I am writing this blog in my tent in a lightning storm. The hail phase of the storm has passed and now the water is collecting around my tent. Temps have dropped into the forties. It is 4 pm and I am snug in my quilt in the Backpacker Campground of Tuolumne Meadows. Up until now it has been an easy carefree day. This is how the early part went.
Plans
We awaken full of hope. We know we are 9 miles from Tuolumne where we will pick up our supply boxes at the post office and have a big burger from the grill next door. There is a store there too. The whole operation is in a tent that they take down in the winter.
Milestone
Today I start my fifth week on the trail. I stink to high heaven and have lost a few pounds, but I feel good as I enter the critical part of my hike.
Morning
The morning sun in the east is beautiful.
The south looks a little troubling. Quite a bit of smoke there. I wonder what’s going on.
Ten minutes down the trail, I see this glowing rock. Did I just hit the mother lode!? Wait, it’s just the sun shining on this one rock. I’ll be she feels special.
Water And Granite
We poke our heads into the high Sierra camp at Glen Aulin. It appears that the camp did not open this year. There are a few backpackers there. We recognize the Swiss couple that we met at Kennedy Meadows. They went out on the trail the day before we did. We have caught up to them.
She goes by Pepermint Patty of Peanuts fame. He goes by Chasselas – some kind of grape variety his is promoting. I tell him that his name is poor. (I’m looking for a reaction.) I tell him his name should be Blue Jay because he is always talking. He asks if I mean that in a good or bad way. Oh, good of course!
They are really nice and have changed their opinion about Americans (except for me now) after having been among us for a while. I reassure him that although there is a lot of craziness in the news, we are good people and can be kind and generous.
Yosemite is pretty impressive up here. Perhaps most spectacular are the falls and watercourses. Here are three falls I like.
Blue Jay says they have water and granite like this in the Alps, but here it is ten times bigger. I walk across massive granite slabs. The only markers for the trail are lined-up rocks or the rust trail caused by horseshoes.
Occasionally there is water flowing over it.
Settling In
The post office complex is very busy with all kind of people up here enjoying The Nature. I am surprised and gratified to see that Micheal is still the post master as he was in 2022. He decorates every box with the hikers name in a kind of graffiti script. Here is mine.
Bob and I get some burgers and say good bye to our hiking acquaintances from this last section.
It’s time to set up our tents and sort through our food and make detailed plans for our next section into Mammoth Lakes.
We have had no cell reception or baths since we left Kennedy Meadows five days ago.
Oh, and I have to see about that massive puddle around my tent. Maybe dig a ditch.
September 2, 2025
Miles hiked today: 9.5