Day 18 - Yosemite!! — Walking People Out of Poverty

Last night, it was decided that we would have a bit of a lie-in this morning, as it was our last full day of hiking. Today, we were going up and over Donahue Pass, which was to be our ninth and final pass.

We left a little before 7 a.m. and immediately started to climb. I had all my warm clothing on, as it was the coldest night since the trip commenced, and we were in the shade as we started off. We had set a two-mile goal before we stopped for breakfast, and right off the bat, it was a battle. Traveler had warned us of the difficulties of Donahue Pass, and he wasn’t joking. He had also told us about the stairs that lay ahead, and I have a photo below that will give you a sense of what we were dealing with. I won’t belabour the point of how difficult it was just getting to breakfast. After a lovely breakfast, we had 1.7 miles to reach Donahue Pass, and just reaching the pass was equally as dramatic, if not more so, than reaching our breakfast spot. However, we eventually all made it to the pass, where we enjoyed a well-deserved break.

There was a sign at the pass, albeit low-key, that said we had reached the fabled Yosemite—a place I have always wanted to visit, and it didn’t disappoint!

We started down, and shortly after, I climbed upon a large rock and got a spectacular view down the valley. I hope you find it as spectacular as I did. I managed to persuade Huckleberry and Woody to join me, and we got some great shots. We now had a 3.5-mile downhill section to lunch. The engineering of some of the steps and the trail we were descending was of the highest quality. Thanks to all the trail volunteers who give their time freely to perform this work. The trail was a little tricky in places to follow, but by taking our time, we figured it out easily enough. We eventually reached a lake, which didn’t have a name, and endured a bit of a climb, but it was nothing compared to earlier. We then started to descend again, and I was followed down by a hiker who had been camping with a friend at the small lake with no name. He was quite a chatty fellow, but that was okay as he was doing no harm and he made the time pass by. I eventually stopped for a water break to discuss with Woody and Huckleberry the distance we still had to travel to our lunch spot, and we were still over a mile away. This is when things took a turn for the worse as it relates to the trail. We now started down a really gnarly section that led down, down, down. I’ve done a lot of hiking in my time, but I’ve never come across such a dangerous section of trail. It was an accident waiting to happen. Several times, I nearly took a tumble, and one time in particular could have had bone-breaking consequences. I was finally able to rescue myself just in time. Woody and Dan were behind me, and when we met up at lunchtime, they too reported near misses. I eventually caught up with Traveler, and he too was bemoaning the trail. We persevered and finally made it to the campsite we had earmarked for lunch. Huckleberry and Woody joined us about 20 minutes later, and we were all relieved that section of the trail was behind us. After a relaxing lunch, it was time to move on, and we were only 3 miles from our campsite. The trail was immaculate compared to what we had endured for most of the day, and the walking was very easy. After about half a mile, I came to the first of the two meadows that I photographed from the top of Donahue Pass. Within another half mile or so, I reached the second. Shortly afterward, we rolled into camp after a long, exhausting day.

On reflection, today’s blog could easily have been titled "The Hike from Hell"; it was that arduous. However, we stuck at it and got the job done, and I think we all take enormous pride in our achievements.