July 18, 2016

I woke up to find everything covered in frost: my sleeping bag, my backpack, and my filter... oops. The water in my water bottles had not frozen and I hoped the filter itself was okay and had not cracked from water inside freezing. There wasn't much I could do about it so I packed and headed out.

The trail continued following the lake outlet down for most of the morning. I stopped to talk with Stork and Skittles for a little while they made breakfast. A short while later I got to my first river fording. Despite the fact that I had gotten zip-off pants for this very reason, I decided to just roll the legs up rather than dealing with the zippers. Halfway across they were beginning to unroll and a few steps later I stumbled a little bit and ended up soaking the legs completely. A lesson learned for next time.

I misread the distance up and over the next ridge and ran out of water partway over. At the next creek I stopped for a while to rehydrate, snack, and think. The backcountry itself is, of course, a big reason a enjoy thru hiking. However, sharing moments with people who had previously been perfect strangers, hiking with them, and getting to know them, is also very important to me. The combination of hiking solo, heading southbound against the flow, and focusing on speed in order to be able to finish the trail was not allowing for that kind of interaction. I decided that I needed to slow it down if I was going to get what I wanted to out of the hike. My friends Katy and Sadie were planning on starting the John Muir Trail August 1 and I could join them for that section and call it a summer. If everything worked out I would be able to come back in August 2017 for Oregon and Washington.

Having made the decision, I felt much better. The middle of the day was fairly flat and I spent most of the time running through plans and logistics in my head. I spoke with a section hiker who had lived in the area for 30+ years and she gave me tips on getting around in Yosemite and how to get by hiking without a permit.

The day finished up with a long climb up to Smedberg Lake where I met Flame and King Leonidas. We talked for a while after set up and dinner were taken care of but a chilly evening eventually ended that.