Miles hiked: 11ish
HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!
I woke up today and walked to the bathroom, and guess who I found about 50 yards down from me. Kyle! I guess he was waiting for me by one of the parking lots we passed (kind of a random place to wait, IMHO....) and he left his pack by the trail, but I didn't see the pack (this happens a lot btw, Im kind of a goober like that), so I kept going. He went around all over looking for me and wandered into the campground about an hour after I did. Yikes. Anyhow, STOKED!!
Apparently I was camped next to a PCT legend: Halfmile! He is the guy who made the maps I am using (www.pctmaps.net). He is here with his girlfriend, they are hiking the JMT. So random to run into him! Speaking of random run-ins, the people camped on the other side of me were a bunch of PCT hikers!! I had no idea, since it was so dark last night. It was awesome to see a bunch of people whom I thought were way ahead of me.
There was a ranger serving free coffee at the campground that morning. Stoked!! I took a pic of him. Thanks ranger dude! He was an interesting fellow. A bit odd. But I suppose that's what living in the woods will do to ya. Haha. Sign me up! :D
There were a bunch of PCTers at the general store picnic tables that morning. I took a pic. The 2 guys in the foreground are Tourist (Asian guy) and Mismatch (doing the backbend). Hee Haw and Problem Bear were there too, along with a bunch others at those tables.
We took the free shuttle to the Sunrise Trailhead to start our 21 mile traipse. It was so epic. I don't think there's anywhere I'd rather spend a holiday than on the trail :) scenery was amazing!! We went up to Cloudsrest. I took a bunch of pics. There's one of Kyle eating and me standing on the edge facing the valley. I also took some pics of the mountains, that one really tall peak is supposedly the highest point in Yosemite. I also have a pic of Half Dome. We're hoping to do that tomorrow!! It was so incredible. I LOVE rocks and trees!! I was absolutely losing my mind. The rocks here are so incredible. It's a much lighter color than I've been seeing. Granite.
Dang this place is amazing. I've never been to Yosemite before. No wonder everyone makes such a big deal about it. Lol. Damn I wanna go climb. :)
The hike down the backside of Cloudsrest was the 2nd most beautiful hiking I've done in the last 950 miles. The first being Bear Creek, last week. It was a cool series of switchbacks and you see Halfdome, the valley, and the cool looking mountain range. Oh my god. Amazing. <3. Funny how my most scenic moments of the PCT were not on the PCT. lol.
We camped by a couple JMT hikers, I took a pic of them. 2 girls, Ashley and I don't remember the other gals name. :(. They are sooooo cool!! Possibly the coolest pair I've met on trail. Too bad they are doing the JMT and going the opposite direction. Ashley is a swing dancer, cool!! They are both teachers. Oh my gosh those girls are hilarious, it would have been epic to travel with them :)
Late this evening we had our first bear sighting ever! A bear went after my pack. Kyle threw a pinecone at it, by the time I got out of my tent it ran away. Dang, I missed my chance at bear wrestling. Lol. Now I have a hole in my hipbelt pouch to commemorate the bear encounter.
No comments:
Post a Comment