Monday June 8
Last night about 20 PCT through hikers gathered around a campfire nearby and had s'mores. Randy took lots of pictures, some of which should show up on the Facebook Class of 2015 page. Everyone had a good time, although a few stayed up past hiker midnight (9 PM).
Willy and I were on the trail before 6. We crossed a large meadow and had great views of the surrounding mountains.
In places the trail crossed large glacially polished slabs of rocks.
The trail crossed the Tuolumne River and followed it for several miles.
The river cascaded over several waterfalls.
We traveled for several miles through forest meadows.
Today there were several creeks that we had to wade across. The deepest was just below my knee.
We decided to stop early near Matterhorn Creek, having walked over twenty miles today. I am still feeling really tired; my legs just don't seem to have the energy that others have. I took advantage of our early stop. I took a nap and then noticed the deer near my tent.
We have now entered the area some call "mosquito hell". There are definitely more of the critters. When I mentioned it to Willy, he tried to find his mosquito head net, but thinks he may have thrown it away! I offered him my Deet if they get too bad.
Now to reflect on some of my gear. I wore sun gloves through the desert. Sun gloves are light weight gloves that protect the hands from exposure to be sunlight. The fingertips are exposed to allow for better gripping and use of the fingertips. I stopped using them when I entered the high Sierras, but that was a mistake. My right hand got a bad sunburn because it is exposed to the sun as I use my trekking pole. The only negatives are that they tend to get very dirty, are hard to clean, and are annoying if they get wet. I often take them off while preparing dinner to avoid contamination. I am glad I bought them and will continue to use them as long as there is sunny weather.
I am camped at PCT mile 963.4. The elevation here is 8,436 feet.
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