Day 25 - Leaving Tuolumne

Tuesday, August 10, 2010 - Day 24
Stats for the day: started at Tuolumne Meadows (8,660') at 8:30 - ended at Sierra Mine (10,742') 17 1:30pm. Total ascent 2224'. Total descent 547'. Total Distance 8.66 miles. 3 hrs 35 mins walking.

A morning at Tuolumne Meadows means The Grill for breakfast and therefore sleeping in. We pushed back our get up time to seven instead of six because the grill doesn't open until eight.

We dropped out packs on the thru-hikers table at 7:45 and stood in front of the closed sign on the grill door, first in line. As eight approached the crowd gathered and by the time the hand slithered from between shade and screen of the door to flip the closed sign over to the open side there were 25 people lined up.

With breakfast of eggs, hash browns, ham and biscuit in hand we walked by the hungry people in the cue and found a sunny rock near our packs to enjoy our meal.

With breakfast finished we headed out of the bustle of Tuolumne for the backcountry. Our path did not exactly take us to wilderness straight away; we walked the first three miles on a trail that paralleled the Tioga Pass highway and then crossed it before we got away from the car noise. When we reached the meadows of Gaylor Lakes it felt line we were back on route

except for all the people who hike into these lakes that are only two miles from Tioga Pass.

We had to play the "Land Administrative Shuffle" for camping tonight. Yosemite National Park does not allow camping north of the Tioga Pass Highway so we had to get out of the park, but just across the border is the Monroe Natural Area that does not allow overnight camping either. But bordering both in a triangle lies some private mining holdings from earlier in the century in the Inyo National Forest. I found if we tucked ourselves in here we met all requirements to camp legally. As it turned out there was a nice pond, a running stream of water and lovely meadows; a nice place to stay at about 10,800'.

The wind was strong and cold all afternoon. So after dinner we retired to our bags to warm up and in my case record the day's activities.