We’ve just returned from a John Muir Trail send-off event. Our hiking buddy Paige and her daughter Taylor began their JMT adventure this weekend and we were lucky enough to join them on the first night. They’ll be on the trail for the next three weeks – unfortunately we only had one night to enjoy it. I sure wish I’d been able to head down the trail with them this morning instead of back to the car.
Friday night we headed up to the Backpacker’s Camp at Tuolumne and met Paige, Taylor, John (also doing the JMT and visiting from England), and Duane, who was also just going in for the first night like the two of us. After some brief conversation we all headed to bed – it was dark and the JMT hikers had a big adventure ahead of them!
In the morning we broke camp and headed down to the Tuolumne Grill for some yummy breakfast biscuit sandwiches. Steve met us and shortly after 10 am we hit the trail. About a mile in we stopped by a gorgeous river crossing, at which point David realized he’d left his trekking poles back at the trailhead. He ran back and the rest of us powered on.
About five miles in we stopped at a perfect lunch location along the river. We spent a long leisurely 45 minutes or so enjoying the cold rushing water and each other’s company. We then continued down the trail for a few more miles to Kuna Creek, a beautiful cascading creek that falls into Lyell Canyon. Paige knew a perfect campsite from her hike through the canyon last year, and all of us were able to set up camp together. Unfortunately a few of us were so gung-ho we hiked a bit too far. When the trail started to climb out of the canyon we knew we’d gone too far, so we turned back and found that we’d blown right past the campsite.
After setting up camp I strolled down to the river to get some fresh water. At the water I found Taylor ready to take a swim. I couldn’t resist and jumped in myself. I lasted about 0.0001 seconds before having to jump out – it was so cold! Unfortunately one of my Crocs had come off and I had to jump after it, so I was in a bit longer than I would have liked!
We had a lovely evening in camp, except for the mosquitoes. I know they have been bad this year, and even though they were bad I think they’ve improved from a week or two ago. As much as I hate the stuff, I lathered up in DEET (I hate mosquitoes more) and they didn’t bother me at all. We built a fire and enjoyed the river-chilled beer that David carried in. No bear sightings, but the deer were everywhere. At about 10 pm we crawled into bed, and I woke up about half an hour later to some light rain drops. Fortunately that was all the clouds had in store for us and the rest of the night was quiet and dry.
This morning it was business as usual around camp – a breakfast of Constant Comment tea and oatmeal, followed by packing up. Paige, Taylor, and John continued down the John Muir Trail after we bid them good luck and farewell. I really wished I was going that way! But the rest of us (me, David, Steve, and Duane) had to head back the way we came. The hike out was quick and enjoyable, except for one annoying blister that showed up on the ball of my right foot. We stopped once (at the same place as Saturday’s lunch) and took a brief rest and foot-doctoring break, then sped on back toward the trailhead.
By 1:00 we were back at the cars and discussing lunch. We ended up at the Tioga Pass Resort, where we had some tasty sandwiches. I would have liked to have done another hike – I definitely still had some energy – but the blister on my foot was vetoing any plans to hike further today. Still, it was a lovely weekend in Yosemite with wonderful company. Can’t ask for much more than that!
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