1st July

Made plans last night to camp with James 20 miles up trail today. His start time is 5am-my wake up time.

I found it difficult to start today, despite hitting 8 hours sleep – only the third time since I started. I’ve been averaging 6 hours 45 minutes since May 4th. Maybe the decent sleep made me groggy; anyway I was very glad of it.

Today was Donahue Pass, an easy 11100 foot summit of gentle ascent and descent. I really struggled. It took me 6 hours to do the 6 miles to the top- only 1800ft of ascent, then only managed 2mph for 7 miles of descent. I was stopping every few minutes for a breather, sweating copiously more than normal, and I’m a big sweater anyway. At mile 13 I threw in the towel and found a tent site.

Every muscle, tendon and ligament aches, my nose is stuffed up, I’m wheezing, drinking water like there’s no tomorrow, my bag feels it’s the heaviest it’s ever been despite me posting off at Mammoth 3lbs of stuff and I’ve got a lighter food and water carry than my personal best.

I’ve decided to come off the trail at the next road crossing which is 9 miles for tomorrow. I’ll talk to the ranger about options – hitch east back into the valley of Mammoth, Bishop etc, or west into Yosemite Valley. I favour Yosemite as a) I get to see the sights there; and b) my buddies Joe and Sai are west of here – it should be easier to get to them if I’m on their side of the Sierra Nevada.