Part Ten: Hiking My Feelings in the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne - Yosemite National Park

PART TEN // Afterburners

On our day off at Ten Lakes, we met a Park Ranger who told us that our return trip to White Wolf was, and I quote:

"Not a cruiser."

We looked at the map and we had two big climbs to get back to the van. I knew planning our itinerary between Yosemite and our next backpacking trip in the Desolation Wilderness was necessary, but I was really enjoying the present moment. I didn't want to start thinking about the future yet.

That is, until we decided to make an epic food tour between Yosemite and Tahoe.

We had three things to look forward to: pizza immediately after this hike, poke bowls from Ohana 395 on our way to the hot springs, and Buffalo cauliflower from Cold Water Brewing Company when we got to South Lake Tahoe.

With fresh legs and yummy food to get to, we were mooovin' on our last morning. Up at 4, on the trail by 6, and to our halfway point in this 13 mile day by 8:30 am.

One might say we were cruisin'.

At random times, KBong and I would start chanting pizza toppings: Pineapple. Jalapeño. Red onion. Garlic. Mushrooms. Black olives.

As we zoomed through the forest, we met Tony, who hiked the AT in the 80s. It got me wondering, what was the gear like? Did he love it? He was on the tail end of a 70+ mile trip through Yosemite, clearly he's still loving life in the backcountry. We caught up to him again and had a glorious chat. He's from Georgia and was flying out after this trip, so he gave us his fuel canister. He might as well have given me a gold bar, I was so stoked.

We skipped (literally) back to the van, which had not been broken into by a bear (phew!) and while I hadn't processed everything yet, I knew this for sure:

My mind is clear out here. My body feels like a finely tuned machine. I'm ready. I want to do longer backpacking trips and work up to one of the long scenic trails. I want to see what this body is capable of while I'm on this planet. And I want to share that journey.

Three years ago, this wasn't possible for me. What is possible in the next three years?

Thank you for joining us for this series! If you have questions, suggestions for trips 200-500 miles, or favorite thruhikers to follow, let us know! 💚