Another early morning. We were so ready to hit the trail today. It’s great to see people enjoying the outdoors and supporting the national parks, but we are not used to being around so many people. Two groups of people arrived at the backpacking camp around 1 and 2 AM when most of the rest of us had been asleep for 2-3 hours already. This is understandable given that today is a holiday, but one of the groups was making no effort to be quiet as they put their tents up 10 feet from ours. We got some small revenge when we got up at 6 in the morning. We are so anxious to be out on our own again.

We had breakfast at the lodge and coincidentally were seated with one of the men we had dinner with last night. He announced to the rest of the table that we were the thruhikers he’d been telling them about around the fire last night. It was cool to know that we were such an item of conversation because we’d had a great time talking with them the previous night. We did this morning, too. It’s fun to be around people who are so curious about something we love doing.

After breakfast we caught a shuttle to the trailhead, hefted our ridiculously heavy packs (7 days of food for two ravenous hikers) and set off up the path towards Glen Aulin camp. Before long we met the couple we’d had dinner with last night – another happy coincidence! We would see them again at our morning break overlooking some enormous granite cliffs. The rest of the hike to the camp was mostly downhill, following the Tuolumne River past some beautiful waterfalls.

At the camp we did our laundry and checked out the solar composting toilets, then got back on the trail to make our miles. It was nice to be back on the sparsely-traveled PCT. The weather was warm but much cooler than it had been in the valley. We climbed gradually through pine forest broken up with long stretches of granite slabs. Huge fluffy clouds built up on the horizon and as the afternoon wore on they got larger and more unsettled. As with the previous few days we got thunder and a few sprinkles here and there…enough to pull out the rain gear and play on-again-off-again every 30 minutes.

We crossed Return Creek, a tricky, feet-wet 2-part ford through a fast current. A while later we crossed another stream that was a tricky rock hop. I slipped and went in butt-first, dragged off-kilter by a heavy pack. I was a little worried about my gear getting wet but this is why we store our clothes and bags in a waterproof liner. Another long climb gave time for my clothes and shoes to dry off a little. Eventually we reached the meadow around Miller Lake and decided to stop for the night.

We put up both tents as protection against the still-unsettled weather and the swarms of mosquitos, which had been surprisingly bearable all day until now. As the sun set it lit up the clouds with bright hot pink. It’s wonderful to be out here on our own again, with no one to bother us and no one to worry about bothering. This is why we love the backcountry. Where else could you have a sunset like this, over this incredible scenery, with frogs singing in the background, and not have to share it with a crowd of other people? Maybe we’ll end up sharing it with a few bears tonight.

– Posted from the PCT

Location:Pct mile 960