"No, you're joking!".
"Not at all. We banged pans, yelled, and used an air horn."
I have to say the new sleeping pad is exceptionally comfortable.
Day 3 can be summarized as:
Thousand Island Lake. Foolishly, after several hours I hiked on, planning to return in a day or two. Five miles and dinner later I finished the day by climbing Donahue Pass (which had looked so distant the night before), wandering a few feet into Yosemite National Park to gaze down shadowy Lyell Canyon toward Tuolumne Meadows--it was uncomfortably close to nightfall--and dragging back to camp. I was dragging all the way up as well, looking for any excuse to quit, but the trail is so well graded it seemed lame to turn back.
Camped nearby were Doug and Joanne, serious travelers and keen on natural history, and we talked as moon and stars took over the sky. They mentioned that the Perseids meteor shower was still happening, and waking later I slipped on my specs just in time to catch a cross-the-sky shooting star. Nothing like luck; I usually see little during the Perseids.
Day 4 started with slow creekside ramblings in the upper Donahue basin
but ended with a slow gimpy five mile walk back to Thousand Island Lake after jamming my knee on a mis-calculated jump. Argh! Then again, any day ending at Thousand Island is not a complete Argh.
My trusty tent echoes the shape of Mt. Banner. Up here near the head of the lake it's not the cast of thousands camping just two miles away near the outlet (first photo).
Day 5 was a lingering morning at the lake, then a ginger ten mile march to the roadend, where I've since nursed the jammed knee with mochas and easy day hikes. And blogging.
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