This post visually describes four days hiking on the Pacific Crest Trail through Yosemite National Park and the Ansel Adams Wilderness. Feel free to ask questions or let us know which area or photo is your favorite. Enjoy!
Day 66: Silver Pass Creek (Mile 882.5)-South of Deer Creek (Mile 899.5); 17 miles
Day 67: South of Deer Creek (Mile 899.5)-Near Agnew Meadows (Mile 917); 17.5 miles
Day 68: Near Agnew Meadows (Mile 917)-Lyell Canyon (Mile 936.5); 19.5 miles
Day 69: Lyell Canyon (Mile 936.5)-Tuolumne Meadows (Mile 942.5); 6 miles
Wandering the Wild 
howdy guys……i see you guys are hiking south to north and there was a time constraint mentioned that i assume is cold weather related……..would there be any benefit in hiking north to south?……
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Hi there! You are right, there is a five month window between late April and late September when the PCT is most feasible to complete. If you start earlier, there’s too much snow in the Sierra Nevada mountains in California. If you end later, you can get stuck in the first big snowstorms in the Cascade Mountains in Washington.
Hiking north to south is harder because instead of beginning in the desert of southern California, you start in the snow of the Cascades. That’s why very few people attempt a southbound PCT hike. It is possible, but difficult.
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I’m really enjoying your posts and your pictures. The guy in the hard hat and green shirt in this post looks like Greg in his Montana Conservation Corps outfit. Also looks like that guy was doing trail work including clearing trees from the trail–that’s been Greg’s job that past three summers. Good luck as you contine this adventure
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You’re right, a massive windstorm blew down thousands of trees over the winter, and trail crews were cutting each one with hand saws, then cleaning up the trail. We were very grateful for their work. How cool that Greg is doing that kind of thing. It seems really satisfying, and in beautiful surroundings too.
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More great photos! What’s the second photo? It looks like slivers of ice!
Is it time for new shoes – or did the glue hold them together? :-)
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Thanks Barb! It is indeed ice. It was cold enough overnight that we found frozen water by the trail. Even in June and July we have to be prepared for cold temperatures at these high elevations.
The repairs held for a few days, but now things are getting worse again. New shoes will be awaiting Shutterbug in the next town. It’s about time!
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May I suggest a trail name variation of “Shutterbeard”? :)
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Nice one Ang! It’s quite appropriate, and becoming moreso each day as the beard grows. However, it’s hard to compete with multi-year beards like Beardo’s. He has to keep his tied down with hair ties, otherwise it might explode!
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Lyell Canyon- one of my favorite places in the entire world!
I love reading your blog and looking at your pictures! Enjoy the rest of Yosemite!
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Thanks Stephanie! Lyell really is beautiful. We saw a bear there, and lots of mosquitos. The bear was minding its own business, unlike the mosquitos. The meadows and the large creek are amazing though. Yosemite has so much to offer beyond the Valley!
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Anna, I work at R9 and met you once, very briefly. I have been following your amazing journey since the beginning. Truly awe-inspiring. Thank you for sharing your adventure!
I enjoy photography, and really have been enjoying Shutterbug’s pics. Keep them coming! My favorites in this batch are the creek/waterfalls shot, and the meadow shot (second one in Day 69). Love the light in the meadow shot. Was it early morning light?
Not being tech savvy, I wonder how you do these posts? Must be only when you go into a town for supplies? But I’m surprised at how often you are able to post.
Anyway, enjoy your incredible adventure. The Great Northwest awaits!
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Thanks Roger, that means a lot to us!
The meadow photo was indeed a morning shot, and a cold, frosty one at that. The light and the frost give it that distinctive look. Shutterbug was excited when he realized he had conveyed the feel of the place in a photograph. That is often quite difficult to accomplish.
We post using our iPhones, which we can do anywhere we have a cell signal. We like the portability and flexibility of this approach, and it allows us to give readers more frequent updates than would otherwise be possible.
We are excited for what lies ahead to the north. Onward!
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Loving your photos – thanks for sharing – lover of Yosemite:)
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Hey, thanks! It’s an easy place to love. :-)
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My favorite photos are of the Alpine Lakes, and of course, the ice crystals. I’ve been looking ahead a bit to Desolation Wilderness, and the Alpine Lakes there look like another amazing stretch of this trail. What a gift that you are able to bring this to life for the rest of us. Another pair of shoes ready to bite the dust I see. And we’re still wondering when you can get a new trekking pole and tent!
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New shoes are on the way, and we have the tent and trekking poles now. We are really grateful for the tent with all the mosquitos recently. Just amazing quantities in some places.
The lakes are incredible. Some of them deep blue, some turquoise, and a variety of other hues. The water is pristine. It’s good to know there are more to come. We just wish we had the time to stop and really appreciate each one fully, and maybe swim in some of them. But still, it’s an embarrassment of riches!
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Close call, but my favorite photo is the plastic chick on the pot. I noticed it in some of your pre-trip photos two (the chick hanging out with all of the food your were boxing up). Hike on, Shutterbug and North Star and keep the fantastic photos coming!
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Haha, that’s Cheep Cheep. She is a seasoned traveler now, and quite the cook too. We have conversations with her. Hopefully you aren’t worrying too much about us now that we’ve revealed that.
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I love all the images, but those showing you interacting with your environment … Day in the life stuff … Are the most compelling to me. I love how Cheep-Cheep is always happy and never cold. Every time I see her, i laugh.
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Cheep Cheep definitely makes us laugh too. We will keep looking for ways to photograph some of those everyday tasks so we can give a realistic view of all aspects of our journey.
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Glad to know you wlecome comments! I’m so in awe of you and the life-changing experience you’re having. Thank you for allowing us vicarious appreciation of the beauty and majesty of the PCT and your experience through your photos and words.
Love the ice crystals photo!
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Thank you Jane! Please comment anytime, your words are great to read. Hopefully we can call or Skype to chat with you guys when you are in North Carolina!
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Wow! What beautiful imagery for us to see! It’s so inspiring and I look forward to more!
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Thanks so much, we have a lot more on the way!
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Actually, I agree with Chris–also among my favorite pictures are the ones that show us your day to day life–cooking, crossing streams with your trekking poles, gluing shoes, using your iphones…wonderful glimpses of trail life!
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Thanks Mom! Hopefully those shots help people envision themselves going along on our journey with us. That’s our goal for sure.
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Hey guys! So glad to gear you got the new tent and poles. Did you end up getting the same tent? Or opt for a different one. I mostly ask because I use the same one and am curious what you think about it :)
Also, loving the photos, it’s so wonderful to have a visual to go along with your writing.
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Thanks! The writing is important but it only goes so far, I think.
We stuck with the same tent, because really we like everything about it except the zipper. Big Agnes makes a bigger version of the Fly Creek, but we have figured out how to share the two-person version just fine. It’s been great, even in high wind, and it’s very light. A lot of people on the PCT don’t use tents at all, but they have their advantages sometimes.
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I looked at this sequence after the next one — I can’t get them on email any more, or maybe they’re in my Scam folder — haven’t checked.
Anyway, I want to know about the guy in the yellow hard hat. Is he a trail worker or something?
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Yes, I would check your spam folder, and if you find anything from our blog there, mark it as “Not Spam.” You can always ask Becky or Aria to help out at the shore, too.
He is a trail worker, doing maintenance on that portion of the PCT. Often high school or college students will do that work for a summer. It’s a chance for them to get outside with other fun people, and they can save some money since they have so few expenses. In this case there were a lot of trees blown down in a big windstorm, so they were cutting those and cleaning up the trail.
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I miss you.
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Aww, miss you and you jokes out here.
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