Log: Day 99 - Tuolumne Meadows

July 20, 2016

Morning came and the five JMT hikers began packing up and getting ready to start hiking. Nick and Brenna were all set to hit the trail. Newton, Yak, and Squeegee had to head down into Lee Vining to get a permit for the next section of trail. I went with them to the general store and got breakfast from the grill.

After they had all left I began talking with a young man about my age. He had been sleeping rough for over a year moving from place to place. He had obviously not had someone to talk to in quite a while so I sat with him and listened. He was on disability for mental development problems but had been having trouble getting the payments. Food had been hard to come across going over the Sierras and he had taken some from the hiker box at Tuolumne only to be scolded by a group of hikers because he himself was not hiking. The night before he had slept in the backpackers campground and shared in some liquor with a group of hikers only to be yelled at for drinking too much, told him his life was worthless, and kicked him out. He ended up next to a rotting log eating ants and contemplating suicide for what sounded like was not the first time.

Being homeless is a celebrated point of pride for many thru hikers. Some will qualify it with the word "temporary." The simple fact that you do not currently have a permanent place of residence does not make you homeless. Not with a few grand worth of equipment on your back and a few more in the bank for the 5-6 months of food. Not with a priority list in life that allowed you to think about backpacking rather than focusing on basic necessities.

Tuolumne Meadows is not a food pantry, this is true. They get such an incredible amount of food every day from over prepared JMT hikers, however, that any item taken is one less item to store. As for alcohol consumption, that is a problem that is almost a thru hiker trademark at this point that can be attributed to a wider sense of entitlement. For most, the point of a thru hike is to experience parts of the world previously unknown and to meet people you would not usually have the chance to. Not all of it is beautiful and it is naive to attempt to remove the ugly bits from the masterpiece of expectations you have painted for yourself.

My plan for the day had originally been to head down into Yosemite Valley to get cell signal and internet access. After three different people told me it wasn't worth it going down into that zoo I decided to head down into Lee Vining instead. The hitch was a quick one and 20 minutes later I was leaned up on the shady side of building talking over plans with my mom.

A few minutes later I heard a "Shybear?" and saw Squeegee, Newton, and Yak walking over. I ended up joining them for lunch and walking down to the visitor center to wait for their bus with them. After they were on the way to the trailhead, permits in hand, I called Katy and Sadie to discuss JMT plans.

It was beginning to get dark as I tried to get a ride back into the park. As I was beginning to lose hope a climber from Bishop picked me up. He dropped me off at the general store where I found a pretty trashy group of PCT hikers hanging out drinking. I left to go to the backpackers campground.

I set up in one of the only flat places left. I was pretty sure I would be camping alone until a young guy named Lawless showed up. We talked for a while and eventually were joined by Walter, a concerned boy scout father. The drunken PCT crowd from outside the store rolled in pretty late, loud and belligerent. I went to sleep with a bad taste in mouth.