Sonora Pass

7/3-
Day 84 - Left Tuolumne Meadows today. Our next break will be the ultimate town stop: San Francisco. All of us have begun making lists of things we need to do during our week off in the city. Although we all have different things to do and have been making our lists on our own, I noticed that the first thing on my list is the same as Krumholz's - All-you-can-eat-Indian-buffet. We also made a rule that we can't discuss the pleasures of the city until we are within 30 miles of Sonora Pass. - Squirrelfight

Woah, I got quite a misguided letter this week from J. Rocker of Atlanta regarding a comment I made last week about "Idiot New York Yankee fans." Apparently he feels I made a sweeping generalization, calling all Yankee fans idiots. Actually I don't think all Yankees fans are idiots. I'm not even sick of all Yankee fans. What I meant was that I am tired of those NY Yankee fans who are idiots. Sorry for the confusion. - Squirrelfight

Vocab-
Pinecone Crunch - 1. Sound made when a boot steps on a fresh pinecone (ex.) "Gotta love that pinecone crunch." 2. Our most popular trail breakfast. (ex.) "Gotta love that pinecone crunch."
Quadritude - Solitude for four
"Doing the Laundry" - Falling during a ford. (ex.) "How much do you want to bet that Squirrelfight is about to do some laundry?"

Vacation (day ???): Nearly two weeks in idyllic central Maine! In the past couple of weeks, I have done virtually no hiking whatsoever, genuine relaxation. I have been lazing around the ol' homestead in West Athens with my family, the wonderful extended community in Maine, and of course the lovely Miss Mala, who I was thrilled to see. The fourth of July, as anyone who has experienced Independence Day in West Athens knows, was utter lunatic fun, three days of partying, topped off by absurdist political satire theater about "Alien Gonzales" and the Cuba-ists, led by inFidel PiCastro. The rest of the time was mostly spent in the happy chaos of the Freeman family, visiting with the dozens of folks who came up the driveway to visit, and splashing around in the ol’ swimmin’ hole. Maine in July is about as close to heaven as anywhere on earth, and I was sad to leave, but I’m also pretty thrilled to be heading out onto the trail again. What a life! - Staggerin Willy

7/6-
Day 87 - Left Yosemite Park today. With all of its deep canyons, it was one of the toughest sections of trail so far. Not that tough, mind you, it is still graded for horses. One of our intended sidetrips was to drop into Yosemite valley and climb Half Dome. Believe it or not, we were unable to fit it into our schedule. The valley, of course, is where all the thousands of Yosemite tourists were. I had assumed the entire park would be full of people this fourth of July week, but we saw hardly anyone other than team Bluefoot and the Earth Dogs. The only days we really saw people were the day going into Tuolumne Meadows and the next day as we left. This was our first road crossing in 235 miles since Kennedy Meadows. Day 87 was also the first day that the mosquitoes were so severe that we had to hike wearing our head nets. They like the wet meadows below 9000'. We try not to camp there. - Squirrelfight.

7/7-
Day 88 - We passed the 1000 mile mark of the PCT today. There are photos of us at a two tiered waterfall that is the 1000.1 mile mark. The rest of the day was a high, exposed ridgewalk up to Sonora Pass. From there we go to San Francisco. At the moment we are at a somewhat wind-blocked spot at a notch in a steep wall at nearly 11,000' and 4.4 miles from the pass. We will find out our ride situation when we get there. Looking forward to burritos and our first showers since Independence. - Squirrelfight

Day 88 - Today we reached the 1000 mile point at a scenic two-tiered waterfall. We commemorated the event by taking a series of pictures. You'll see them. Yesterday we made a sad departure from Yosemite National Park. It was a brief (70 miles) but exciting visit. The trail was the steepest bit of the PCT I can recall. We spent 3 days making steep ascents over forested passes and even steeper descents into beautiful canyons. There were many breathtaking, craggy mountains and domes. One can see why rock climbers from around the world spend their summers bumming in Yosemite. We saw one exciting peak right off the trail that we wished we had planned to summit. Even slack PCT hikers have a schedule. We averaged 15 miles a day from Tuolumne Meadows to Sonora Pass so we could meet Gabe on a Friday to go into San Fran. Wahoo! It'll be a grand old eatin' frenzy. Hope to gain a few pounds while eating burritos, Indian buffet, greasy Chinese, yummy Thai, and make big salads and breakfasts at home (Gabe's). As you can imagine, walking daily has shaved a few pounds off all of us and given us the appetite of horses. Well, it's gotten chilly here on this ridge so I think I'll walk the 2.4 miles left to Sonora Pass. - Pickle : )

For those of you who haven't guessed already, the Menacing Vegetables are not your typical Thru-hikers. Our packs are heavier, we eat better, we take sidetrips and days off at hot springs. The biggest difference, though, is the absence of one priority - Canada. Most Thru-hikers are so preoccupied with Canada that no matter how menacing we behave, we can not get them to vegetate. In order to be more influential, we have begun a new movement. T.H.A.T.H (sass with a lisp) is Thru-hikers Against Thru-hiking At this point it is a four person movement, but according to Arlo Guthrie, you only need three. Our manifesto is forthcoming. - Squirrelfight

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