July 1st
Red’s Meadow/Mammoth(906.6)-Thousand Island Lake(923)
Today’s Mileage: 16.4mi
Today was what I always imagined the Sierras to be! We had a great night at the Red’s Meadow campground and had breakfast there before heading out around 8:30am. As I was heading to the trail with Balls and Sunshine, Goose was getting dropped off to get back on the trail. We originally met at the Saufleys and we’ve been overlapping in trail towns ever since. He has hiked with Balls and Sunshine before, but we’ve never overlapped on the trail. Goose joined us and will be with us to Tuolumne Meadows. He will also be finishing the JMT (~30mi side trip west of the PCT) and heading into the valley like I will do from Tuolumne.
Back to today. It was great! Nice and warm and sunny. We had very little snow throughout the day and had consistent snow the last two hours as we headed up toward our next pass. It was a pretty good uphill a lot of the day with great views as we did switchbacks. We did do a bit of a detour to see Devil’s Postpile from a distance, but we didnt feel the need to go all the way down there. There was some entertainment along the trail cause we are in a more touristy area and there was also a PCT trail crew we visited with a bit. They were nice enough to take a group shot of us in front of the tourist site, Minaret Falls.
We entered the Ansel Adams Wilderness and I loved it. I’m not sure if the iPhone took quality pictures today, but here they are.
I had phone reception most of the day which I enjoy quite a bit. I looked forward to being able to watch a show at camp tonight and lost signal a couple miles before we camped. So close!
We are camped at Thousand Island Lakes and it is covered in snow, but still great. I had a Mountain House dinner (Chicken Breast w/Potatoes) from my mom and stepdad that was yummy and it was perfect weather for dinner and a great view!
There are three JMTers camped in our area and it’s nice to see new people and hear about what lies ahead tomorrow. Since tomorrow is Saturday, Goose and I have an incentive to get the 19.5mi in tomorrow to get to Tuolumne Meadows before the store closes at 4:30pm. Plus, it is 4th of July weekend and we both want to try to get passes to do Half Dome in the valley. It is also the first day the store will be open and I should be able to get my packages if I make it in time. Sunshine’s mom will be there Sunday, but she and Balls would also like to get there tomorrow. We are going to get up early and try and make it happen. With lots of snow and two passes, it will be a stretch, but I want to try.
To add to the wonderfulness of today, my MP3 player is back from the dead after two days of a flatline! Perfect timing motivate me for big miles tomorrow:)
