Yosemite: Abbreviated, and JMT Prep

We each took what would be our last shower for 10 days and left the motel early, headed towards the Motherland, Yosemite! We stopped in Oakdale, CA at a small, family owned and operated barber shop. Daveed wanted a haircut and a shave before we hit the trail. The barber shop had a mascot: Leia the fuzzy princess dog! Leia and I bonded while Daveed got his hairs cut. 

Leia the lap dog!

We stopped at another roadside fruit stand on our way to Yosemite and got some pie and fruit. We passed by many farms, orchards and tons of almond trees! 

Noms

We eventually made it to the Valley mid-afternoonish. It was SOOO great to see my old friends in the Valley again! The Capitan! Half Dome! Upper, Lower and Middle Cathedral! Royal Arches! Washington Column! Oh how I missed all of you! So wonderful to be back in the Motherland, even if for an abbreviated stay of only 16 hours.

Rainy day in the Motherland

We went straight to the wilderness permit office and picked up our backpacking permits and wag bags (more on wag bags in a later post, we didn’t have to use them until we entered the Whitney zone, our last 2 days on the JMT). Then we parked Soobs in the Curry Village parking lot and exposed all of her innards. We completely unpacked her. Everything out on the pavement! Group all of the food and smelly things together! We needed to pack our backpacks for the JMT and also gather, consolidate and store all of our extra food and smelly things in the bear lockers in the parking lot. It took 3+ hours. Woof. 

Starting to unpack Soobs

We met an interesting guy named Thomas in the parking lot where Soobs would reside for the next month: the trailhead parking lot at Happy Isles. Thomas was a Marine and had spent the past 2 months backpacking around Yosemite with a 95 pound pack. He would carry 2 bear cans so he could stay out in the backcountry for 8-10 days at a time. And he had all sorts of other gear, that when stuffed into a giant pack, weighed 95 pounds. Woof. We chatted with Thomas until it got dark, then we all 3 walked to the backpacker’s camp for the night. Yosemite's backpacker's camp would turn out to be my favorite as it had PLENTY of space for many many tents, pit toilets, restrooms with water nearby and a very straightforward system for registering for camping. Other backpacker's sites could not say the same.

We were up early next day to finish off the last of the prep before hitting the trail. We said goodbye to Thomas and wished him luck, then walked with all our camping crap (it didn’t occur to us to bring backpacks to carry our stuff back to the car) the mile or so to the Happy Isles lot. Once we got our camping stuff back into Soobs, I said goodbye to her, checking to make sure one last time that the sunshade was positioned correctly so she wouldn’t get too hot or sunburned on her dash. Made sure the parking permit was clearly visible so no Rangers harassed her. Promised I’d be back in a month to fetch her. Then it was the final packing of our backpacks (Crap! This stuff will hardly fit in here!), a quick breakfast at the bear lockers (how many Snicker bars do I have for the rest of the day if I eat one now?) and…..OMG.....are we really doing this?....did I bring a contact case?! crap! I have to go back to the car!…..OK I think I have everything now...OK...aaaaand, time to start the JMT!!!!! WOOT!!

Breakfast at the bear lockers, this is where we left all of our extra food and smelly stuff while we were on the JMT