- gspencer16
Day 47: Rush Creek to Glen Aulin High Sierra Camp (21.4 miles - 948.3)
Updated: Aug 26, 2019
June 23, 2016 - Didn’t sleep too well as I had a stomach ache since dinner, think I ate too much sugar.
First thing off the bat was to get over Donahue Pass, I figured it to be hard but it wasn’t too bad. Going over it in the morning with the hard packed snow using micro spikes made a difference.
Once over the pass I entered into Yosemite National Park. From the top I could see the beautiful meadows below.
Heading down I got a little lost as I was following footsteps that led over the cliff so had to backtrack and find the real trail.
Once down in the meadows it was a flat 9 mile hike to Tuolumne Meadows to do a small resupply and eat lunch. The closer I got to Tuolumne Meadows the more people I saw. Tuolumne Meadows is a popular spot in Yosemite as there are lots of car campers. After getting to the road crossing I had a short road walk off trail to the general store. Once at the store I was surprised at how well stocked the store was, lots of good hiker supplies as I was expecting very limited for a backpacker. Got enough to get me to Sonora Pass then ate lunch and drank a quart of milk. Drank a little too much but can never can pass up milk on trail. As I was about to head back to the trail Salty showed up. He was hoping to get his package, new sleeping system to replace what he lost that blew off the mountain several days ago. If it had arrived then he was going to try and catch up with me but most likely his package wasn’t there yet so he would probable stay the night.
The last 5.5 miles on the day were nice and easy. I went kind of slow so that I could take in all that Yosemite had to offer. Originally I wanted to hike into the valley along with Half Dome but all the permits were taken for the next 2 days so didn’t want to hang around and wait.
Saw lots of cool waterfalls all the way to Glen Aulin High Sierra Camp including the best one right at camp.
This campsite was much different than I thought as it had cabins and even a dining hall but you had to paid to use those but I was able to pitch my tent in the backpacker’s section of camp.
After setting up camp I went out to the huge waterfall to take pictures and swim around the waters. Then afterwards hiked back to the trail to watch the sunset over rivers heading off into Yosemite Valley.
Not sure how far I’ll go tomorrow but would like to get in at least 25.
