Day 79-83: miles 944-1018

I'm currently in Sierra City, spending 4th of July here! It's been a couple really nice days with lovely elevation, but there's a heatwave coming that's gonna suck quite a bit. I'm glad to spend today in the shade with lots of ice water!

Day 79: miles 943.7-952.3

We got up around 7 this morning and headed over to Yosemite Village, where we resupplied in the massive grocery store there that was better stocked than most other small towns we've been in. Then we had lunch, then worked on getting a hitch back to the trail. It was quite a bit harder going this direction, since most cars were tourists and totally packed. After almost two hours though we managed to get a hitch from a local who was a hiking and bird watching guide for the park. She dropped us off right at the trailhead and we headed off around 5. This is one of two short sections that I've actually been on before - my dad and I did a trip from White Wolf to Glen Aulin a couple years ago, and the last four miles or so were on the PCT! It was tons of fun to see it again and get some great views of the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne. We hiked about eight miles and got to camp around 8:30, setting up camp and having a quick dinner before heading to bed.

Day 80: miles 952.3-969.7

Today started with some incredibly lovely miles through flat meadows and a bit of boggy marsh areas. A lot of these meadows are very fragile ecosystems, with lodgepole pines slowly encroaching on all sides as they get drier over the years. We had a solid uphill in the morning to get to Miller Lake, where we saw some concerning smoke on the horizon (later determined to be from the Aero Fire in Calaveras County), then a nice downhill before lunch. I was ahead and took a little too long to stop for lunch, so Shade and Cheers stopped a couple miles beforehand and then caught up after and we all continued on. After lunch we went up to Benson Pass, which was quite a grind to get up. Then a nice downhill and a couple ups and downs before we stopped to camp at Smedburg Lake. We were the first there but the campsite slowly filled up with other hikers. Despite the people around, a curious deer walked right through the tensite! We relaxed and had dinner outside as the mosquitoes weren't too bad, then headed to bed.

Day 81: miles 969.7-988.6

Started the day with a couple ups and a major downhill, enjoying the views across the canyon. Then we crossed Piute Creek which was in a boggy marshland absolutely filled to the brim with mosquitoes. I took a footpath that led to several logs to cross the many tributaries of the river, and was doing ok until the last branch of the river, where there were no more logs and I got wet up to my thighs. Then I had to backtrack to the trail, bushwhacking through blowdowns and getting bit by hundreds of mosquitoes :(( plus I slipped in some mud and got my butt all dirty :(( The only upside was I walked right through a big patch of green onions, so I grabbed some for dinner at least. Genuinely probably one of the worst river crossings - no actual danger but the mosquitoes and mud made up for it. We passed a ranger on our way out of the bog, who checked our permits and sent us on. Then we had a big climb up to Seavey Pass which was slow but graded very nicely. Then some nice ups and downs, going past lots of lakes and muddy areas. The mosquitoes were the worst I'd seen yet - there were sections where I had to cover my mouth to keep from breathing them in, and I had a big stain on each shoulder from where I'd smacked them as they landed on me. I got to camp first and set up maybe the fastest yet - I had my rain gear and headnet on, but the buzzing was incessant. Shade and Cheers came through and we said an early goodnight as we retired to our tents to relax, make dinner, and head to bed. As I drifted off, I saw probably at least a hundred mosquitoes waiting patiently on the mesh of my tent.

Day 82: miles 988.6-1007.1

A lot fewer mosquitoes this morning, luckily! We headed out nice and early and enjoyed some nice flat meadows and a very gradual ascent up to Dorothy Lakes Pass. Lots of muddy trail though - I've accepted that these shoes are never going to be clean again haha. Around lunchtime we passed the 1000 mile marker which feels very surreal. It's been almost 3 months, and we've celebrated every 100 marker, but it really doesn't actually feel like I've walked 1000 miles. We had lunch right at the stone marker before continuing on. The views were really gorgeous, and we started on the uphill to Sonora Pass before finding our campsite for the night. The mosquitoes weren't quite as bad but we still ate in our tents. There was a brief thunderstorm in the evening, but we only got a couple minutes of actual rain, and it cooled things off nicely.

Day 83: miles 1007.1-1018.1

Sonora Pass today! It's the last real pass of the Sierra and we were very excited to get over it. The climb was brutal, with the trail bypassing some of the snow-covered switchbacks, and there were a couple sections where I was very happy to have my microspikes. The rock has quickly shifted from granite to a more rusty, volcanic rock, and the scree makes parts of the trail feel just as hazardous as the snow. There were lots of ups and downs, and about five false summits, but the views were really gorgeous. We finally got to the peak and I celebrated with my last snickers. Then we started down, which had an equal number of sketchy snow sections. I decided to glissade down for some of them, and was pleased to use my ice axe for possibly the last time. As we were going down, we were passed by a couple on skis and snowboard - not something you see everyday! We chatted at the bottom, they come out here hiking a couple times a week, and said if you knew where to go, you could find decent snow all the way until August! We continued on and reach the Hwy 108 around 12:30, immediately getting a hitch before we even held out our thumbs! He dropped us off right at Kennedy Meadows North, where we got a dorm bed and I picked up my first package! It was filled with lots of food and some extra goodies from my mom. I cooked some pasta for lunch and we relaxed on the porch, then our beds. Kennedy Meadows is a cattle ranch and pack station, with lots of horses and cows out in the meadow up the hill. As such the only veggie option on their large menu was a veggie burger haha, but it was pretty good so I couldn't complain too much! We took our six-minute showers, got laundry done, and I mended some rips in my pants before we relaxed again and took advantage of the wifi before the generator turned off for the night.