On July 5th I went on a 5-day backpacking trip from Tuolumne Meadows to Yosemite Valley on the John Muir Trail—here are a few photos and excerpts from my trail journal.
Amtrak from San Francisco to Merced, then YARTS to Tuolumne Meadows.
At Tuolumne Meadows I met a fun group of 16 or so PCT thru-hikers. Most of them were from Canada, Australia, France, UK, and Israel and taking a detour for Yosemite Valley. The PCT is a 2,650-mile trail from Mexico to Canada.
Watched the sunset and camped in the Tuolumne Meadows backpacker's campground.
Hike ~10 miles to Cathedral Lakes and camp at Sunrise Lakes.
While hiking to Upper Cathedral Lake, I met a fun couple from Boston and a photographer from San Francisco.
I camped in the wilderness near Sunrise Lakes. The mosquitos were brutal at dusk, and the moon was so bright it woke me up in the middle of the night.
Hike ~10 miles to Clouds Rest and camp at the JMT/CRT junction.
Clouds Rest is a scenic hike with a view of Half Dome and Yosemite Valley from the east.
I had a permit to hike Half Dome and wilderness camp at the JMT/CRT junction, about 4 miles from Half Dome.
I made friends with a PCT hiker from South Korea, and we planned to hike Half Dome together.
Hike ~10 miles to Half Dome and Yosemite Valley, then camp at the backpacker's camp.
Half Dome is an incredible hike with the cables at the top.
A bear approached our camp during lunch, and a bear patrol ranger ran over and scared it away with a paintball gun.
We hiked down the Mist Trail, ate pizza at Half Dome Village, and camped in the backpacker's campground with 3 other PCT hikers.
YARTS from Yosemite Valley to Merced, then Amtrak to San Francisco.
In the morning we saw a bear eating berries about 10 yards away from where we were all sleeping the night before.
Filed a bear incident report at the ranger station.
Walked around Yosemite Falls and took photos in the valley.
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