Day 65 - The Last Pass on the JMT, Donahue. 942.5 (16.4)

An absolutely stunning day.  With Donahue Pass being the last pass for a couple days, I woke up with a little extra vigor.  It's easier to pack up knowing town is waiting for you as well.

Donahue Pass is the beginning of the Yosemite Wilderness (where National Park rules start to take effect). On the decent down from the pass, I passed a lot of JMT hikers.  Most of them were on day 3 or 4 of their 25 to 30 day journey.  The Yosemite Valley is the most popular starting point for the JMT mainly because everyone wants to finish at the top of Mount Whitney rather than having to climb it at the very start.

The valley after Donahue Pass is some of the flattest trail thus far on the PCT.  The aqua duct walk after Hiker Town (Day 32) may be the only section similar in flatness. 

As I got closer to Tuolumne Meadows, it became apparent we were in a national park and it was summer! Lots of people visiting from all over the world.  It felt a little strange, after having spent nearly 3 weeks in remote areas and small mountain resorts, to be surrounded with people in a hurry to go see the next thing in the park.

I relaxed with the group at the general store and bought lots of snacks and some beer before wandering over to the camp ground.  There were a few people already set up in camp when I arrived.  By the time it was sunset, there were easily 30+ people setup and we had a huge campfire in one of the pits.  

Day 64 - JMT Alternate Part 2 and Island Pass. PCT 926.1 (17.8)

Mileage Breakdown: 11.3mi JMT Alternate + 3.2mi PCT + 3.0mi Unplanned Detour = 17.8 miles.

Very challenging day.  Though very beautiful, the terrain mainly consisted of steep incline followed by steep decent.  The snow, slush, water and mud added a nice touch to the whole experience.  

About half way into the day, I missed a crucial turn at a fork in the trail.  Instead of leading on toward the PCT and Island pass, I wandered 1.5 miles in the wrong direction.  It was very disheartening, but I had an even longer ways to go before the end of the day, so all I could do was turn around and move on. 

About 100 yards after turning around, I found Butterfingers had followed me down the wrong trail.  The look on her face screamed, "NOOOOO, don't tell me we went the wrong way".  But we had, so together we hiked as quickly as we could to avoid getting into camp before dark.  This also meant we didn't take very many breaks.

The views were gorgeous.  The wind and cooler tempuratures kept me from stopping to take them all in, so I took a ton of pictures which I could appreciate from the comfort of my sleeping bag.  

Island Pass is nothing like the other passes along the PCT/JMT.  more of a rolling hill, I never really knew when I had passed it.  It's shallower slopes held a lot more snow which caused the end of the day to be mainly post holing in the slushy mess.

In camp, we had a large group.  Primarily due to the fact this was the last good campsite before tomorrows pass.  I'll plan on being up bright and early one more time.  Hopefully it will be the last early morning for a while.