July 2

7/2

16 miles (916 dry site on a ridge to 932, Lyell canyon)

We avoided the rain yesterday but it caught up to us last night. It started storming last night and I woke up a few times to thunder and aching feet. We packed up and ate breakfast in a sprinkle and headed out. We passed through a piece of trail that we hiked last summer during a long weekend trip for clays birthday. It's a beautiful section, passing by thousand island lake and large glaciated mountains.  We hurried along, thunderstorms were growing all around us and we raced them to the top of Donahue pass. Just like yesterday, the skies are threatening but it hasn't stormed yet. 

We descended a couple miles down the other side of the pass, now in Yosemite national park, approaching Tuolumne Meadows. On the way to Tuolumne, we hike down Lyell canyon. The further down Lyell canyon the trail goes, we have read, the more likely you are to have bear problems and once you get within 4 miles of Tuolumne, there is no camping allowed.  We decided to camp up high in the canyon and hike in 10 miles to Tuolumne in the morning, hopefully avoiding bears.