Miles: 9.3
We are awoken at 5:30am by some very loud yelling. It is a startling way to wake up. Someone must have had a bear visit. Bears are common in this area of Yosemite. You need to be very diligent with your food storage. An hour later, as Gannon is making our coffee, we get the confirmation. A young guy from a campsite just up above us came down all excited to tell us about their bear issue. I think it is the same guys that had the blow-up sharks/whales from the top of Donahue Pass. They had a bear that would not leave them alone from 3:30-5:30am. They finally irritated it enough that it ran down our way. We never saw it or heard it. Thank goodness for that loud stream!
It is our last day and it is always bittersweet. I do love being out in nature, but my hunger is usually calling my name loudly on our last day. We have a long hike through Lyell Canyon all day to get to our car that is parked in Tuolumne Meadows. We parked one car there and had our other car in Mammoth.
As we are packing up to leave, Gannon’s back decides that this is the perfect time to go out. Oh no! We have over a 9 mile hike and the pain is shooting down his leg. Cordlan offers to carry his pack, but he declines and we start our long and grueling hike through the canyon.
The scenery is just gorgeous and we start passing many day-hikers now. That is when you know you are closer to civilization again.
As we get to a major bridge, some older ladies ask Cordlan to take their picture and want to know about that gizmo on his wrist (his GoPro). Such sweet ladies. I then ask if they would take our photo. One lady is very into it and does a great job directing us into getting our perfect, “end of the hike” shot.
It has got to be the end now and we are slowly making our way in. We see a sign that says 1.4 miles to Tuolumne Meadows. You have got to the kidding me! No way. We have been walking forever. Cordlan forges on ahead and I stick back with Gannon.
Cordlan is now nowhere to be found and Gannon is sure we have gone too far. He goes off trail and looks for a ranger. I stay behind and make sure the trail does not go anywhere. Ha-ha! I am trying to call Cordlan, but am not getting any answer. Gannon finds a ranger station, but is quickly yelled at for walking on wet painted steps that he had no idea were just painted. There was no sign indicating so. The ranger grumpily told him we needed to go just a bit further. As we do, Cordlan is coming back for us with no pack on. We know that is a good sign and that he found the car. It is safe and sound. Hooray! We hobble to the car and happily sit in its luxurious car comfort. By this time, I am starving and could eat someone’s arm off. My appetite is back and I want to eat. We find a market type place outside Yosemite and buy chips and soda. AAHH!!!! They never tasted soo good. I eat the most of everyone and I don’t care. I deserve it after what I just did!
We make our way back to Mammoth and get all clean in our condo. Next thing on the agenda is burgers and fries. We head over to the best place in Mammoth for that sort of food….Burgers Restaurant. THE BEST BURGERS!!!!! And shouldn’t they, if they have that name for their restaurant? We drink and eat to our stomachs content. Cordlan drinks soo much soda that the waitress actually cuts him off.
What a wonderful trip to get to share with our son. I know that we will always have these funny, crazy, hard memories for the rest of our lives.
We are unable to finish our planned hike to continue from Yosemite back in a loop to Mammoth, but we have many years ahead of us to conquer that one.
The summer of 2016 was a pretty awesome one!
Hiking Holly 