Day 5-Shadow Creek to Red's Meadow

Matt had insomnia again last night and Shellie slept fitfully. We still managed to wake up before the Boy scouts and get out of there before they made breakfast. There were very few people on the trail today, probably because it is a Monday. There was this one stretch that got so boring that Shellie pulled out her iPod and we both sang along. Shellie wore her Chaco's all day and can barely walk now. We are taking tomorrow off to go down to Mammoth to get some stuff and mail some junk home. We aren't sure if we will make it back on the trail at this point. We met a bunch of nice people in Red's today on the bus and at our lousy cheeseburger dinner:) Devil's Postpile was really cool. We got "lost" on our way to our campground at Red's Meadow. We looked at the map and prayed. When we opened our eyes we saw something bright blue in the trees, it was a tent! The campground was found! 10ish miles-5.5 hours

Day 4-Donahue Pass to Shadow Creek

We did our first pass today. It was a long day. We were able to sleep so we didn't get up until 6:45 am and left at 8:30 am. The first 3.6 miles flew by, so when the nice, flat mileage came and went so slowly-we were frustrated. After going up and down Donahue Pass, we had to do Island Pass, then way down to Thousand Island Lake(where we had a hot, miserable lunch), then up to Emerald Lake, down to Ruby, up out of Ruby, down to very windy Garnet Lake, up and then down Shadow Canyon. Shellie's feet were killing her the whole way. We had a great time in the word and prayer through Shadow Canyon. We ended up making camp with a group of boy scouts from Connecticut, which was very nice. It was a long, but fun day. 11 hrs, 15 miles

Day 3

We resupplied in Tuolumne and Shellie got a bear canister. This is truly where our fun began. We sent John and Janelle home on the bus after breakfast (the largest bisquit sandwich ever!). We met 3 people from Kentucky who are doing the JMT. Lyell Canyon was long and Shellie's feet hurt really bad. Things weren't looking good until we took a break and Shellie changed into her Chaco's. We made it to our destination - a lovely spot on the Lyell Fork. At lunch Matt saw a snake and kept getting woken up by a pesky mouse. We are super sleepy after crummy sleep last night. Too bad you have to set up camp, cook dinner, journal, and clean up before you relax!

Day 2

We saw several deer, a buck, butterflies, an older lady that shouldn't continue on. Long Meadow and Sunrise was gorgeous, as was coming down Cathedral Pass. Today was a bit easier, physically and mentally. It helped that the terrain was completely gorgeous! It makes it very enjoyable. Janelle got some altitude sickness and had a hard time. We took a nice long break past Long Meadow. Matt carried Janelle's pack down Cathedral Pass. Matt didn't sleep last night or the night before, so we are praying for peaceful, deep sleep. We camped tonight at Upper Cathedral Lake. We played Farkel, ate dinner and did some laundry.

Day 1

As we headed out of the Valley we passed Vernal and Nevada falls. We had lunch at Little Yosemite Valley and Matt jumped/fell in the water. He saw a rattlesnake try to get into John's boot. Matt picked it up with a hiking pole and threw it in the water. It swam really fast! This day was particularly challenging because of the difficult terrain and because it is just the start of what feels like an ominous and eternally long trip. We knew the first few days would be hard but we just keep daydreaming of luxurious cruises:) We are taking it day by day and trying to get into the swing of things. Our first goal is to get to Red's Meadow. 8.5 mi, 8:15 min, 3092 cal

Follow the bright red line that starts in the bottom left corner and continue diagonally across to the top right.

Preparing for the trip

This chart shows the elevation gains and losses of our trip. The chart was made when we had a day and a half less time. We now have 18 days and will use that day and a half as roaming holidays:) The top peak at the end is Mt. Whitney. Excuse our wideness in the picture, it stretched us a bit.