JMT 2020 Day 2

Goal for the day: Cathedral Lakes (long shot)

I awoke and had my first breakfast on the trail. As I packed up my tent and gear, I enjoyed the light from the rising sun splash across Half Dome and the surrounding cliffs. Sights like those are one of the reasons I enjoy trekking so much.

I did hear another loud crash around 7am, but again couldn’t see a dust cloud to tell me where it happened. I did see some people on top of Half Dome already.

Continuing down the JMT, I again regretted my decision to not go down to Echo Creek during my early July hike in this area. Because I went up the JMT at that time, this day would retrace the same route I had taken then.

Saw my first pair of deer for the trek. At first they ignored me, but then they scampered off when I got a little too close for them.

As I passed the southern side of Moraine Dome, I took note that the southern end did seem to be climbable. I had thought it might be possible to climb up and camp at the top of the dome to get a 360 degree view of the area for a night, but had not felt like continuing south the day before. Maybe I could do it on a future hike in this area.

As I neared the second set of major switchbacks I’d encounter on this long trek, I again regretted taking this path during my previous trip. The odd thing was, the switchbacks seemed to start earlier and last longer than they did on that trip. Must have been my imagination. 🙂

Then I met my first ‘What pandemic’ hiker on the trail. He had just sat down next to the trail to rest, but there was no place for me to go around him on this particular corner. I covered my face and slipped around him.

I had thought I might make it to Cathedral Lakes this day, but as I got water at the Sunrise spring that is just below the Sunrise Backpacker’s Camp I felt like the additional 4 miles I’d need to hike to get to Cathedral Lake that day would be too much for that day. I didn’t want to stay at the Backpacker’s Camp since it was usually crowded, didn’t have a view from the sites, and didn’t have the bathrooms open this year anyway (due to COVID-19). So using the campsite info again, I found a fantastic site near the springs with a panoramic view of the mountains to the northeast.

Sunset was spectacular and saw the Moon rise behind Mt Florence! Very nice night.