Day 71

12 Miles

We broke camp with some still wet clothes, but not so wet to need immediate attention. It was a casual 7 miles to Tuolumne Meadows. So many tourists at the bridge about a mile from the trailhead. Can’t forget we’re in Yosemite during prime tourism season. Just weird to have massive areas of the park basically to ourselves and then become surrounded by lots of people that smell nicely. The general store was filled with hikers, but some day trippers as well. Trashman, Treetrunk, and Buckees (named after the shirt he wears that is from the well-advertised pit stop in Texas). were already there hanging out. Trashman was coming back from his solo trip down to the valley, which Shade and Studio 54 had skipped. He was about a day behind them now, but intended to do some catch-up as soon as he could actually leave the comforts of the store. The grill opened just as we arrived, perfect timing. We ordered food, chowed down, then decided to get ice cream too. Followed that with snacks and beers from the store. Some hikers started back out while the building clouds moved in. I hope they made it somewhere nice to ride out the storm. As soon as rain started hitting the pavement, everyone scattered to either their cars, tents, or huddled under the awning of the store. We huddled and waited for the storm to pass. It was taking awhile, so I grabbed more beers and snacks from inside, an excellent choice. Eventually, we decided the rain wasn’t going anywhere and we should start walking. We had to make it at least 4 miles away from Tuolumne before we could “legally” camp. We were better prepared for the rain this time; we were going to wear not only rain jackets, but also rain pants and rain mitts. We hiked for about two hours like that before stopping. The first tent site was a thin layer of dirt on a rock, so we couldn’t get a stake in. Learning this took time, which soaked the outer part of the tent and tyvek groundsheet. We continued on a little further scoping out spots along the way. Found one, started setting up, and the rain stopped. Of course. Got in the tent, started unpacking, and learned just how (not) water resistant the material is that our bags are made. Everything was soaked. Hiking clothes, sleep clothes, quilt, pad, extra socks, etc. We have pack liners, but didn’t think we needed them. Rookie mistake. Should have taken the time after the first two storms to get them out, but we didn’t. Now we were going to have to hope for some sun in the morning to dry everything out. Sleeping in wet clothes is crappy.