Days 48-51 Tues - July 10- Fri, July 13

Me and Kurt left Tuolumne midday and did 13 miles on Monday. On Tuesday I met these three guys fly fishing. They offered to show me how but being a vegan, I said I couldn't harm fish. They said they catch and release so the fish don't get hurt. On Wednesday, we hiked by a lot of lakes in this section. We climbed through Sierra Crest Ridge and the highest point after Donohue pass at 10,880'. I was hiking ahead and having to wait 30-60 mins for Kurt to catch up. He seemed moody and didn't seem to want to talk about it. On Wednesday, I ran into a large female bear who stood up on her hind legs and growled at me. Kurt was just catching up so he got to see her. Let's see now - try to look large and non-threatening and don't run away. Whew, fortunately she left and we figured that she was just letting us know this is her home and we are just visitors. I didn't get my camera or phone out, so no pictures of the bear. :-(

On Thursday, I wanted to push my pace so rather than wait for Kurt, I left a note to him that I wasn't going to wait any more. I did 34 miles and and went about 5 miles past Sonora pass to a campground I knew about from my triple last year. On Friday I got to Ebbets Pass and Highway 4. The only problem was I was out of food and down to only two bars. There was no way I could do the 44 miles to Echo Lake in Tahoe without food. I met a day hiker coming into Ebbets Pass and he gave me a ride to Tahoe. I left the trail at mile 1049.9.

I decided to go to Tahoe City to stay the night. I figured I could go back to Ebbets Pass and continue to Echo Lake but found out that because of the Death Ride starting in South lake Tahoe that Hwy 89 and Ebbets Pass would be closed to traffic on Saturday so I couldn't get back to the trail. If I waited to restart on Sunday I would not get to Echo Lake in time to meet Jerry as planned. I decided to just call Jerry to come up early on Saturday and start from Echo Lake on Sunday morning. I'll finish the PCT and then come back to do the 44 miles later.

I spent Friday afternoon getting supplies, getting cleaned up and just relaxing. I bought this water purifier, AquaMira that has chlorine and phosphoric acid drops so I can use it on the lake water in this section.
I thought about this being Friday the 13th and guessed it was bad luck for me. Oh well!