Day 57 (23/05/2018): Zero Day in Bishop
Day 58 (24/05/2018): Zero Day in Bishop then driving to BLM (Bureau of Land Management) campsite near Lee Vining
Chill couple days hanging out with Darwin, Snuggles, Tang, Hummingbird, and Vicious. Tang rented a car and headed to SF this morning to hang out with her Uncle and have a doctor check her hurt foot. Hummingbird kicked it with us all day then decided to stay put in Lone Pine in case she decides to leave earlier than we do. The rest of us hung out all day and pondered our next moves. Tomorrow we’ll head into Yosemite, and if the weather is decent stay over there for a bit. Otherwise maybe head to the coast and Big Sur. We shall see tomorrow.
Day 59 (25/05/2018): Zero Day 9.2 Miles hiking to Glacier Point
Fun day in Yosemite. That park is unbelievably beautiful. Chilled and walked around all morning then hiked up to Glacier Point with Darwin and Vicious. Good views for the first half of it, then clouds for the second half. As we reached the top it began dripping cold water from the trees and got noticeably cooler. On the way down we were chatting about different types of pizza (typical hiker hunger talk), so we went and got some after we left the park. Snuggles is a gem for driving us all over the place.
Days 60 and 61 (26-27/05/2018): Zero Days at Gilroy Quality Inn and Big Sur
Started the morning off right by making a breakfast scramble for the crew at a small town called “Chinese Camp”, then we started driving towards a BLM campsite near the coast. Vicious got pretty stoned and didn’t read the comments that the campsite was actually closed, so without saying a word he randomly booked a hotel room in Gilroy (garlic capital of the world) to make up for it. The whole town smelled like garlic, but the hot tub and pool session was exactly what we needed. Thanks Vicious! The next morning we had continental breakfast, did laundry, then drove past Carmel and down the coast to the beach where we hung out for the day. Awesome beach with lots of cool caves and loads of different coastal flowers. After the beach we drove towards Whisky Falls, but ended up camping just down the road at a cool little pull off area that Snuggles found on the drive up. Great spot! Chicken sausage tacos for dinner were super tasty.
Day 62 (28/05/2018): Zero Day from Pull Off Area to Keough’s Hot Springs Camp
Drove all morning to make it back to Bishop around lunch time. Another plate of nachos (with Jalapeños) that I actually finished this time! Then we resupplied and headed for some BLM campsite. It was really windy and hot so we camped at Keough’s Hot Springs instead. All good, tomorrow back up to Sawmill Pass… and finally back on trail. I picked up a Little Caesar’s Pizza on the way out of Bishop for dinner. Figured I’d splurge on some last minute calories!
Day 63 (29/05/2018): Worst Nearo Day Ever from Sawmill Pass Trail back to the PCT (12.4 Miles OT, 0.4 Miles on PCT)
Little Caesar’s was a bad choice. I woke up at 3am and had to rush over to the bathroom to purge whatever I ate that resembled pizza. After a slowish start we began the hellacious climb back up to Sawmill Pass at about 10am. God that is one of the hardest trails I’ve ever hiked. 6,744 feet of gain up to the pass over roughly nine miles. The first few miles of trail was so damn hot also. Beginning in the valley floor and ending in the snow at over 11,000 feet, that trail is a killer. Postholing to my waist down the back side wasn’t fun either. Definitely ruined my shins and knees again. Darwin had a tough time also with postholing. He broke one of his poles then proceeded to drop his iPhone a couple times. The second time the screen cracked. The whole day wasn’t a waste though, as we found a cool tent site near the creek almost half a mile up from the Sawmill Pass Junction. It’s astounding how much snow can melt in just a week. Not enough, but it’s getting there. At least you can see the trail now.
El Capitan in all of its moody glory
This was my view for the duration of the road trip (Thanks for driving Snuggles!)
Yosemite Falls emerging from the clouds
I think everyone was a little tuckered out
Great campsite off the beaten path
The classic view of Yosemite Valley
I absolutely love the strength of these old Pine Trees
Back on the trail again!
Cruise The PCT 