Day 54

Mile 907.8 to mile 924.4

PCT Miles: 16.6 (26.6km)

Total Miles: 924.4 (1479.0km)

Even though I didn’t sleep well during the night, my morning was very good. I woke up around 6am took a shower because why not? And had warm breakfast and coffee at the hotel. When I couldn’t eat anymore, I packed my stuff (I think it’s the heaviest my backpack has ever been), called my beautiful German family 💜 and lazily went to the bus stop to take a trolley to the ski station and from there take a bus back to where I left the trail yesterday.

To my surprise, as soon as I got off the bus I saw Tangent seating on a picnic table having breakfast. He was clear happy and surprised to see me! He told me that Geezer was really scared about what could have happened to me because I disappeared. He explained that Bullfrog and Geezer returned to trail yesterday but he still needs to go back to Mammoth to grab a package at the post office (he couldn’t do it today nor yesterday: weekend).

I stayed talking to Tangent and Rocky (a guy from Lithuania 🇱🇹 who hikes in flip-flops 🩴 and brings a ukulele on top of his gigantic backpack) for an hour or so and started my hiking day around 11:30.

There’s another broken bridge on the PCT so I had to do this tiny reroute. For about 3-4 miles I hiked a bit of the Rainbow Falls Trail then Devil’s Postpile Trail and also a bit of road walk. Both trails were packed with tourists and day hikers: the trails, parking, amenities and campgrounds in this area opened two days ago. I think it’s super cool that people from all ages and backgrounds go out for day hikes like this. Hiking such a pleasurable way of spending time 😊!

Around 1pm I was back at the PCT. I kept hiking for 12 more miles and found a campsite only after 7pm. I saw quite a few new people on the PCT today (around 6-8 people). I was in a good mood and I felt super motivated the whole day. The hike itself was also good: very little snow and dry feet!

There were some incredible views today, including from where I’m camping tonight. This place is unbelievable 🤩!

I have the ambitious plan to do two passes tomorrow morning. The first (Island Pass) should be fairly easy but the second should be a bit challenging. It’s the Donohue Pass. After crossing it, I’ll be hiking for a few days on the Yosemite National Park 🏞️! Let’s see how it goes!