Sonora Pass caught us with our pants down.

Finally the night wasn’t too cold. I slept well with only my base layer. It felt nice. Getting up in the morning was easier too, and the sun shone on us quite early. A short walk from our camp we had our first Ford of the day. Surprisingly, we managed to get across with some rock hopping. A while later, we had to ford across the Stubblefield, that was a bit harder, and I got one foot wet.

What a day! We planned to do about 22 miles today, which isn’t that much. But today it contained about 5,500 feet climb AND 5,500 feet descent. I am not sure, but I think this makes it the hardest day so far, as far as vertical gain and loss go.

Today we said our farewells from Yair. It was hard for me to think about him flying back home, with me having 2.5 more months. But I had a great time with him on the trail, and I hope he enjoyed it as well. He gave us both a good photo of the three of us, and wrote something nice on the back of it. He also gave me a letter I’m not supposed to read until he takes off, so I didn’t open it yet. We got on the hiker bus down at Yosemite Valley, meeting Big Boots and Ido and Maya at the station. The ride took about 2.5 hours, with the driver talking all the time, and telling stories about Yosemite and it’s history. Some of it was interesting, but it was a bit too much.

Last night Idan decided he wouldn’t climb up Half Dome. We tried convincing him to come along, but he was set in his mind that it wasn’t worth it, especially after seeing the views from the summit of Cloud Rest.