Daily Miles: 11
Total Miles: 262
Last day on trail!
Got up at our normal time even though we had plenty of time to get into Tuolumne Meadows. We all enjoy hiking in the first hour of the daylight so we decided to stick with our normal schedule, and woke at 5:15am.
SweetPea had thought that Beardoh slept through his watch’s alarm and went to wake him about 10 minutes before it went off. When she did go over to his hammock to wake him, he startled, which the. startled her and then she couldn’t stop laughing. A funny way to start the day.
There was only ten-ish miles to hike today. The first few miles were downhill and then basically flat/ slightly downhill for 6-7 miles. A pretty easy day. Even with a couple breaks and pitstops for mid morning constitutionals, we made it to the Tuolumne Meadows before noon.
Along the way, we ran into a guy carrying a Ray Jardine DIY kit backpack. It was fun to chat with him about the pack – Beardoh’s backpack for the AT (back in 2011) was a Jardine kit pack that we had sewn the winter prior to hiking the AT.
Mace had decided to try and make it down to Lee Vining today so that he could take a shower, get cleaned up and catch the first bus to Reno in the morning tomorrow. So we bid him goodbye as he headed off to the bus stop a little before 1pm.
The TM food stand had burgers, so we got those for lunch and ate them at the picnic tables outside the store with the other hikers.
After eating we went to the backpackers campsite and just hung in our hammocks relaxing. Mid afternoon, we went to the river and washed up the best we could. This was a water only washing, that doesn’t get all the nooks and crannies but is still refreshing. We then walked over to the car and put on clean clothes.
On return to our site in the backpackers campground, we were pleased to discover that our new friend, Derek, had set up right next to us. We had been hoping we’d see him again. After dinner we hung out with Derek, Van and Melissa (father and daughter hiking the JMT). That was a great way to end the day and our hike in general.
Another great trip in one of our favorite places in the US and a blessing to spend it with our buddy Mace!
Ending Location: 37.876950,-119.352241
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