This morning I finally managed to wake up late. And by late I mean 8:00. That was nice.

We didn’t do much in the morning, until we went to the nearby post office and sent some packages to Tahoe and Bridgeport. I got my Gossamar Gear hiking pole section, so now I can finally hike with two trekking poles again.

We checked out of the motel at the last minute, at 12:00, and started our way back to the trail. We got a free trolley up to the village center, then a free bus up to the ski lodge, and from there we got there bus up to Reds Meadows. This one is $7 for a round trip, but we paid for it on the way into town.

We filled our water up near the store, and headed out to the trail. After half a mile we got on the Devil’s Postpile alternate to see this National Monument. It was rather cool, setting all of these chilled magma hexagons. It was also half a mile shorter.

The Devil's Post Pile
The Devil's Post Pile

When we got back to the trail, it was just at another junction, where the PCT and the JMT split for 14 miles. We took the JMT route, which has a bit more ups and downs, and goes along many small lakes.

A nice meadow from a bridge of the Middle Fork San Joaquin River
A nice meadow from a bridge of the Middle Fork San Joaquin River
PCT and JMT split. We chose the JMT for a while
PCT and JMT split. We chose the JMT for a while

Hiking mostly up for about 5 more miles, we finally reached Gladys Lake and made camp at about 18:30.