Day 73, June 29: Mile 991 to 1017
Start: Mosquito Hell cont. - Mile 991.4
End: Kennedy Meadows North - Mile 1016.9
Miles: 25.5
Ascent: 4630 | Descent: 2960
Ugh. After a terrible night of sleep, I woke up cranky. My inflatable sleeping pad popped a hole at some point in the last 24 hours and I woke up multiple times throughout the night having to reinflate it. As I woke up, I thought about all the things that have broken or gone wrong in the past week: I broke my phone screen, my sleeping pad popped, my water reservoir developed two pinholes (though it still works and I have a backup), I lost my RayBans in a hitch, my inflatable pillow has started to leak, and the guylines on my tent have started to fray. Ugh!
I also did not sleep well because as I was falling asleep, a curious deer kept circling my tent, sniffing at my rain fly and poking at my spoon that was sitting on top of my bear can. Though I’m not afraid of deer, it reminded me of the other wildlife outside my tent and made me feel somewhat uneasy, or at least more alert.
As always, I had to hike on. So I packed up my tent and walked across a long meadowy section through mud that squelched under my feet. I passed Dorothy Lake, which was stunning, but the mosquitos were absolutely brutal even in the morning. What the hell!
Crossing over Dorothy Pass meant I left the Yosemite Wilderness. The striking granite walls began to shift into more rounded and less drastic shapes.
Soon, I made it to mile 1000!! Wow. A pretty crazy accomplishment, if I do say so myself. To celebrate, 1000 mosquitos came to personally greet and congratulate me. I snapped a few selfies as quickly as I could while swatting away the little buggers, and continued on my way.
Pretty much all through the Sierra, I’ve never had to be concerned about water as there were always so many streams everywhere. But in this last stretch to Sonora Pass, there was a supposed 10 mile water carry. It ended up being less as there were a few snowmelt streams, but I wanted to be prepared for 10 miles just in case, so I stopped at the last creek before a big climb to fill up two liters. As I was filtering, I complimented a girl nearby on her all tie dye outfit (hat, shirt, shorts and gaiters all tie dyed), and she invited me to come hang out and have a lunch break with her and her group. I don’t remember everyone’s names, but some included Willie Nelson (who indeed looks just like his namesake), Patches, Nitro, JD maybe?, and maybe 6 or 7 others whose names I can’t remember. They were all so friendly though and we had a fun and funny conversation!
After lunch, I started the big climb up to Sonora Pass. I admired the views behind me of the Yosemite Wilderness that I had just walked through.
I made it up to a ridgeline and the wind immediately started with gusto. I had to take my hat off and clip it to my backpack so it wouldn’t be blown away. I tied my bandana around my face and pulled my sun hood down tight so I wouldn’t get wind chapped. Luckily, it wasn’t too cold. I took some mental breaks from the wind in little trees that did a surprisingly good job of blocking the wind.
I got on the other side of the ridge so the wind died down a bit, but then the snowfields started. Overall, they weren’t horribly sketchy as there were well-worn boot tracks across all of them, but I was feeling nervous as there were several spots where if I did happen to fall, I could go sliding down a steep cliff. I regretted not having my microspikes but reasoned with myself that 1) many other people had traversed these fields safely earlier today and 2) did I really want the weight of microspikes in that last section? The answer was no.
I made my way slowly and carefully. The landscape continued to shift even more, now to volcanic billowing forms and distant multicolored mountains. I felt a little like I was back in Colorado.
The last 2.5 miles of the day felt very tough. After the big climb, windy ridgeline and snowfields to navigate, I had a steep descent to highway 108. I chugged along, motivated by the promise of food, beer and friends.
Finally, finally (!) I made it to the road. And lo and behold, there was a shuttle from Kennedy Meadows North waiting there! I arrived at 4:45pm and the last shuttle was supposed to be at 3, but an extra van of hikers had just been dropped off. Maybe my luck was turning around. I was prepared to wait at least an hour for a hitch, and now I didn’t have to wait at all. Yes!
I rode the shuttle down the hill and thought how happy I was to not be walking that road. Oof. The driver was named Gary and he was very nice and gave us info and history about the area. We drove through a gorgeous campground that I definitely want to come back to.
Finally we made it to the Kennedy Meadows Resort and Pack Station. The driver let us out and I quickly saw my friends. Yay! They gave me the lowdown on the place and I wandered to the lobby to book a dorm room.
I got set up in an all-female dorm with 5 beds but only two others occupied (by Half Pint and Pitbull). I got a token for a shower and laundry instructions.
I took care of some chores before joining my friends for some beers and a loaf of sourdough bread with butter that a resort guest had given them. Never has untoasted bread tasted so good.
I was absolutely ravenous so I helped move the group to the restaurant for dinner. I had a full ribeye dinner and we shared a bottle of wine. After dinner we hung out at the saloon and I enjoyed chatting with the bartender and my friends. Then, bedtime!