YOSEMITE VILLAGE

PCT DAY 56: Rest Day #6

Wednesday June 8, 2016:  Zero miles day

Today we had an unplanned zero miles day as we ended up arriving in Tuolumne Meadow before our resupply packages.  It was so nice to be in Yosemite but we felt that we just here a little bit too early. The free shuttle bus to the village had not started running for the summer season.

The lovely man at the Tuolumne Store said the Post Office did not open till 12 and our packages had to clear the Yosemite Village before being sent to the Meadow. We had wanted to revisit the village and also to see if we could intercept our parcels at the PO.  As we were leaving the store with our breakfast of chips and chocolate milk, I asked the couple leaving the store behind us if they were going into Yosemite Village and if we could get a ride. Very generously they said yes, of course. It was only when we got to their car we realised that they also had their 2 sons with them.  Sorry boys for squizing you. We had forgotten how long the trip to Yosemite Village took. Two hours later we learnt so much about Carlos and his family who were travelling through Yosemite from Guatemala. They’ve given us the idea that if Canada after the PCT is too cold,  Guatemala is only 4 hrs away with great natural areas and a beautiful climate.  We are meeting the nicest people.

Once we arrived in the village,  the crowds were overwhelming. We caught up on some of our internet connections but found that by lunchtime the internet was way too slow to upload our previous blog post. We tried twice and finally gave up. We got to the Post Office in the village and the assistant checked on the progress of our parcels. We found out they were sent to Tuolumne Meadow just a bit before we arrived. 

Knowing we could get back on trail after retrieving our parcels and with such huge crowds in the village we decided to get back to Tuolomne Meadows. We got the village shuttle bus to Bridal Veil falls and from there walked back to Highway 120 hoping to hitch back to Tuolumne. It was hot as we stood on the side of the road. It was quite some time before a car pulled up. A lovely young man had driven past us and then turned back to pick us up.  We had an interesting ride with Wes and his Ole Girl, a Nissan Ute. He knew her every tick as we trundled up the Tioga Pass to Tuolumne. 

We got back in time to retrieve our parcels,  meet up with some PCT hikers we had hiked with earlier and a some other PCT’ers escaping the heat in the desert.

It was lovely to have a beer with some new folks, share some laughs about life on  the trail. 

Soon we retreated to our campspot to try and fit 8 days of food into a bear canister. Next resupply will be Echo Lake near South Lake Tahoe in 140 miles.