Week 8: Yosemite and Mammoth and Mosquito Hell

Note: I stopped updating my blog on trail during Week 7. Now, over two months later, I’m off trail, and I decided to go through my daily notes and pictures and update the blog with the remainder of my trail experience!

Day 50 | 6/29/24 | Piute Pass (17 miles) and then mile 857.2-860

For some reason I was feeling a little off today– I think I got dehydrated despite the abundance of water on trail. Fortunately, Piute Pass was relatively chill as far as passes go (and, of course, stunningly beautiful). I had a slight mishap with a rolled ankle, but a soak in the freezing river seemed to fix it. My group and I ended up deciding to camp pretty early and had a relaxing evening chatting and hanging out.  

Day 51 | 6/30/24 | Mile 860-880.6

What a good day! I felt much better today and headed up the first pass, stopping for a swim in Heart Lake just before the top of the climb. Over the top of the pass was Marie Lake, another beautiful lake. I’ve said it so many times now, but the beauty of the alpine lakes in this section never ceases to amaze me. Sparkly blue water, granite mountains with accents of snow, lots of pine trees and vibrant green grass, warm sun on the rocks… it’s incredible. Later in the day we entered a mosquito hell, but the beautiful scenery helped to take my mind off it (though digging a cathole in mosquito hell is never a pleasant task). I saw some friends I hadn’t seen in a while that evening, and it was great to catch up. 

Day 52 | 7/1/24 | Mile 880.6-902.7

Feeling rather destroyed today by all the up and down, but of course there were several beautiful lakes to take breaks and go for swims, so I persevered. It felt great to cross the 900 mile marker, and I was looking forward to heading into Mammoth the next morning! The mosquitos were sufficiently bad that once we got to camp, my group and I set up our tents close to one another and chatted from inside, not willing to spend any extra time in mosquito hell.

Day 53 | 7/2/24 | Mile 902.7-904.5 + Horseshoe Lake Trail

We zoomed the last few miles to the parking lot where we would get into Mammoth and ended up arriving before the shuttle started running, but managed to get a ride from a kind family into town. My group (pictured below is Dreamland, Bad Apple, Brand-aid, Refill, and I) enjoyed some breakfast. As I was resupplying at Grocery Outlet, I was surprised and star-struck when I ran into a rock climber I follow (@AnnaHazelnutt). I had a short conversation with her — she says she picks up PCT hikers outside of Yosemite sometimes (thank you Anna, we appreciate you!). The rest of the day was filled with a lot of sitting around and eating ice cream and nachos (thank you Bad Apple for cooking).

Day 54 | 7/3/24 | Horseshoe Lake Trail + 904.5-907.8

Smoodie made eggs and avocado toast for everyone for breakfast as we packed up and checked out. Not yet ready to leave town, we managed to figure out Mammoth’s trolley system well enough to make our way over to Looney Bean, where we all enjoyed some coffee. We eventually got back on the trolley back to trail, where we hiked a few miles to get to Red’s Meadow. Just wanting a short day today, we stopped there and enjoyed hanging around the picnic table and chatting all evening (thank you to a nice couple who donated some wine to our table). I really enjoyed some hot/cold therapy at the hot spring at the campground, located right next to a frigid spring.

Day 55 | 7/4/24 | 907.8-928.2

After a slow morning, it was hard to get into the normal rhythm of hiking, but I eventually fell into it. I enjoyed the many meadows and wildflowers today as well as Thousand Island Lake, where I spent a long while swimming. After eventually leaving the lake, we hiked just a few more miles to camp. 

Day 56 | 7/5/24 | 928.2-953.9

Today was a long day! I woke up and finished the climb up Donohue Pass and then descended to Tuolumne Meadows where the trail has 15 blissfully flat and beautiful miles following the river. Despite the easy terrain, I found myself struggling today, perhaps because of a heavy food carry and the fact that it was unusually hot — I talked with a park ranger who said that this was the hottest day of the year so far in Yosemite. After taking a lunch break I continued onwards to cross the first road on trail since Kennedy Meadows South, and it was disconcerting to see the huge crowds of tourists, though somewhat expected since this part of trail runs through Yosemite. Continuing past the touristy section, I walked through the worst mosquito hell I had encountered so far (I swear it feels this way every day but today was particularly bad).