After reaching Hetch Hetchy, my journey was not yet over. My Jeep was at Tuolumne Meadows. 25 miles as the bird flies. 41 miles if I hiked through the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne River (not going to happen). 65 miles by car (which I didn’t have there).

I could go get my emergency resupply package I dropped off before my trek. I didn’t need to eat that badly, but really wanted to drink one of the Diet Cokes in it (even it was warm). While I could use the food in it to stay at the Hetch Hetchy backpacker’s camp that night and then try hiking to White Wolf (15 miles to reach Tioga Road to hitch a ride from there), I didn’t feel the desire to do that.

Hiking down to the backpacker’s camp, a car driving by stopped and the driver asked if I needed a ride. I hadn’t even started sticking my thumb out to try to get a lift.

While I was tempted to say no so I could get to the resupply package, hitching rides in Yosemite was a hit and miss occupation. I couldn’t let this chance go, so I accepted to at least get back to highway 120.

But it was too late to catch a YARTS bus at Crane Flat, so the chances of me getting all the way back to Tuolumne Meadows by hitching that day was pretty slim. They were staying at Evergreen Lodge, which was about halfway to highway 120. I decided that I might as well just stay there for the night and get a real shower, real food, and a real bed to sleep in.

And a cold Diet Coke, of course.

Ahhhhhh… I had hoped to be doing this at Kennedy Meadows Resort near Sonora Pass, but it still felt good.

The next day I had to get back to my Jeep. I managed to get one of the resort tour guides to drive me over to Rush Creek on highway 120, which was a stop for the YARTS buses going into Yosemite Valley.

I got into the Valley, but then had to wait for the 2:30pm YARTS bus heading to Mammoth Lakes. Yosemite Falls was just a trickle, so didn’t feel like hiking down that way to see it. I had lunch and did a little shopping, even getting some supplies I would need if I decided to restart my PCT thru hike or do some other hike.

Once I got up to my Jeep I wasn’t surprised that it was dirty. I could only imagine how bad it would be if I had spent the full 3 weeks on the trail.

From there, I had to decided what to do. I thought about going to Kennedy Meadows Resort and staying a night there. That could lead to me restarting the PCT thru hike from there.

Instead, I decided to go down to Mammoth Lakes and stay as a hotel with a hot tub to soak in and a laundry to wash my hiking clothes in case I could restart my trek again.

I also looked for permits for other Eastern Sierra trailheads and other possible hikes. Since I had been at high elevation for 11 days now, I could use that acclimatization to do another hike.

I have a permit already to do a hike from Shepherd Pass to Mt Whitney in August. That would involved climbing Mt Williamson, which has a class 3 chimney to climb. My swollen finger made trying that hike early a non starter (although I did think about it as an option anyway).

I could do some hikes form Mammoth Lakes or even a Mt Whitney or Langley hike. The smoke from the Wawona Fire was mostly blowing north, pretty much following the PCT as it went. That made thinking of restarting the PCT thru hike not that attractive to me.

With two days of rest, I couldn’t find the energy or desire to do any of those hikes. So, I decided to head to Sonora Pass. First, I wanted to pickup my unused resupply package from Kennedy Meadows Resort. Second, I wanted to check out Sonora Pass and see if I could bring myself to restart the thru hike on the PCT.

I got to the pass and looked around the area. I looked to the south and traced where the PCT wound it’s way up and down the high mountain ridge it ran across for the last 10 miles before reaching the pass. Looked a bit daunting from this angle.

The route north looked a little more welcoming.

Leaving the pass behind, I picked up my resupply package and thought about my options.

I could stay there for the night (or another nearby hotel) and then try to start my hike again the next morning.

But unfortunately, my body and spirit wasn’t able to overcome the fatigue and soreness the first 9 days of the trek had heaped onto me. I chose to drive home to the SF Bay Area and call it a trip. 🙁

A couple days after returning, I did have pangs of regret a few times that I should have at least TRIED to restart the PCT thru hike.

I had a backup Mt Whitney permit to do the JMT northbound starting in the last week of July, but that wasn’t feeling like something I would use (even as a shortened hike of some kind).

The Sunday after I got back home, I was feeling pretty good so decided to go for a bike ride. Unfortunately, my bike didn’t feel that good. I either hit a curb or possibly the rear wheel broke. Either way, I lost control of the bike and took a spill. Fortunately, I was wearing a helmet unlike my real big spill the previous year.

Unfortunately, I ended up falling on my left hand and… jammed my already sore fingers. Add a big scrape on my left elbow and some scrapes on both hands and fingers, it was not a good morning. In the days that followed, I felt some discomfort in my chest, so I think I bruised my ribs. Don’t think anything is broken, but if it doesn’t get better I’ll have to see a doctor.

So the bike accident pretty much negated my ability to do another hike any time soon. Still hoping to get to my Shepherds Pass hike in August, but ironically the last time I did that hike I dislocated one of my fingers and had to shorten that trip. Hopefully, my finger would be healed by then, but the re-injury from the bike accident has me pretty worried about getting healthy enough to do that one.

Crossing my fingers.

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