Day 71, June 27: Mile 946 to 968
Start: Mile 945.6
End: Mosquito Hell - Mile 967.8
Miles: 22.2
Ascent: 4802 | Descent: 3892
Today was a hard day. I woke up exhausted, having slept terribly, but I started hiking at 4:30am in hopes of catching up to my friends. The plan sort of backfired because I was so sleepy and felt so bleh all day that I had to keep taking long breaks. At one point, I even took a nap sitting up against my backpack.
For the first hour of the day, I was hiking in the dark. I made it to a bridge that goes over the Tuolumne River just as the light was getting bright enough to put away my headlamp. I hiked this section of trail a few years ago when I did a solo backpacking trip in Yosemite, and it was cool to be back and see it in a new perspective.
I hiked down the granite stairs and came to Tuolumne Falls. They were spectacular! The Glen Aulin valley that the falls and river run into was just as beautiful as I remember.
Soon, I came to a junction and took a turn that marked the end of the trail I had hiked before. The next few miles were eh. I was walking through a pretty forest, but there weren’t really any views otherwise, and I was exhausted. It was in this stretch that I took a quick nap. I considered setting up my tent to protect against the mosquitos and lying down for an actual nap, and in retrospect, I probably should’ve done that instead of the half-sleep I got sitting up, brushing ants off of me and swatting away mosquitos every 5 minutes.
I continued on, still sleepy and cranky. To be honest, I don’t remember much of the day as I was so out of it. I know there were a ton of steep granite descents and ascents that completely exhausted me even further. There were some beautiful vistas of enormous rock faces, and I passed by a pretty deep blue lake at one point. But mostly, the day was a slog.
I started feeling a little bit better towards the end of the day, knowing camp (and sleep) was getting closer and closer. I went up and over Benson Pass, which was cool but definitely paled in comparison to the high passes of the last stretch.
I came to the campsite I was hoping for and it turns out, there was no water there, so I kept hiking on. I found a stream a half mile later and a flat spot so I started setting up my tent.
And then…the mosquitos. Oh GOD the mosquitos. I have truly never seen anything like it in my life. They instantly descended on me in the hundreds. I put on my wind pants, rain jacket and bug headnet as fast I possibly could. They did help but my god, they were still so brutal. I collected water and filtered a liter while walking around so I wouldn’t be a sitting duck for the bugs, and then I threw all of my stuff and myself into my tent and zipped it up as fast as humanly possible. I watched in disgust as the swarms sat on the outside of the bug net of my tent and mused on how grateful I am that bug netting exists.
I ate a cold dinner of mashed potatoes in my tent and got ready for bed. I still needed to put my bear canister outside, grab my filter and go to the bathroom before going to sleep, and I was dreading it. I was hopeful that the mosquitos would dissipate a bit as the sun continued to go down. Eep!