July 8, 2017
Valley in Yosemite to Yosemite Valley
Pacific Crest Trail Thru-Hike: Day 65

Slept in until 6:30, had Bananas Foster Oatmeal, got walking and made the 9.4 miles to Tuolomne Meadows in 3 hours to try and make the bus into the valley. We got to Tuolomne and found out the bus was $18 per person, each way. I had already said my absolute max was $15, so we tried for a while to get a hitch, and finally DID! From a really interesting person, David from Oakland. He used to be a carpenter but now he’s a therapist. He decided 6 years ago to go back to school. I thought it was a good omen for Alex, who mentioned he might want to go back to school after the trail.

We got into the valley and its was Disneyland. Oblivious people by the thousands. It was overwhelming trying to deal with the masses with enormous packs on.

We saw Half Dome from afar, but haven’t explored at all except for going to the visitor’s center, store, and Ansel Adams gallery. I talked to mom and dad on the phone about Yosemite, my mom said she came here as a girl and saw a waterfall that was on fire. In the Ansel Adams gallery we were looking at postcards to send to people and I found a card, hand-painted, of a fiery waterfall. Turns out, until 1966, they would light cedar bark on fire, wait for it to become orange coals, and then pitch it off Glacier point. I bought the card for mom.

Then we started heading toward the backpacker camp, and passed the Majestic Yosemite Hotel. Just for kicks, we went in and asked about rooms. They are $500/night, but someday I’d really like to stay there. It looks beautiful.

We arrived at the backpackers camp to a zillion tents in the middle of the forest, and saw friendly faces! Claire and Colin from Lake Morena on the first day, and then Taylor and the Swiss! Wonderful to see friendly faces.

There is also a bear roaming around, and rangers came to talk to us about it. They said when trying to scare away bears, it’s important to sound angry because bears can tell the difference in tone of voice. Kind of like training a dog.

My parents told us to throw the boots away instead of ship them home so, sadly, I think we will be doing that tomorrow. Oh, and with the bear, we are camping next to the bear trap. I didn’t know that, but an SUV full of rangers just stopped by, jumped out, LOADED THE BEAR TRAP, and drove off. Alex walked up to see what they had been doing (he didn’t think it was a bear trap either) and the big metal box they put stuff into says ‘CAUTION, BEAR TRAP.’ So we are keeping everything shut tight in bear lockers for the evening. Tomorrow we’re hoping to wake up early and hike up to Glacier Point, then tunnel view, and then get ready to take the bus back up to Tuolomne.