Day 69, June 25: Mile 915 to 934
Start: Agnew Meadows CG - Mile 914.9
End: Mile 933.7
Miles: 18.8
Ascent: 4319 | Descent: 3664
I didn’t sleep well last night so waking up at 4am was hard. But, I managed to pack up and get out of camp a few minutes after 5am. It was an early start because we had around 15 miles to cover before going over Donohue Pass, and rain was in the forecast for the day. With the high mountain passes in the Sierra, you want to make sure you’re over them before 1pm or so as there can often be lightning starting at that time.
So I hiked with purpose, despite feeling super tired and out of it. The scenery of the valley I was walking along was beautiful. After 7 or so miles, I came to Thousand Island Lake. Wow, it was absolutely stunning. I had heard of this lake as a day hike before and it, again, did not disappoint. The mosquitos, however, were absolutely horrible, and after slathering my legs in Deet and convincing Liz to snap a few pictures, I was hurriedly on my way.
I continued hiking and decided to stop at one of the endless streams to soak my foot for ten minutes as it was giving me some pain. It seemed to do the trick and I was able to hike on with minimal discomfort for the rest of the day. I kept running into Jive Turkey, Lucky Charm, and Jukebox on the climb up towards Donohue.
As promised, the sky began to fill with clouds. I felt the first gentle raindrops around 11am as I was climbing up towards the pass. No big deal, I thought, and hiked on while it was sprinkling.
After a bit, it started to come down harder and the wind picked up, so I put on my new rain jacket. I’m happy to say it performed perfectly- it never wetted out and I stayed warm and dry on my top half. Money well spent!
I kept leapfrogging with Jive Turkey on my way up, and we kept exclaiming at the clouds that were increasingly gray and ominous. I was a bit stressed as the storm had definitely started earlier than I was expecting, but I made a point with myself- if it started to thunder or there was any other indication of lightning, I would turn back and take cover under the tree line.
No thunder came. But, rain turned to sleet, and then to hail. My thighs were bright red from getting pelted with the tiny hail. I didn’t stop to put on my wind pants because I didn’t feel they would do too much and I was pretty warm while hiking up quickly anyways.
Finally, I made it to the pass! The rain had actually calmed down a bit so I was able to snap some pictures. Donohue Pass marks the entry into the Yosemite Wilderness, and I was excited to see the sign!
I started my descent down from the pass. I wasn’t free and clear yet- the pass was above treeline so I needed to make it down a couple thousand feet before I was out of the lightning danger zone. But the storm had calmed down slightly so I took my steps carefully, not wanting to slip on the wet rocks.
At one point, I lost the trail under a small snowfield. I pulled out my phone to look at the GPS track, and… I dropped my phone. It seemed to bounce hard on the granite below. I picked it up, and indeed to my horror, the bottom half of the screen was now flickering green every time I turned it on, and there was a huge crack spidering out from the right hand side. Immediately worry, upset, anger, annoyance filled me. I wished I hadn’t made the mistake, but there wasn’t too much I could do in the moment (except to solicit pity from my friends who were nearby). I was happy, at least, that the phone was otherwise working and I could still click on and see what I needed to. But my mind filled with questions of how I was to fix this. Thankfully I have AppleCare, but I’ll need to get off trail to take care of it. Womp womp.
Still, I hiked on. The scenery was beautiful and moody under the stormy clouds. I was sure I was behind my friends and I had an idea of the campsite they were aiming for, so I hiked on with only a short break here and there until I reached it. However, I was disappointed to find no tents there. I kept hiking a half mile to the next tent site I thought they might be at… and still no tents.
Exhausted from the lack of sleep, tired of being in the rain, and pouting from my broken phone, I gave up and pitched my tent by myself. It was around 2:30pm and I quickly fell asleep for a short afternoon nap. I spent the rest of the day watching a movie on my phone (or rather, the left half of a movie as the right side was flickering green), and relaxing.
After a while, Squirrel Daddy showed up, yay! We had dinner together and he informed me that the majority of the group, including himself, set up camp before the pass as they were worried about the thunderstorm. He, Cathole and Gus had made it over (though the latter two I had somehow missed only 0.7 miles behind where I camped), and Liz, Tikka, Boop and Sensei were TBD on if they made it over. Everyone was safe though, thankfully!
After dinner, I cozied back up into my tent and got ready for bed. I will get into Tuolumne Meadows tomorrow and will need to find a way to have Apple send me a new phone. Fingers crossed it gets resolved quickly!