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Today would be our first resupply. We started the hike at Glacier Point with
4 days/3 nights of food. Today we'd get our resupply from the Tuolumne Meadows
post office. As we had learned from the post office workers, we needed to arrive
before 1pm to get our resupply in the most timely fashion. As the trip to Tuolumne
Meadows is mostly downhill from Cathedral Lake, we didn't think there would be
a problem.
We left camp at around 8:30am. While the trail was mostly downhill, there was a
small bit of uphill (about 150 feet) at the beginning. But then the steep descent
started. Along the way we passed lots of backpackers and day hikers coming in
the opposite direction. Upper Cathedral Lake is only about 3.5 miles from the
trailhead on Tioga Road. We passed a family of 4 (including two boys ages 10 and 14)
who were also doing the JMT, having started at Mono Meadow. They were also planning
to camp in Lyell Canyon today (which was our destination). The younger boy seemed
to be having a harder time, though, as we passed him resting with his mom well back
of the other two. We did not see them again on our JMT trip; I hope they finished.
Descending toward Tioga Road
Stream
As we neared Tioga Road, a large train of horses and riders came riding up the
trail. After waiting for them to pass, we turned right to stay on the trail
that parallels the road. The road goes up and down. Eventually we veered left to enter
the Tuolumne Meadows campground, following the campground road as it roughly parallels
Tioga Road. Eventually we cut over to the side of Tioga Road just before the gas
station, then walked along the road the remaining distance to the post office and
store. We found an empty picnic table and put everything down at about 11:30am.
We'd hiked about 5.5 miles and still had at least 6 miles to go for the day.
Unicorn Creek near Tuolumne Meadows campground
As usual, the store and grill were very busy. We stepped into the grill to get
cheeseburgers and fries. Jean went into the store at around 12pm and managed to
get our resupply early. This was good, since it would take us a while to repack
everything.
Getting ready to unpack our resupply at Tuolumne Meadows
We opened the three five-gallon buckets and went about the task of
stuffing them into our 4 bear canisters, ditching stuff we no longer needed. As I had
packed a little extra food for the first leg, I now had a bucket full of extra food we
didn't need (or at least couldn't fit).
I found out that there's a box of free stuff for PCT hikers inside the store, but when I
went to dump our stuff there, a note said the box was "out of control" and not to leave
anything. So I went around asking if anyone needed anything. I saw the couple we'd
seen on Day 2, but they didn't need anything. They'd stayed at Sunrise the previous
night and were planning to stay in Tuolumne Meadows tonight. I was just about to
throw everything away when a man approached me and asked if it was all packaged
food (it was), and he took it off my hands. I was happy it didn't go to waste.
We got back on the "trail" at 1:20pm. Well, not exactly trail, but at least hiking.
We started off on Tioga Road heading east, then turned right into the edge of the
campground. I knew from the map that this would eventually lead to the trail and
then to the JMT. Meanwhile, the clouds had moved in and rain was threatening as
previously forecast. We had put on all our rain gear while at the picnic table -
pack covers, rain pants, gaiters, rain jackets. It turned out to be rather uncomfortably warm
with all this on, though, and we ended up stopping and taking most of it off.
We reached the end of the campground road and got back on the trail, which heads
up Lyell Canyon along the river. After about 0.8 miles, we rejoined the JMT,
which had done a circuitous route past the visitor center, across Tioga
Road into Tuolumne Meadows itself, back across Tioga Road and then across
the river. We'd seen the meadow before, though, so we weren't disappointed in
missing this section of the JMT. I would venture a guess that most JMT hikers probably skip
it since the official trail avoids the store and grill.
Lembert Dome
Lembert Dome
As we got back onto the JMT, a man and two teenagers were coming in the
opposite direction. The man somehow identified me, recognizing me from
my web site, which he had used. I don't have a lot of pictures of myself on the
site, so it was probably a combination of me, my wife, and the two boys. He identified
himself as Bruce, and he was hiking with his daughter and her friend. They'd
started their hike in Mammoth. That was kind of neat/strange. I wouldn't have been
surprised if more people had recognized me on the trail, but he was the only one
to do so on this trip (or at least the only one who approached me).
Hiking into the forest with pack covers on
The distant thunder started at 2pm. We put on our rain gear again and endured a little
bit of rain as we hiked along the river. The rain let up, but then it got worse
around 4pm. It was pretty much constant from 4pm to 7pm. Along the way, parts of the
trail were flooded and it got a little cold, but it was all manageable.
Mountains above Lyell Canyon
We had views of meadows, the river, and the mountains to the east. We saw hikers
coming in the opposite direction using various strategies to beat the rain - pack
covers, garbage bags, even an umbrella.
Lyell Fork
Lyell Canyon
Meadow in Lyell Canyon
We finally neared the Evelyn Lake junction and saw two tents set up. We started
looking for a camp site. We found a large site with a fire ring that we were
going to take, but despite the large area we couldn't find a place that wasn't
slanted. We ended up relocating to a much smaller but flatter site nearby.
Another, larger group came in later and took the site we abandoned. There were
only about 4 groups of campers in the area that night.
It was difficult to set up camp while it was still cold and raining, but we managed
to put up the tent quickly. There was easy access to water, as a stream (probably
Ireland Creek) was flowing strongly across the trail nearby. Eventually the rain
stopped around 7pm and we were able to cook and enjoy our dinner.
The kids had hiked and camped in cold and rainy conditions before, and didn't
complain at all. However, I admit to being rather wet and cold and hoping that
the weather would be better the next day. It didn't help that I didn't want
to get caught in a thunderstorm on Donohue Pass the next day, so we planned
an early start - I set the alarm for 5:45am.
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