We slept well and rose at 7 AM to find everything
covered with frost, including our sleeping bags. We got
with it and were out of camp at 9:45. Early starts are
not our way. We ran into a couple of guys coming from
Devils Postpile who wanted to see bears. They said they
had even put out bacon with no luck. We directed them
to Cathedral Lks. Caught up with Gary at the bridge
over Lyell Ck. We soon came to the last little lake at
the base of Donahue Pass. It was solid snow to the
pass. Northbound travelers were just coming straight
down thru the snow to the lake. We stopped and had
sno-cones befoe starting up. We were on the trail so we
stuck with it until we found ourselves standing in a
washed out rut. Nearby was a woman standing in a similar
rut but we thought she was on the trail so we went
over. Giving up on the trail all of us just climbed
straight up the mountain over the rocks. Fortunately it
was easy going and in 45 minutes we were on the crest
just east of the pass. We regained the trail and went
on down. On the way we had to cross several creeks.
I went across first and Gary was going to help Owen
across. Owen leaped, but not hard enough. Both Gary and I
had him midway. Gary was waiting for me to let go and
I for him. The result was I got dragged into the
creek. it was only thigh deep but very very cold. Garys
knee had started giving him problems coming down from
the pass and he stopped to put on a brace. He said
without the brace he would not be able to even walk. We
continued on to camp at Rush Ck. We turned left at the
trail junction, crossed the creek and turned right into
a large level campsite on the island. The creek
split in two at the southwest corner of the island and
flowed around both sides. My wife and I had camped there
in 1969 and in the camp next to us were 3 girls on
an Outward Bound trip. We seemed to be pretty much
by ourselves this time. Gary broke out his fishing
pole and made a few casts then gave it to Owen. No
luck, so we fixed dinner we brought. We left the dishes
to wash in the morning, however, we placed them far
from camp. There was a fine sitting and leaning log
there. I slept between it and the fire, something I
rarely do anymore. Years later Gary and I intended to go
to the same site. We made all the turns and the
campsite had disappeared. We finally found it and
determined that the trail junction had been relocated. Good
thing we found it or we would probably still be there
wondering where it went. We left the packs on the ground
feeling that once we were outside Yosemite we would not
have bear problems. We were right ut things have
changed since then. 10 miles today.
