Hiking The Pacific Crest Trail: Day 78

We left Tuolumne on 4th of July, passing by places where we have walked with our moms just a few days ago. Once out of the touristy over crowded trails, we were back in solitude of river waterfalls and granite mountains. Walking through the backcountry trails of Yosemite felt like being submerged into the world of majestic rock and stone. I have never got tired of it.

Endless Green Meadows of Yosemite

On the day we exited Yosemite I felt sad. We were leaving the majestic mountains and grassy meadows behind. I kept on turning back to get a last close up glance at the snowy peaks and something inside kept on saying don’t leave just yet.

Dash is walking on steep snowy Sonora Pass

Our final encounter with snow was Sonora Pass. This is where hikers say good bye to their ice axes & micro-spikes. This is also where we said our good byes to the Sierra Mountains. It was a long and beautiful half day hike along a ridge. The snow peak line was in the distance, getting farther & farther away. We were a little jealous of the South bound hikers who will get to see these mountains for the first time – getting butterflies in the stomach and having hard time comprehending that they will soon will be walking through those giants.

Once we crossed on the other side of Sonora Pass, it was amazing to see the drastic change in scenery. We were completely thrilled and high on excitement we pushed on while occasionally looking back at the Sonora Pass and the High Sierras that we left behind.

Lake Tahoe is Visible in the far distance

Two years ago, when Serge and I visited California for the first time, we only have went as far as San Fransisco, thinking that a 4 hour drive to Lake Tahoe was too long. Today, we actually walked on our own two feet into Lake Tahoe and were so pleased.

At Lake Tahoe we bumped in to some of our friends. Left to right: Butt-tape, Scar-face, Shake-N-Bake, Fun-Size, Bear-bait and me!

At Lake Tahoe we bumped in to some of our trail friends! For dinner, we decided to meet at one of the popular casinos buffets! We did wait for almost an hour in line in order to get in. Although, I must say, the amount of food that we all ate, I bet casino lost money that night. Because I think we were carrying out those cheesecakes in our pockets! jk