*these posts are coming straight from trail, I apologize in advance for typos!*
Location: High Sierra
Start: Mammoth Lakes – 904.4
End: Mammoth Lakes – 904.4
Miles: 0.0
Ascent: 5562 | Descent: 5562
Sleep: Building
What a big day! We woke up around 4am at a beautiful campsite just outside of Yosemite. We wanted to get into the park early and had about an hour drive to the trailhead, so we left the national forest campsite around 5am. We made it to Curry Village inside of Yosemite around 6am and were heading towards the Mist Trailhead around 6:30am.
Back on Saturday we all applied for Half Dome cable permits while eating pizza in Mammoth. We didn’t think we’d get any of the last minute permits issued, but lo and behold Truffles application for 5 permits was approved! This felt like a once in a lifetime opportunity and we knew we had to make it up Half Dome. We had about a mile walk along the road to get us to the trailhead, and once we were on the Mist Trail we started climbing uphill.
The beginning of the trail was paved and covered with people, even before 7am. Apparently 300 permits are issued for the cables every day, but you don’t need permits to hike up to the waterfalls along the trial and. It’s a hard hike and not for the faint of heart, but I couldn’t believe how many people there were the entire way up! We are in great shape and conditioned for long hikes, but holy shit the hike all the way up was super strenuous and hard! I was shocked by how many “normal people” we saw. Granted we did the trail faster than most of them, but we also had hiked 900 miles up to this point. We had a lot of conversations about day hikers and how impressed we were by the amount of people able to do the trail, it was that hard!
After a few miles we crossed the Vernal Falls Bridge and passed the water station and bathrooms. I couldn’t believe there were full on flush toilets on the mountain, what a luxury! There were lots of signs about how much water you’d need based on what time you were doing. Obviously it was necessary information because of how ill prepared many people were on the trail. I saw lots of flip flops and people that didn’t have water or daypacks or anything…
From the bridge we continued climbing up towards Vernal Falls. The water fall was huge and we got super close to it thanks to a ton of stairs. We hiked near the actual falls and ended up on top of the waterfall where the river began its plunge over the cliff. The trail took us past Emerald Pool and continued climbing up towards Nevada Falls. We crossed another bridge and took even more stairs up towards the fall.
After countless stairs and several switchbacks, we were at a junction and yet another bathroom opportunity. This was just a pit toilet, but still what a wonderful reprieve. The trail leveled out significantly for the next several miles and we just cruised along the dirt path. We passed so many people, many of whom were ambitiously heading towards the cables as we were.
When we hit the forest we began to climb yet again. The elevation gain was wild because it felt like we did a ton of climbing in the beginning of the trail, has a break in the middle, and then did a bunch more climbing at the end. We just kept going up and up and up and eventually ended up at the base of the sub dome. There was whiteboard warning hikers not to go up during inclement weather as well as reminding people that permits were required. We didn’t see a ranger and proceeded up towards the sub dome.
This section of the hike was climbing up the granite slab with some cut out stairs and some rock scrambling. I felt comfortable traversing the rock but tried not to spend too much time looking around out of fear that I’d scare myself and freeze. My fear of heights hadn’t been paralyzing yet, but I didn’t want to hinder myself in any way.
When we crested the sub dome it started to get real. The cables were right in front of us and it looked like they went straight up the mountain. The section was about 600 feet long and it looked like people were propelling themselves up the rock face by just hanging onto the cables. I knew that it would be too steep for me to attempt the summit, but my friends were insistent that I at least give it a try.
Reluctantly I went to the base of the cables. We all found some gloves that were left by the cables and gratefully put those on. We got into a line and began the slow ascent. I stayed in the back so that it would be easy for me to turn around if I decided I couldn’t do it. I made it maybe 20 feet and got really scared. I started shaking and could feel tears coming on and I told our group I was turning around. They were understandably disappointed and gave me a hard time as I started making my way back down.
I felt so much better when I was on solid ground again. I was disappointed in myself but knew I would have lost my mind if I got even further up and tried to come back down. I found a spot in the shade to sit and wait and ended up having a great time watching the slow progression of people up and down the cables. It took my friends about an hour to get up and down, including the time they hung out on top. Watching them all come down was so nerve wracking because there were so many other people on the cables. There was no order in which people would go up and come down, so people were going in and out of the cables trying to pass one another. It was scary knowing one misstep would be the end of my loved ones. I tried not to focus on that as I watched my friends slowly descending the slab of rock.
Finally they were all safely on the ground. They excitedly told me about their climb and showed me pictures of the view from the top. We sat and hung out for a while watching other people go up and down on the cables before deciding we should go ahead and start the long descent back to the car.
Doing an out and back trail is always fun because I feel like you notice different things going in either direction. It felt like a completely different hike heading down the mountain, there were so many things I didn’t see before. I also didn’t realize how much climbing we did, but I certainly felt it on the way down. I was extra thankful for my trekking poles, especially on all the steep stairs we had to climb down. My knees were feeling it by the end!
It took us about 4 hours to get back to the car. We were all exhausted and limping by the time we finally reached the car. We were also very hungry, so we decided to go back to the visitor center to go to the grill for a snack. We downed some burgers and easily could have eaten more, but we Truffles was adamant he wanted (and deserved chicken wings). We used what little signal we had to look up where a Buffalo Wild Wings was and started driving in that direction.
Civilization was about 2 and a half hours away, but thankfully the drive was pretty and it went by fast. We got to the restaurant around 8pm and it took a long time for us to be seated but we were so tired and hungry it didn’t matter. We devoured the endless wings when we finally got sat and were able to order. We each ate at least 16 wings!
By the time we finished eating we figured it was too late to try and find a campsite. We opted instead to book a cheap hotel room online and were so happy to finally get to the hotel around 11pm. Our $150 room ended up being one of the nicest hotels I’ve stayed at! We were best and fell asleep as soon as we got in the room. What a big day, I’m so thankful to get to end it in a bed! According to Truffles Garmin we did 18.8 miles with 5500’ of elevation change each way. And to think this was technically an “off” day!
Our families flew out to see us in South Lake Tahoe! My parents along with Truffles and Hangman’s mom, plus Pinky’s mom and two younger sisters all made the trip. We rented a large house so we could all stay together and spent several days relaxing and sightseeing. It was the perfect break from hiking and so good to see family!
Location: High Sierra
Start: Manmoth Pass – 904.4
End: Red’s Meadow Junction – 907.9
Miles: 3.5
Ascent: 17 | Descent: 1276
Sleep: Tent
Back on trail after several glorious days off! I was worried I wouldn’t be happy once we were back on trail and that being around our families would make me feel homesick, but today was a great day and I felt very thankful to be out here.
Our families had morning flights out of Reno, so they all had to leave by 7:30am. I got up around 6:30am so k could drink coffee and spend time with my parents before they left. My parents are heading to Yellowstone after our visit to do some sightseeing of their own, so we talked about their trip and what they were excited about. It was sad to say goodbye to Hangman and Pinky, it doesn’t feel right being on trail without them. I think Hangman made the right call by choosing to go home and heal rather than trying to stay out here in hostels or hotels. It sucks that they have to go home and I know it will be hard to get back on trail, but he needs the time and space to heal. We are bummed and I know they are as well, but we’ll see them again in a few weeks!
Our families got out the door on time with lots of hugs and kisses goodbye. That just left Pimento, Truffles, and I. We hung out at the rental house for a few extra house taking our time with breakfast and packing up. We soaked up all the internet connectivity we could and were out there door around 10:30am.
It was just under a 3 hour drive from South Lake Tahoe to Mammoth Lakes. We made good time and only stoped along the way for bathroom breaks and to get a “real milkshake” (that ended up being delicious and was absolutely worth the stop). We got to the Horseshoe Lake trailhead to Mammoth Pass around 2pm. Pimento is planning to get back on trail tomorrow where he got off in Bishop, so he dropped us off and then was going to drive the rental car back down to Bishop. He’ll be about 2 weeks behind us but is planning to skip up to where we are when Pinky and Hangman return.
We said our goodbyes to Pimento and were hiking up the trail just after 2pm. We had about 3.5 miles back up to the PCT and then were going to find a campsite somewhere after that. I set out ahead and Truffles but figured he’d catch me soon. I stopped to wait at one point and when he didn’t show up after 15 minutes I started asking day hikers if they’d seen a solo guy in a blue shirt and big backpack. When no one had I got worried and decided to hike back down to the parking lot.
Truffles was no where in site and I frantically called him. I didn’t expect him to have signal but thank goodness he did and he picked up. Apparently he had taken an alternate trail to McLeod Lake and was waiting for me there. I was aggravated but he was apologetic when I finally found him. Now that it’s just the two of us out here I really want us to stay together and I felt panicked that we wouldn’t have any way to reach one another if we were separated. We were reunited at the lake and continued to hike on together.
The trail back to the PCT wasn’t nearly as bad as I remembered it being. I had been dreading the hike up, but it ended up being pretty mellow with very mild uphills and a good amount of downhill. We were back on the PCT before 4pm and decided to head towards the junction to Red’s Meadow. Truffles had to dig a cat hole but we made plans to meet and get water near the junction.
The trail this afternoon was beautiful! I hiked through tall pine forests and over multiple babbling brooks. There were areas that were sunny and exposed, but for the most part things look really green and lush (especially around the water). I didn’t hike through any snow today, I guess summer is in full force and the snow melt has made way for greenery. I paused at several of the water sources to admire the moss and flowers, it reminded me of home. The big difference was the huge snow capped mountains in the distance.
I stopped at our planned water source to filter water for the evening. Since we weren’t sure where we would camp was wanted to be sure we’d have water in case we chose a dry campsite. Truffles caught up and decided to go a little further. We met back up at the junction and continued on together for a bit before seeing some nice campsites down off the trail. Unfortunately it was a dry campsite but we had plenty of water to get us through the evening and tomorrow morning.
We set up the tent and were thankful the mosquitos weren’t out before of how windy it was. In the sunshine the wind was okay, but I know it will be chilly when the sun goes down. We made dinner and talked about our family’s visit and about how crazy it is to just be the two of us. Today is our two year wedding anniversary so we talked about all the adventures we’re had together the past couple of years.
We’re both worn out after our time away from trail, so we got in the tent early. Again the wind is chilly so we were happy to snuggle up in our sleeping backs. I think we’ll enter Yosemite tomorrow! We did 7 total miles today: 3.5 back to the PCT and 3.5 nobo on the PCT. A nice little re-entry after not hiking for a few days.
