Log: Day 96 - Mile 993.7

July 17, 2016

Conscious of the fact that I was not camped in the correct location, I was up at 6:00am. The last few miles of the previous day had included some stomach trouble and I was feeling much better this morning. I headed down to the general store to resupply and grab breakfast. To my surprise, MASH, Risky Biscuit, and the German man were all up and we had breakfast together.

Climbing up out of Sonora Pass

Impatient to get going, I headed up to the highway and was able to get a hitch with a few section hikers within a few minutes. We parted ways at the pass as they were headed north and I began the climb up and out of Sonora. After the initial climb, the trail rode a ridge for a while before it turns and begins to drop down into a valley. I stopped for a snack with two section hikers who had just finished the climb out of the valley. They did not have good news about the mosquitoes.

Ridge on southern side of Sonora Pass

The descent into valley was slow and hot. Once down there, however, the rest of the day was pretty much all flat. The end of the day held a climb up to Dorothy Lake. Near the top I ran into the German-Irish hiker from Southern California. He didn't remember me at first but it came back to him after I mentioned our group of five.

Dorothy Lake

At the lake, I stopped for water and chatted with Little Buddha. I debated camping there but decided to continue on and hike down along the outlet of the lake some more. By the lake it had been cool and breezy. Once back in the woods there was no chill or wind to keep away the mosquitos and I regretted moving on as well as passing up on a social opportunity.