Sunrise Meadow → Lyell Canyon
16.3 miles
I woke up feeling much better than I did the night before. We had our breakfast of oatmeal and coffee and continued on our way. Today was completely different from yesterday; I was in a great mood all day. It definitely helped that most of the hiking was downhill or flat.
We went over Cathedral Pass which was nice but nothing like what we were about to face in the coming days. . After the pass we made our way to Tuolumne Meadows for our first re-supply. I was surprised to find out that my re-supply box never made it (because I sent my boxes via UPS instead of USPS the post office won’t accept it… damn the blogger who recommended sending re-supplies via UPS).
The people at the post were super kind and let me in the back where they had hiker boxes for people in my situation. Luckily there were plenty of (vegan) foods to choose from, enough to hold me over until my next re-supply. We met some young girls at the picnic tables who were also on the JMT enjoying the food from the little grill. We got ourselves some food and beer (I had a salad, the vegan chili and an IPA.) We talked about our plans, where we’re going to camp that night, where the next re-supply is and so on. After eating, we decided to continue on our way and make it as close to Donahue Pass as possible so when we woke up in the morning we would have fresh legs for the climb.
Along the trail we stopped by a beautiful creek for a dip. The water was freezing but it was nice to rise off the salt and sweat. We hiked a long way through Lyell Canyon until we found a good spot to set up camp. Near water and on flat ground.
We built a fire, did some washing in the creek, and ate the heaviest things in our bear box to lighten our load. It was a great day, I felt so much better and optimistic for the future.
Oh, and we had our first little encounter with snow today, which we heard is something we will be seeing a lot more of in the coming days.
Bee's Wild Life 