September 7, 2016
Day 21
13.6 miles / 260.8 total
Steps: 39,605
Cloud's Rest/JMT junction
Days without shower 5
It was cold last night... Seems to be an ongoing theme. I slept in much later than I had planned. Made coffee and grabbed a breakfast bar and headed down to the lake. I was sitting there when I overheard some people talking about water so I walked over to listen and see what they had to say because I didn't want to run out again!
They didn't know much about the direction I was headed. One of the guys was from Israel and was headed the same direction I was. We sat for a bit together and chatted about our adventures before I went back to pack up. Once I was packed I said bye to everyone and headed up to Clouds Rest. It didn't take long to run into more people. There was a couple who were on their honeymoon backpacking & hiking. They were super cute and sweet. They had planned to do the JMT but had to cancel due to an injury. We chatted and walked telling our stories. A couple miles up we met up with a girl who had been hiking the JMT with her dad. I know we had to have crossed paths a few times after talking with her for a bit but didn’t recognize her or her dad. It's pretty crazy. We all got to the top of Clouds Rest and enjoyed lunch up there. I had the chicken salad from pack it gourmet in a tortilla. I have had a lot of dehydrated meals - and my favorite meals are by them. I had cell service so was able to check in with Jess and see how the permit process was going. She didn't get it for Thursday, so I decided I was going to do it today and finish the trail Thursday morning! If she gets a permit for Friday I can always hike with her. I enjoyed the view a little longer and headed down. It was a very steep down the other way. I was taking my time and looking around a lot and saw my first bear!!! I got super excited. It seemed very small and skinny and more brown than I expected. Then after watching for a bit I saw a baby!! It was so exciting and I really wish I could have shared that moment with someone but no one was around. I was so excited to tell my mom!!! I was glad I got a picture and video for her! I continued down to the trail junction and got some water from a sketchy creek. There are SO many people here and the water levels so low all the water options don't seem great. I have never really questioned my water sources until getting into Yosemite. I continued to half dome and had about a 2 mile climb. There was a couple there that didn't look so great so we talked for a minute and I made sure they had enough food and water before continuing on. I made it to the stairs pretty easily and then the stairs kicked my ass. I forgot how bad they were or maybe it was the weight of my pack or at least that is what I'm going to tell myself.
After the stairs there were a few more climbs before the cables. I forget how intimidating those are. There was a large group heading down so I picked out some gloves and waited for a bit before heading up… with my pack. The last time I was here I remember all the squirrels being jerks and getting into bags so I didn't want to leave mine to get a hole in it now that I have made it so far.
The way up was just as hard as I remember and I took a break often on the boards. Once at the top no one else was up there! It was just as amazing as I remember. I celebrated my accomplishment and was very proud of the MILES I had done! To me – this is the end of my “journey”. I know I won’t be in the wilderness much longer and the crowds of people are going to grow once I go down. I planned to be there for sunset but that was still hours away and I wasn't sure that was really worth it to hike down in the dark. I made some calls, checked my phone, took some selfies until someone else came to take pictures of me, and made my dinner. I wanted the bean salad from pack it gourmet but it takes 45 minutes with hot water or double the time with cold... So I figured I'd hydrate it now and it would be ready once I got down to camp.
I made my way down and group of 5 was about to start up the cables. We started talking and they were starting the JMT and going south. They were awesome and super excited! They had a few questions when they found out I was just finishing so we talked for a while. They all congratulated me and it felt awesome! It's been crazy. Dylan sent me a message saying where he was planning on camping so I headed that way so I could camp with them that night! On the way down I saw another bear!!! It was much larger and a darker black color. After watching it for a minute there was another baby!!! Awe!!! I can't believe it. So awesome!!!
I was able to find Dylan and I met his sister, and her friend. We were talking like it had been more than 2 days since we had seen each other. I did brag about seeing the Bears. I found a place to camp a little farther away from the trail and got set up. They will likely break camp before me to do half dome before heading to the village. It should be a pretty easy hike down tomorrow for me and I'll be done! Wow. Last night out here. So many emotions but mostly I'm ready!!! Excited to get back home.
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