Days 4-6

Day 4 – June 10

Holy guacamole. Today was a whirlwind. We woke up at 5:30 and it was raining, so we kept snoozing. Eventually we got up at 7:25 and it was sprinkling, so we took down the tent quickly, retrieved the bear vaults (still untouched- we place them about 100 yards from the tent every night just in case, but no signs that they’ve been disturbed at all yet- I think they work!) and decided to have a Snickers for breakfast in the interest of not doing dishes (sorry moms!).

We started hiking a muddy but flat trail through the rest of Lyell Canyon toward Donahue Pass until we got to the first of many major water crossings only about half a mile from camp. We shimmied, walked, and crawled across a log and made it across dry. John had to double-back for my pack. He’s a super hero. Another mile of flat but muddy trial and then we started the steep climb out of Lyell Canyon. Everyone we passed stopped to chit-chat and warn us what a tough climb it would be.

The steeper the climb got, the heavier the rain fell. You come out to flat ground and think you’ve made it over the crest, only to find another set of vertical switchbacks. Back down another ravine, across more rushing water, through some snow, and then up again as we climbed the rainy, rainy, rainy, rainy, COLD trail through Donahue Pass and out of Yosemite. Now, on the way down, it was raining so hard that it turned the trail into a constant stream, the snow into ice, and we lost the trail briefly a few times.

After 3 hours of continuous hiking, in attempt to escape the rain and warm up a bit, we stopped for a snack in a semi-dry spot under a few trees. We chugged our water, devoured our snacks, and tried to enjoy the scenery of Ansel Adams Wilderness, but it was too darn cold. So we threw on as many layers as we could and prayed again for the rain to let up, and when the rain let up we prayed for the sun to come out, and when the sun came out we prayed for the last few storms to roll past without breaking (and Emily prayed this would be the last rain she’d see for 16 days). God is good! Em’s fingers slowly came back to life and we began to truly enjoy our hike again- the constant beauty surrounding us is breathtaking. We kept hiking past our intended site at Marie Lake Jct over Rush Creek (our 20-somethingth water crossing of the day, at least), past two kilted, bearded brothers, and up to Island Pass.

The landscape is dotted with countless still lakes and ponds that are now reflecting the blue & pink sky and the few white clouds that remain. As we write this, the sun is setting and all the frogs in the pass are beginning to RIBBIT! We have full bellies from our re-hydrated chicken, couscous, black bean & rotel combo made by our very own Trail Food Queen, Emily. And then another Snickers for dessert. We got to brush our teeth and wash our socks for the first time in 4 days- delightful. It’s bedtime because we need to get going early so we can reach our resupply and made dinner reservations at Reds Meadow before 4. A shower sounds nice, too. Sweet dreams and lots of prayers for more sunny weather!

Day 6 – June 12

Good morning! We are at Red’s Meadow Resort, just outside Devil’s Postpile National Monument. We weren’t actually supposed to get here until tonight or tomorrow morning (I had the itinerary confused in my head when I wrote last), but we pushed 18 miles yesterday and the weather was beautiful, the last 6 miles were downhill, and we made it in time to get a cold beer at the store, call our families, check emails, and get a campsite for the night. The campground host rode around on her golf cart to greet us and tell us to move to a better campsite, so we moved to the one right across from the bathrooms and water fountain- that was clutch. She also told us that there was a 6-person limit for the campsites, but for backpackers she was trying to help us out so she said to just keep it under 10 people and she wouldn’t say anything. We made friends with 4 PCT guys, named Runaway, Limp Noodle, Hot Mess, and Homie, and then our fellow JMT hikers who we met earlier in the day, Jeff, Cory, & Heather, joined us as well. It’s normally $22 for one night but since they all pitched in for the site, we only paid 6.

We slept in a little later than usual, until around 8, and had a leisurely breakfast of oatmeal for Em and freeze-dried eggs & bacon for John. The campsites each have their own bear box- it was so nice not to have to hide our bear vaults away from camp and retrieve them again in the morning. I called my momma, we dumped all our trash and cleaned out the massive olive oil spill, and packed up camp.

We made our way back up to the general store for our resupply pickup and more importantly, two shower keys. After stuffing 5 days worth of meals, snickers, and toiletries into our already semi-full bear vaults (we only needed 3 days worth, but we packed extra), we each took a hot shower using as much soap as possible. After we no longer smelled like the inside of our hiking boots, we went to the café for our second burger in four days.

After chatting with two forty-something year old guys we met who decided to call it quits after blisters got the best of them, we finished our free 24-oz Sierra Nevada Pale Ale from the hiker box and went on our way. No longer than minute after telling another group of hikers the forecast called for a 20% chance of rain, it started to sprinkle off and on for about thirty minutes. Then it started to rain off and on for another thirty minutes, and finally started hailing for about fifteen minutes all while we were climbing sandy switchbacks all afternoon. We made good time though, and we made our miles in a dry sand forest in about two and a half hours.

We picked a more secluded campsite out of the 6 or 7 options at Deer Creek Crossing. We ran into an old guy from the area who hikes part of the PCT whenever he can. He left us with a life lesson that life is like Halloween...I’d explain it to you but it would take awhile and I’m not really sure what the lesson was in the first place. Anyways, we set up camp, got water, and used our luxury item for the first time all trip. The Eno was so comfortable and relaxing and the 660-calorie German chocolate bar was not bad, either. We got to do a little laundry thanks to Em and even made a fire since we were below 9,600 feet. We enjoyed a lovely Asian meal of Thai basil noodles with dehydrated shrimp. (Don’t judge until you try it, it’s like jerky but with seafood- two of my favorite things- what could go wrong!)

John WHOOPED Emily in some Mexican card games (maybe not entirely truthful). Finally, after a relaxing and refreshing day, we got ready for bed remembering we do have toothbrushes and toothpaste. Besides a few dark clouds with a little tiny bit of thunder and lightning, today was a great day filled with lots of fun and laughter and love.