Day 58

People are comparing it to Jordan’s flu game. I woke up feeling sick as ever and with the diarrhea having returned with a vengeance. Despite this, I walked almost thirty one miles with over 6,000 feet of gain and 5,000 feet of loss to end at Mile 1,003.6.

I moved from my 5 o’clock alarm at 5:09 and was walking up towards Seavey Pass at 5:30, the first of three steep climbs which would deposit me at the bottom of the long and gradual ascent to Dorothy Lake Pass. I made it up the pass pretty quickly given my condition, and here I was met with some infuriating up and downs—each time my descent was halted by another hundred feet of steep switchbacks I felt like javelin-throwing my trekking poles. Here’s the elevation profile for your reference.

Somewhere during this stretch I pooped my pants. Fortunately I had ample soap, water, and nearby spring onions to clean my butt, shorts, and upper thighs of the yellow-brown goop my body is producing against my will. This was a good breather, a necessary respite before the surprisingly tricky descent. Don’t worry, you won’t see the photos I took of my shit covered legs and butt below; you can text me for those.

The descent included wading through about forty feet of trail which was occupied by a whitewater creek and traversing a steep slope covered in icy snow with exposure directly into the extremely fast moving and deep Rancheria Creek. Having avoided these dangers, the two climbs afterwards went by quickly and I was enjoying a swim at the warm Wilma Lake at noon.

The ascent to Dorothy Lake Pass was so gradual that in many instances I couldn’t tell I was going uphill at all. This section still had its challenges, namely water covered marshes and mosquitoes so aggressive and numerous that they could actually bite my face while I walked. It also had an oddity: old license plate stuck way up in trees. Any Yosemite/Sierra historians with information about this phenomenon should text, email, and/or send (express) mail to Sierra City CA.

The pass was pretty, and at the top I enjoyed my first mosquito-free break in nearly twelve hours of walking that’s to a stiff southwest breeze. Unfortunately this pass also marked the end of my time in Yosemite, a mere three days!

On the way down I passed Mile 1,000 and, since the sun had already gone behind the mountains, I decided to make camp soon and leave a bit of the flat section before the climb up Sonora Pass for tomorrow morning. Great day, now I’m definitely on pace to make it to South Lake Tahoe without starving to death!