Twelve hour day today. I was sure glad to get to camp 3 here at what is known as the Lyell Canyon Basecamp becuase of it's popularity. Nobody else here tonight though.

This morning I left before the Scots and found the trail within 15 minutes. I followed it around Columbia Finger, a gentle ascending traverse to just under 10,000 feet amid snow and trees. I lost it again heading towards Cathedral Pass. The twin spires of Cathedral Peak looked spectacular. I simply hiked over consolodated snow toward the left of the peak and to the right of the lake.

I had to be mindful in the open meadows. The spring runoff has carved channels below the snowpack and some of the snowbridges are weak and others have partially collapsed leaving cracks in the snow.

Before too long I was descending rapidly toward Tuolomne Meadows with it's Visitor Center, Ranger Station, and campground. Predictably, turons (tourists + morons) started crossing paths with me. The "T-shirt and flip flop crowd" as I called them was entertaining. Nice people, very nice, but also very clueless. One guy was literally in T-shirt, shorts, and sandels. At that point he was climbing a 3 foot snow drift. Sure, it was warm, but did he think it was going to get less snowy the higher he went? I talked awhile with two groups of backpackers also. The first was 2 guys out for 10 days. We talked about all sorts of trails after he saw my AT shirt. The second group was a large one headed over Cathedral Pass to Sunrise High Sierra Camp. I really enjoyed that group.

The majority of my day was spent in the mosquitoes and heat below 9,000 feet. The official JMT route actually skirts the developed portion of Tuolumne Meadows so I stuck to that and joined the Pacific Crest Trail for a long hike up Lyell Canyon.

I am camped a little above 9,000 feet at the end of the canyon under the snowy reaches of Donohue Pass. it is steep and snowy. Might take a long time to cross.

No bears yet (or last night either) although I think one of the marmots stole my neosporin.