Day 70, June 26: Mile 934 to 946
Start: Mile 933.7
End: Mile 945.6
Miles: 11.9
Ascent: 328 | Descent: 875
I woke up leisurely and let myself sleep in a bit as I only had 9 miles to hike before getting to Tuolumne Meadows, and it was all flat. So I left camp around 7:15am and had a relaxed walk out, although I was stressing about my phone and how I was going to fix it. I enjoyed seeing the meadow in the morning. There was steam or mist coming up off of the water that looked eerie and beautiful.
I made it to the Tuolumne Meadows store and saw many familiar faces of hiker friends. Two NPS rangers, Colton and Matt, came by to talk to us hikers sitting out front and asked if we wanted to hear some tunes. Nobody was really responding but I said of course! They whipped out their two guitars and played two Grateful Dead covers (my favorite!). It was fun.
I hung out for a bit and tried to coordinate AppleCare replacement of my phone with my sister over my Garmin InReach, but was unsuccessful. (Thank you Christy for trying!!) Realizing that I needed to get to service to be able to fix it, I decided I would hitch to Lee Vining.
I stuck out my thumb for a while and eventually got a ride from Alex and Mathieu, two French tourists. They were so nice! They were on a three week road trip around the American west and we had a enjoyable conversation on the ride down.
They dropped me off at the Mobil gas station in Lee Vining and I ordered a burger and dealt with AppleCare over the phone. Success! Well, sort of. I got one shipped to Lake Tahoe, which is later than where I originally wanted it sent (Kennedy Meadows North, which I’ll hit in hour days), but I took what I could get. Fingers crossed my phone survives the next 8 days and doesn’t totally break.
Realizing the time and that I needed to get back on trail, I quickly resupplied at the Mobil gas station and walked out towards the road to hitch back to Tuolumne. After about ten minutes, I got a ride from Summer, who was a hippie chick in a Prius adorned with groovy stickers on the inside. She took me as far as she was able- to the gate into Yosemite NP. I was so grateful for her help! I was also able to write a postcard to give to her son who wants to hike the PCT someday. Hi Parker!
I hopped out of Summer’s car and stood near the Tioga Pass entrance and stuck my thumb out for another ten minutes. I soon got picked up by Greg, who is a park ranger specialized in archaeology.
He dropped me off at the trail, and I said a thank you and bye! I set off, and only a few minutes later did I realize that I accidentally left my favorite folding RayBan wayfarers in his car. Noooo! 😭 I hope this is the end of this string of bad luck.
I realized I could run and make it to the Tuolumne Meadows store by 5pm (when I thought they closed) so I could get a pair of replacement sunglasses. I ran in my rain jacket, which I was wearing to protect against mosquitos, so I arrived at the store, completely out of breath and extra hot and sweaty… only to find out they were open til 5:30. Woops.
I bought sunglasses and saw Baggins in the store. We hung out outside of the store for a bit. I chatted with him and other hikers including Tall Boy who’s from France and with whom I was able to speak a little French. Colton, the park ranger from earlier, showed up again and I told him about losing my sunglasses. He didn’t know Greg but kindly offered to try to track him down and mail me back my sunglasses. I hope it works out!
Finally, I peeled myself away from the amusement of the store and started my hike out. I hiked until it got dark, around 4 miles and picked a stealthy spot near ish to the Tuolumne River, and fell promptly asleep.