Bird and I were dreading this climb since yesterday some reason and it was consuming my thoughts even though there was nothing especially notable or unique about this climb besides it being a bit longer than usual. It was funny though, we climbed 1.5 miles of it to our Tentsite and it was super easy and gradual! Not worth worrying about at all. We should have known this lesson already but it was a good reminder to not worry about what’s ahead.

Mice got into James food last night and the rustling throughout the night kept us awake. When we got up this morning we were surprised to see many clouds in the sky. It wasn’t completely overcast but the number of clouds was more than the total number of clouds we’ve seen this entire trip! The weather has been so consistently sunny that believe it or not we sometimes talk about how we wish we could have an overcast day every now or then. Guess we got our wish! It ended up being almost refreshing to have a cloud pass in front of the sun every now and then throughout the day. 
This morning we hiked up and over Dick’s Pass. The ascent was still pretty snow covered but it was only a two mile climb and fairly gradual. We also had plenty of footprints in the snow that made finding and following the trail quite easy. It was a beautiful view from the top of the pass and surprisingly chilly with a wind making it even colder. We had a nice long descent as a reward after the climb. 

We passed a couple nobos we had met earlier in our hike, Fireball and a girl whose name I never learned. It was nice chatting with them. They warned us about Sonora Pass ahead, as have a couple other hikers. I guess it is a very steep descent for nobos and they have the choice of descending in the snow or in loose rock. Both options sounded pretty scary from what we’ve heard but hopefully climbing up the pass will prove easier and less scary than going down. 
We skirted a few lakes this morning and for some reason the miles dragged on and it felt like we were going super slowly and making bad time. We had to go through and over snow in some parts and ended up following footprints that took us off trail. We had to then go over a ridge and find the trail again which also slowed us down. We later found out that almost everyone else going south also got off trail in the same way! 

At one point I was a fair amount ahead of Wolf Bird. I rounded a corner to see a bear running away from me down the trail! It was so cool and unexpected to see a bear that I didn’t even think to grab my phone to take a photo. This is only the second bear that I’ve seen on this hike. 
After about 9 miles we reached Lake Aloha, a beautiful large and shallow looking lake with some islands. The lakes this morning were all so pristine and breathtakingly beautiful. I imagine it is only a fraction of the beauty we will see as we enter the Sierra. 

We somehow missed a turn at the end of Lake Aloha and got off trail again. Wolf Bird didn’t want to back track so we ended up bushwhacking through the woods to get back to the trail. Not my favorite thing to do but we got there quickly. 
The miles were still dragging on, perhaps because we were looking forward to Echo Lake Chalet in the middle of the day, which promised snacks and sodas galore. The last miles to Echo Lake must be a popular and well known trail because we passed many day hikers. It was especially impressive to see many families with young children hiking, some even backpacking out for the weekend with full packs. We were going downhill while all these families were walking a long, hot, rocky uphill. I was super impressed!!
We skirted Echo Lake and spotted many cute houses and cabins along the shore. They are all off the grid with no electricity and I loved looking at them all as there were some really cool looking cottages. 

Finally we got to Echo Lake Chalet around 1pm. We didn’t know too much about it but it exceeded any expectations we might have had. We immediately grabbed some Cokes and ordered paninis. We ended up spending a couple hours there with Yote and 2.Toe along with some new SOBOs we caught. I ate a panini, two cokes, a Dr Pepper, kit Kat, ice cream bar, and a hot dog. Wolf bird ate a panini, hot dog, beer and Coke and Dr Pepper and a banana. Clearly we were hungry. Oh and I also bought a bag of chips to pack out. As we were sitting outside chatting and eating a couple raindrops fell!! Technically the first rain we’ve had on trail even though it was approximately three raindrops. We did have snow back in the beginning but we were in town so we don’t count that as on trail precipitation. 
Finally after a couple hours we pulled ourselves away from all the food and set off to hike about ten more miles. We had about five uphill miles but luckily they weren’t too bad and made easier because of the clouds blocking the heat from the sun. We also walked through some nice flatter meadows for a while and it was wonderful easy walking. 

We finally arrived at camp around 7pm to a nice area beside Showers Lake. Wolf Bird made a nice campfire and we hung out and cooked and chatted with 2.Toe and Yote before heading to bed. 

We wanted to do a good amount of miles out from town today so we aimed to leave by midday. We spent the morning finishing up town chores and of course we were slower than we’d hoped getting out of town. Luckily Sugar Mama agreed to give us a ride, which we were super grateful for, as hitching would have taken even more time. We said goodbye to Phil before we left town–his parents are arriving today and they will head back to Indiana together. It is too bad he can’t keep hiking as it was fun having him around for a bit!

We finally got back on trail around 2pm. There was a huge group of hikers at the trailhead, some of whom we knew who had just made it through the Sierra bee briefly said hello but it was a bit chaotic and overwhelming with so many people so we didn’t linger and got started hiking. 

We had a big uphill for a while out of town. It was beautiful with open views in all directions. We could see the snowy peaks of the mountains in the Sierra in the far distance. We ascended until we reached Tinker Knob, a rock formation with excellent views as well. After that we descended for a while and eventually reached Squaw Valley Ski Area where there was still a fair amount of snow on trail. We had to go straight up but luckily were able to mostly scramble on rocks which was less slippery than the snow would’ve been. 

We could see Lake Tahoe in the distance and it is crazy to imagine the amount of people and tourists and houses there while we are not so far away in what feels like very pristine and remote wilderness. 

We walked until later than usual today in order to get miles in. Even though we started later than we’d hoped we still did about 17 or 18 miles which we were happy about. A highlight of the evening walking was hearing coyote yips across the canyon from us!