Day 1 Tuolumne Meadows to Happy Isles

26 miles from 7/3 8am until 7/4 at 6:45am.    

Day 1 started at the Toulumne Meadows campground.   Kevin and I had to move the car to the Wilderness Center parking lot and walk back to our packs at the campground for the first 1.1 miles of the day.  

We left at 8am and within the first 15 minutes had our first experiences with mosquitoes or in backpacker speak: "Mozzies".    I was quite pleased to see that all the prep work that I had done by soaking my clothing in Permetherin had actually worked.     They left me alone!   Kevin was getting it pretty bad so I gave him a permetherin soaked bandana and encouraged him to deet up.    Fortunately, that was the worse the mozzies were for the rest of the day.      We were getting used to the heavy packs and trying to adjust our pace.  

The walk up from Toulmne was much steeper than I remember and had very few switchbacks.    Switchback kind of define the JMT as a whole but not on this hike we were closer to straight up and down.  

The first wow moment was Cathedral Peak.    It was really exciting to see it again.    As we approached the peak we were also coming up the Cathedral Lakes.     Instantly, I was reaffirmed on why I was doing this and gaining our first 1,000' was completely worth it.  

Cathedral Peak

Below for the next 9 pictures is us hanging out at a meadow before Cathedral Pass.   I thought I had taken some pictures of Cathedral Lakes but they didn't show up on my camera when uploading.   Take my word for it that they are beautiful and the pictures would not have done it justice.   The meadow was around 9,300' and was one of the most fun moments on this day.     Each day on a trail seems to have it's moment and this was it.    

Ranger Kevin on the lookout!   

Not bad for timed photo!  This one goes out to our late friend Christopher "Glando" Glandorf whom passed last fall in Cincinnati.     We thought and talked about old times throughout the whole trip.   We miss you buddy!   

Puck Gnome!

At this point we had walked 9.1 miles from Toulmne Meadows

Getting close to Sunrise Camp.   We arrived at Sunrise camp around 3pm.    Puck took and incredible power nap.    I bought some chocolate cake and peaches from a Granola Girl and we made dinner and cleaned up while relaxing until 5:30pm.     We hit the trail and our plans was to walk until 8pm and find camp.   Well at least that was the plan.....

DEEP SLEEP!   Unfortunately,  I did not get the shot of the coyote that walked by us.    Puck said "look at that wolf" very nonchalantly as a Coyote just quietly walked past us.    That was a first for me.  

What we thought was going to be an all downhill had a surprising 500' of elevation gain from Sunrise camp.     We met at ton of JMT hikers on the incline and discovered about 6 down trees that slowed us down.     I met a 70 year old woman who was doing the trail with 2 other younger women.    I love it when I see people 60+ on the trail.     

We walked until 11:30 pm and set up camp at the Little Yosemite campground.    There we "napped" until 3:30 in the morning and decided to hike the rest of the way down in order to catch the 8am shuttle back to Toulmne Meadows.   Otherwise, we would have had to wait until 5pm for the next shuttle and would have required some unpleasant night driving out of Yosemite.    Unfortunately, we did not get any pictures of Half Dome.   It was great in the full Moonlight.    There was no way we could have captured its image.  

Nevada Falls around 5am

Vernal Falls via the Mist Trail.   The steps heading down were very beastly and I still feel it in my knees 2 days later.     We descended over 5000'.   It feels better to ascend instead when you have to walk down for that long.    Luckily, that is the most drastic elevation gain/decline on the whole JMT.   In 2006 I had to go up this with 60+ pounds on my pack.     I prefer this way instead!   

The official beginning of the trail.     We had to the first section backwards because of permit issues.   Getting a permit was harder than walking the trail.     

Victory!   One hell of an accomplishment for Kevin and Puck as first time backpackers.   We really planned to do this in 3 days.    1 will work just fine as I will have plenty of days on the trail ahead.    

A rather haggard woman on the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail)  eating Ice Cream

She walked all the way from Mexico without a shower I am assuming.   

I couldn't resist.