Goal for the day: South Tilden Lake Trail junction

After a nice night at Lake Harriet, I got up and enjoyed breakfast and some light from the sunrise.

I didn’t have any reason to stick around too long, so got on the trail before 8am. It was a short 1 mile hike to Dorothy Lake Pass with just a little elevation gain. Without the rain the previous day, I probably would have made it easily to the pass.

There, I took a picture of my feet on a Yosemite Benchmark as a little memento. It wasn’t the end of the hike on section I, but it was the first time I had entered Yosemite that year. I had been worrying that I wouldn’t even get into Yosemite this year at the rate my hikes were going, so this was just a little motivation to cheer me up.

Dorothy Lake was just a quick hike down from the pass and I took a little time to enjoy the lake from the shore. It was too early in the day to even think of taking a swim.

A part of me wished I would have pushed myself to continue the previous day and camp around this lake, but I’d have ended up hiking through some rain showers and gotten to this lake pretty late. That wouldn’t have given me much time to enjoy the lake anyway.

After enjoying the lake, I started hiking south again downhill thru a notorious area called Grace Meadow.

Why notorious? A long slow slog up an incline, 8 miles long, filed with vegetation, and usually filled with mosquitos and bugs.

By going southbound, I avoided the first item on the list. It wasn’t long before I thanked myself for not temping fate the year before. The last item in the list shouldn’t be too much of a concern this late in the year.

Unfortunately, the mosquitos and gnats were still hanging around as I descended through the meadows. Maybe more of the later than the former. I normally would have had an insect net I could wear over my head to avoid them getting right into my face, but as a weight saving measure I had removed that from my backpack before my section K hike over Labor Day weekend. I didn’t need it then, but I could really have used it on this hike.

When I reached the north junction with the Tilden Lake junction, I had to decide if I would use it to go up to Tilden lake and camp there overnight (and finish hiking section I the next day). It was quite a climb from there to Tilden Lake, so I decided I should continue down the PCT to the south junction to the lake. It would be late by the time I reached the lake and it wasn’t that warm that day, so taking a swim in an ice cold Sierra lake wasn’t high on my list for this hike.

There was still time left in the day to reach the south trail junction and finish my goal for this hike: Finish section I.

After the junction to the lake, the PCT headed south and then took a sharp turn towards the east where it passed Wilma Lake. Oddly, this lake is referred to as ‘Wilber Lake’ on the mileage signs at the trail junctions in Yosemite. The info I’ve read about this doesn’t detail where the confusion between the two lake names began.

A part of me wanted to stop and camp at the lake, but I decided to continue on after getting some water. The bugs around the lake were a contributing factor to that decision.

It wasn’t long after I started climbing up towards the goal for this trek that I came upon a flat area with an open view of the lake and the setting sun. With the trail junction where I’d be able to finish section I just about a mile further, I shouldn’t have been tempted to stop there.

I took a break without setting up my tent in hopes I’d enjoy the sun dipping behind the mountain ridge to the west and then finish that last mile.

The sunset won. I enjoyed the sunset and setup my tent and had dinner.

So, the last mile would have to wait till the next day. After realizing I had hiked 12 miles that day, I decided that was fine with me. My legs and feet agreed.

Total miles hiked: 12
Miles hiked one-way on PCT section I: 12

Goal: Just a little short again, but only because the nice campsite tempted me.