58 — Donahue Pass

Mile ~915.1–931.2 (16.1 miles)

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Rose: beautiful lakes, gorgeous view entering Yosemite Thorn: this wind Bud: I get to see Casey the day after tomorrow!

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Lake after lake after lake today. Beautiful lakes that begged to be swam in, explored but alas! The wind wasn’t strong, but it was steady enough to deter swimming. I’m glad I took the JMT alternate.

To enjoy the view at least, Mio and I stopped for two different lunch spots: Garnet Lake and Thousand Island Lake.

We had quite the crowd at Thousand Island Lake. All day people were pouring into the backcountry for the holiday weekend. Day hikers, trail runners, backpackers. All the weekend backpackers have tiny packs. My pack suddenly feels gigantic. I definitely packed too much food.

Mio wanted to linger at the lake, take a nap. I stayed for a little after lunch, enjoying the sun on the rocks before hitching up my pack and moving on. The trail meandered ever upward after the last lake, passed many babbling creeks inching through the sparse subalpine. The trail was rocky. I can feel that my shoes have lost a lot of grip. Occasionally my foot would slip from lack of tread. Altra truely are garbage shoes.

Shamefully, I didn’t reach the top of Donahue Pass until 6pm. Staring ahead was beautiful Yosemite. I will descend off this pass toward a lush, wide series of meadows in Lyell Canyon.

I had enough sunlight to get to a small subalpine lake. The wind is picking up. I hope my tent doesn’t get knocked down or my trekking poles bent. Tomorrow has a lot of descent, and trekking poles are definitely necessary. It felt a little too cold to forgo the tent for cowboy camping. Sadly, I did not see Mio this evening. There are lots of tents around this lake for the weekend.