Day 59; Sun June 24 2007

(Stud) The first thing I heard this morning was: "The bag is gone". It was 5am. "What?", I asked. "The food bag is gone", Dwight said. I looked in the direction that he hung it and said, "Maybe we just can't see it from here, or maybe the wind got it". We had camped above 10,000 ft, where the where trees were sparse, and we were pummeled with wind all night. Dwight went to investigate and sure enough, he found the food bag--untouched--on the ground. The carbiner that attaches the bag to the rope had broken. Possibly an animal had come by and decided..not enough there to bother with!

From our campsite the trail dropped quickly down to the Llyle (sp?) river. There was a challenging rock hop across the river to the trail--and I went across in my normal slow mode--working myself up to jumping to the next rock. When I'd gotten nearly to the other side I looked up to see a man coming toward me. "I saw you from my campsite and it looked like you might need some help. My wife has trouble at river crossings so I thought I might lend a hand". By then I was past the difficult part so I thanked him. We chatted for a while--he was there with his grandkids--then headed down the trail.

It was a level hike along a meadow into Tuoleme Meadows, that generally followed the river. We went directly to the Tuolomme General Store and Grill and got a late, second breakfast. I had some delicious buckwheat pancakes with strawberries, which the cook/mamager gave us for free because we'd placed 2 orders for pancakes but they only had enough batter for one order. I'm not sure why this warrented a free order--so I guess we'll just chaulk it up to trail magic.

We hung around the picnic tables in front of the general store until late afternoon eating and chatting with other hikers gathered there. We met a few new folks: Mr Parkay-a guy around 30 and Yetti--a 69 year old who was averaging 25 miles/day. He is also a rock climber and gymnist. Both are very nice guys. My Parkay entertained us with Chuck Norris jokes. Eg: Normally the grass is greener on the other side...but on Chuck Norris' side it's just full of blood and tears. On second thought, this entertained some more than others.

Other hikers there there were Jeb, Speedstick, Voyager, Galahad, Suess, Chickadee and Safari Bill (who was finishing up his hike of the JMT there).

In mid afternoon we resupplied at the store, then ate dinner at the deli and finally headed out around 5:30. Dwight had figured out an "easy way" to get back to the trail but it wasn't long before we were standing at a trail intersection wondering which direction the PCT was. We happened to be near the historic "Parson's Lodge", a stone structure built as a meeting place for the Sierra Club in the 1930's. So while Speedstick (she'd lost the trail as well) and Dwight pondered over the map, I went to check out the lodge. It was locked up, but a door was open at a nearby log cabin. I walked in, thinking it was a tourist attraction as well, but it was actually a Ranger's private residence. Her husband was very nice about my mistake.

Back on the trail, Speedstick and Dwight thought [emphasis added] they had it all figured out. But it didn't make sense to me. The ranger is 1/10th of a mile away... why don' I just go ask her. Speedsick, satisfied that she had it figured out, went on. I went back to the Ranger cabin, and she headed us in the right direction--too late to go after Speedstick who was well down another trail. Enroute to the high Sierra camp at Glen Aulin, our stop for the day, we stopped to dump the sand out of our shoes from the beachy trail...and here came Speedstick. She figured out her mistake when she got to a sign that said "Maintenance Area". She then bushwacked her way in what she figured to be the general direction of the trail. Until she met up with us, she really didn't know for sure that she was actually on the PCT. I wish I had her moxy.

We arrived at the Glen Aulin Camp just before dark. Voyager, Galahad, Suess, Chickadee and a hiker we hadn't met before--Ghost--were already there. (Speedstick had gone on to get a few more miles in.) We thought Glen Aulin was just tent camping spots with some food lockers (which it did have)--but it was also a staffed camp with several platform tents, and a small mess hall. For $148 per person/per night, you could stay in a small paltform tent replete with a woodstove, small dresser and two single beds. I believe this price also included breakfast and dinner. You could also get just breakfast for $12pp and tent camping was free. Since space was available, Dwight told Tom, the site manager, that we'd take a tent cabin. "Reeeaaally?", Tom said, his eye wide in disbelief. Clearly, no thru-hikers ever stay in the tent cabins. "Just kidding" Dwight said--pleased he could keep a straight face while saying we'd take a tent cabin. But we did spring for breakfast.

I think we did 16 miles or so today. Not bad for spending so much time hanging out at Tuolome Meadows General Store.