Pacific Crest Trail: VVR- Tuolome

Day 19

VVR-884 (6 miles)

Today I woke up pretty early naturally although I was snuggled into a fluffy cozy comfy bed. We cleaned up some things around our tent cabin and then started walking the road towards mono hot springs to pick up our resupply boxes. We had only walked 10 minutes or so before a nice old man picked us up and dropped us at the mono hot springs post office/store/hotel/restaurant. I was battling between being super excited for all of the new food and super unexcited to be carrying the heavy load out. As we finished loading our bear canisters and eating our ice cream a couple out for their anniversary said they would be back in about 45 minutes and could get us a ride. Not wanting to pay for wifi, we decided to buy more ice cream and sit in front of the shop. Luckily a guest of the hot springs shared the code with us so we were able to send some quick texts and emails before the couple returned to drive us back up the mountain. Once at VVR, we waited for the ferry for about 3 hours amongst many other hikers. I was offered numerous snacks and treats from people staying the weekend (see a trend?) and enjoyed an avocado with olive oil and salt, oatmeal cookies, chicken, and dried apricots. We finally hopped on the boat and were on our way. About 6 miles in we were feeling a bit tired, hungry and groggy so we decided to call it a day early and set up a beautiful camp just below silver pass. We mixed and matched our new food to make some delicious lentil, avocado, summer sausage and cheese burritos. Played our nightly cribbage and were in bed before 9.

Day 20
884-904 (20 miles!)

Today we got up early but had a slow start getting on the trail. Once we were on it, there was no stopping...not for water, not for pictures, not for changing socks, nothing until we were 7 miles in and found a spot we could rest out of a mosquito cloud. After this break we pushed on until lunchtime, had a nice long break with shoes off and feet up and then made our way down the trail. The plan: get as close as we can to the place with milkshakes.

Day 21
904-920(16 miles)

Today we got up at our usual 5:30 time and strolled down the hill to get some breakfast and milkshakes at reds meadow. Have I ever had more delicious French toast with a strawberry milkshake at 7 am? I don't think so! After our quick detour we made it back on the trail by 8:30 and were on our way. We moved a bit slower and decided that we ought to set up camp early. Maybe too early. But we knew the camp we were standing at was beautiful and we didn't really feel like walking anymore so we called it a day knowing that we would have to make tomorrow a 22 miler in order to get to Tuolome and resupply before our push to Tahoe.

Day 22
920-942 (22miles)

A fast moving morning up to Donahue pass and down into Yosemite. We completed almost 10 miles before 10 am and then sort the afternoon finishing up our 12 into Tuolome meadows campground. We walked into the campground amazed by the enormous tents, the cars, the piles of food, and crowds of people. We wandered around looking for the general store and came across some nice grad students while we were asking for directions. The two girls were at the campground for the summer studying plant development in meadows. They allowed us to stay at their site and they shared some food and a fire with us. We purchased loads of food for our haul to Tahoe as well as treats for the evening. Philly cheesesteak, vegetables, a pint of ice cream, crakers and hummus, and a beer all down in the belly no problem.