June 21:Tuolomne Meadows (aka:RAIN!!)

We were camped with JZ at Thousand Island Lake. He is an early riser anyway, usually pulling out of camp before we wake up; this morning he was going to leave with us, but get up early to take some pictures of the sunrise over the lake (he has a really nice camera that takes great pics). We heard him get up, so Mark hopped out of his sleeping bag and went to take some pictures as well, while I had a relaxing morning packing up and eating breakfast in the tarp.

We headed up and over Island Pass, which is barely a pass at all because if you didn't know what to look for, you wouldn't even know you were at the top. Then our next goal was Donahue Pass, which sits just over 11,000 ft and would be the last time we were at that height for the remainder of our hike. It is a long, gradual, snow-patchy slog up to Donahue, but we made it, taking a nice break at the top. The other cool thing about Donahue Pass is that once you go over it, you are in Yosemite Wilderness, which is very beautiful and is known for it's bear issues.

We had heard that Tuolomne Meadows, our ultimate destination for the day, had a little restaurant, and we were very excited about getting another hot meal (I was craving a chicken sandwich). This spurred us on as we descended Donahue and headed down through Lyell Canyon passed all the JMTers and weekend hikers (there were LOTS!).

As we walked, we noticed that the sky was filling up with fluffy white clouds. Later, there were a few darker ones, and we even got a sprinkle or two- nothing too serious. We continued on, and as we neared Tuolomne, the clouds were much darker, and we began to walk faster, hoping to make it to the restaurant/store before it let loose. Once we heard thunder we knew we were doomed, so we pulled out our rain jackets just as the heavens opened up; we were less than a mile to our destination.

We arrived at the restaurant and store area soaking wet only to find out that the restaurant closed at 5pm. Unfortunately for us it was 5:01 and they pointed to the people in front of Mark and said "They are the last ones." Not only did we get rained on, but we didn't even get a chicken sandwich. It was sad. To compensate, we went into the store and got a frozen burrito that we could heat up in the microwave, and JZ got some hot dogs. We waited for the rain to let up and headed to the backpackers camping area where we made a campfire and roasted our hot dogs. It ended up being really nice.

Since Tuolomne is just 20 trail miles from Yosemite Valley, the bears are very active. Everything goes in your bear box at the campsite. Luckily we had none, but I do have faint memories of hearing a car horn in the middle of the night and finding out a bear broke into someone's car! Crazy. Luckily we are carless this summer :).

Total Miles:942.7
Miles Today:20.1
Camp 54:Tuolomne Meadows Backpacker Campground

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