ur last day on the trail! Can you believe it? Are you still with us? I know, it’s been a long trip, but boy has it been a most excellent adventure.
Vicki left earlier than us as her car was parked at Tuolumne Meadows and she wanted to get going to start the long drive home. We had parked Seasoned Strider’s truck at Mammoth Mountain and had bus reservations at 5:55pm in Tuolumne Meadows on the YARTS bus (Yosemite Area Regional Transportation System) and would arrive at 7:30pm that evening. We had a leisurely morning and finally left camp at 9am. Still had a section of steep stair-stepping downhill before we reached the valley floor. After a snack break, two Yosemite employees passed us hiking fast heading south towards Donahue Pass. Each person had a yellow shirt and a crutch strapped to their back. How funny is that... Awhile later an older fellow on a horse leading another horse stopped and asked if we had run into a guy with a hurt foot. He was supposed to be at the bridge. Well, that was where we had camped last night. Nope, didn’t see anyone hobbling around. Apparently, some guy hurt his foot coming over Donahoe and needed help getting down the trail. The people carrying the crutches had medical training and were going to help him step down the hard, steep section we just hiked down and meet up with the fellow with the horses and then ride the spare horse down the rest of the way to Tuolumne. We found out later that the Yosemite employee riding the horse was about 80 years old, and has been with the park service for 56 years. His wife still kayaks every day. Wow, what a couple!
The closer we got to Tuolumne, the more people were on the trail and in the creeks. We kept our masks on until we reached the main road. Oh, cars and traffic, aack. We weren’t 100% sure where the bus would pick us up so we stopped at the Ranger Station where we met Ranger Bob (oooh la la), complete with real gun, stun gun, and holding a paint pellet gun in his arms. He was just leaving to take care of a persistent young bear that was hassling one of the entrance booths. Apparently, the entrance employee was taking care of incoming traffic, not noticing the bear was halfway through the window with his paws straddling the sink behind her. She exited quickly and called for help. Meanwhile, we asked Ranger Bob where to find the bus station and he wasn’t too sure. So we headed for the Wilderness Center, which of course was closed. As we were leaving that facility, here comes Ranger Bob in his vehicle to let us know that we could catch the YARTS bus at the Visitors Center, two miles away. I hinted for a ride but he didn’t pick up on it. Sigh, so we started down the road, Ranger Bob passed us, Seasoned Strider held out her thumb in jest, and whaddayaknow, Ranger Bob pulled a u-turn in the middle of the road, returned to us and asked us if we wanted to ride in the “convict section”. Absolutely!! It was hilarious. He dropped us off at the Visitors Center and Seasoned Strider asked if we could take a picture. Of course, complete with NPS hat! It pretty much capped off our whole trip!
We had a three hour wait for the bus but kept ourselves busy with writing journals and visiting with a couple other hikers waiting for the bus. The bus was pretty empty, only about 10 people were on board. Seasoned Strider and I were the last ones and the bus driver deposited us right to Seasoned Strider’s truck. Thank you bus driver! While we were on the bus, we found a hotel, the Innsbruck Lodge, and reserved the night, but our first stop was Giovanni's and buying a pizza for dinner. Oh so good....