West Road Trip - Post 4

- Day 18 - I drove through the Northern part of Yosemite until I reached the wilderness trailhead. From there I began a 4-day, 60-mile backpacking trip. Half of the hike was along the Pacific Crest Trail before looping back on a different trail. The backcountry is a more remote part of the park. I ran into an off duty ranger and she said to avoid the Valley. She said it has about the same real-estate as Golden Gate Park and Central Park combined with about the same number of annual visitors as both of those parks. When the sun was starting to set I cross-countryed up a rocky mountain and cowboy camped near the top. This is the highest I have ever camped (around 9000 feet).

- Day 19 - I saw a black bear, but it ran as soon as it saw me. Then I ran into Machine, a PCT Southbounder. She said that as far as she knows she is one of only seven people to attempt a PCT southbound hike this year. That by itself would make the hike so much different than my AT thruhike. After reaching over 10000 feet elevation I camped by a really, really clear lake.

- Day 20 - I dropped elevation quite a bit. Unfortunately at lower elevations it got really hot (it was just about freezing over night) and there were thousands of gnats. No, I probably killed thousands so there had to be many more than that. At least they weren't mosquitoes or black flies. I followed the Grand Canyon of the Tuolomne River past a bunch of waterfalls. I camped near one of them.

- Day 21 - I hiked the remaining 8-9 miles out and drove to Bishop, CA. I stayed at a hotel there.

- Day 22 - I went through Death Valley National Park. It was very hot (over 105 degrees). I have had such drastic temperature swings on this trip. The mountains and sand dunes were different, but I wouldn't have wanted to camp or hike much because of how hot and dry it was. I continued through the rest of California, Nevada (passing through Las Vegas), Arizona, and Utah. I stopped at St. George, Utah where I am spending the night.

On queue:
-Zion National Park
-Grand Canyon National Park
-Bryce Canyon National Park
-Rocky Mountain National Park