Day 63: Mile 966 to 985   (19 miles)

Another day, up and moving early in the morning. Lots of downhill early on dropping into a bunch of lakes. While walking along the edge of Smedberg Lake, I could see many huge trout swimming along the shore. This would be a good place to have a fishing pole, but if I had one, I would never finish the trail in time. As lunch time approached, I had a steep climb to complete and as soon as I reached the top, the trail nearly went straight into a lake that was sitting at the top. It was a surprise being it was unnamed and not listed.

I decided to go another mile to a small lake I saw on the map and have lunch. I hid in the shade under a boulder while top roman was my lunch once again. Still enjoy eating top roman for lunch and it hasn’t gotten old yet, even after two month. Oreo’s for dessert and the ants were enjoying collecting the crumbs that fell to the ground. I spend lots of time while eating to watch the ants work non stop. Pretty amazing to see their strength and watch them work together the way they do.

(View during lunch)

After a long lunch, the night seemed to come quicker then normal. The open rocky area slowly disappeared into more of a forest setting with dirty film covered ponds and the bugs came out in full force. I pulled out my bug head net for only the second time on the whole trip. I decided I would use some bug spray for a double defense against the bugs. Doing this did teach me a valuable lesson. Just because I’m wearing a bug net over my head, doesn’t mean leave my eyes open when spraying my face. The bug spray went right through the netting and into my eyes causing a burning sensation I would rather not feel. Lucky it was only temporary and I will not make that mistake ever again…hopefully.

(Wearing my bug net)

With no campsites near by and darkness setting in, I decided to pitch my tent in a semi flat spot next to a bug covered pond and quickly got inside before the bugs did.

Day 64: Mile 985 to 1006   (21 miles)

Today was an overall flat hiking day. It started off with having to ford Falls Creek early on. I spend a few minutes looking up and down river hoping for some logs or any easy way to get a cross but there was nothing in sight. I took off my shoes and socks and made my way across the thigh deep river. The slow moving water made it for a easier cross.

(Falls Creek ford)

After 11 miles of hiking, I reached Dorothy Lake, a nice big lake with plenty of areas to relax on the shoreline. I rolled out my sleeping pad on the grass and ate lunch. I tried spam for the first time ever. A hiker back in Tuolumne Meadows really wanted some tuna which I had, so we made a swap. Spam tasted just like everyone said it would, salty ham. After eating, I took a nice 30 minute nap to refresh.

(Lunch time at Dorothy Lake)

(Little rainbow up in the clouds)

It was time to leave the lake. Dorothy Lake is the last lake before leaving Yosemite National Park. As I climbed up the hill, I turned around to take one last look of Yosemite and now off to the next section. Four miles later I reached the next big milestone. I have hit 1,000 miles on the trail! There was one other hiker there celebrating as well, Hornbuckle. I was expecting a much bigger marker on the trail for hitting 1,000 but at least there was a marker. It’s crazy to think how far I have gone so far. Still have over 1,600 miles left to go!

I arrived at camp fairly late and found many hikers already set up around couple different fires. I had a tough time finding a good spot, but finally found something that would work and made dinner. While dinner was cooking, I went down to a creek and filled up on water since there is no water for the next 11 miles. Tomorrow is going to be straight up for awhile followed by a lot of downhill.

(That’s a license plate stuck up in the tree)

Day 65: Mile 1006 to 1028   (22 miles)

Woke up to seeing deer and rabbit hanging out around camp. I got moving and instantly was heading uphill. It felt like a slow go and quickly took off all my warm layers as it didn’t take long to start sweating. As I neared the top, the winds picked up big time.

The winds kept picking up and now I’m nearing the strongest winds of the trail so far. Myself and two other hikers stopped to put on our jackets, and gloves. Winds have to be nearing 100 mph up here and I’m literally walking at an angle the whole time. If the wind comes to a sudden stop, I would fall flat on my side. There are some great views to offer up here.

One hiker lost his foam sleeping pad, the wind got a hold of it and it blew up and over the edge to never be seen again. Another hiker had their pack fly cover out keeping everything protected and the wind ripped it off and sent it soaring into the air and that was also never to be seen again. As I came up and over a pass, I was hoping the other side would calm down, which turned out not to be the case. Myself and another hiker came around a corner and saw a hiker way below us in the snow. This was very confusing as it looks like they slid down a couple hundred feet to the bottom but the trail keeps going up and no where near where they were. We watched them as they worked their way back up to the trail and we waited for them. It turns out it was Steady and she said a strong gust of wind hit her and blew her off the trail and slid down the snow to the very bottom. Luckily she had no injuries or damage to her gear and only was a little shaken up.

We ran into a couple hikers who were trying to summit a peak but said it was impossible due to the winds and estimated the gusts hitting over 100 mph. After walking the ridge for another mile or so, we finally started to descend and the winds slowly dissipated.

(Bunch of hikers taking a break after finally getting out of the wind)

We worked our way down to Sonora Pass where we were greeted by Nips mom who was giving out beers to hikers. There was also someone else with a bunch of camping supplies and a grill so hikers could cook up food and take a nice break.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful compared to the wind experience we had. We hiked on into the evening and set up camp. Besides a few disappointed hikers who lost some gear in the wind, it was a fun experience for us.