Day 3

Day's start: Lower Cathedral Lake trail
Day's end: Tuolumne Meadows!
Day's miles: 5 miles
Total trip miles: 23.4 miles

This morning when we got moving my leg was still hurting me, but we were going mostly downhill, we had a short day ahead of us, and later there were promises of cheeseburgers, so I guess it wasn't all that bad.

Sorry for how unfocused this is - they move fast!

"It's like walking through a Christmas tree lot."

At the top of this spring, you could see the water bubbling out of the ground - that's how fresh it was.

Some pretty yellow flowers... we timed this trip perfectly for wildflowers.

We ended up pulling into Tuolumne Meadows around 10:30, and along the way a few people stopped and asked us if we were backpacking. We weren't exactly sure if they were kidding (we looked a little dirty and had trekking poles and backpacks for Pete's sake), so we stopped and talked with them for a little while. They seemed thoroughly impressed that we intended to walk all the way to Mt. Whitney. The guy in the group kept saying how a long walk for him was to the mailbox and back, and asked, "Where do you keep all your food? Are you sure you have enough? Aren't there bears out there? Is what you're doing safe?"

The pretty frontcountry near Tuolumne Meadows.

Now that's some clear water.

 

Lots of people fished in the river.

 

Tuolumne River and Meadows

After feeling like mini celebrities, we found our way to the Tuolumne Meadows grill. At this time it was only a little after 10:30, and lunch (and by lunch, I mean cheeseburgers!!) were not going to be served until 11:35. While we waited for official lunch time to begin we ordered a few breakfast sandwiches to tide us over. After we finished "2nd breakfast," we decided a cheeseburger could wait a little while, so we went to their store (Tuolumne Meadows has a grill, post office, and store all in basically one building), and picked up some afternoon supplies. We purchased beer, string cheese, an apple, a peach, Doritos, Cheetos, and some Gatorade (everyone knows you have to hydrate after you dehydrate). We walked along the Tuolumne River with our box of goodies until we found the perfect spot to hang out for the rest of the afternoon. The spot we found was divine - we were even able to keep our beers cold in the river. We passed the time by talking, playing cards, and calling family. I was able to get ahold of my Mom and Dad who even called Aaron's foot doctor (Dr. Runco) to ask about what I should do for my leg and my slightly more swollen ankle, thus earning them 2 points in my book.

The view of the Tuolumne River from our hangout spot

When we got tired of being hiker trash, we packed up our stuff and walked into town for a delicious cheeseburger dinner (I didn't take a single picture of food the entire trip - was too hungry. All food in front of me was gone in a matter of minutes). While there we sat on the outside patio tables and talked with other through-hikers. We met an older couple who were currently in the middle of section hiking the PCT, and listened to a few other families talking about their backpacking adventures.

After buying a few snacks to tide us over for the rest of the trip until we made it to Red's Meadow, we walked to the backpackers' campground, set up camp, enjoyed some more beer and then went to see Ranger Karen do an evening program on Ravens, which was the best I've been to yet... it was very well put together, but I'm sure the beer helped make it more entertaining too.

 

You can enlarge any of these pictures by clicking on them.