A little time off

Well I headed out of Mammoth Lakes, CA and said my goodbyes to Tom and Kobie, only to take a wrong turn a mile ahead of them and proceed to go the wrong way for a brief amount of time. In that time Tom and Kobie passed me and I caught back up with them while they were taking their first break of the day. So we did our goodbyes all over again, it's basically been the goodbye that never ends. With a semi-late start of about 10:00 am I was able to get in about 25 miles and over the final difficult pass of the trail Donahue Pass. I camped just below the pass to avoid getting too low in elevation and mosquito territory. The next morning was my birthday, and as I was packing up and putting my rain jacket in my pack (which I also use as a my pillow) I felt something in the pocket, T & K had put some salami and a pack of twizzlers in the pocket with a little birthday note, so it was a good start to the day. From where I camped it was downhill to Tuolomne Meadows of Yosemite National Park. There, I enjoyed a birthday double cheeseburger and met up with Ryan, who I had hiked Mt. Whitney with. I took about a two hour break from there and headed on another 15 miles. I camped right by a creek in Virginia Canyon and had a nice little birthday dinner in the wilderness. The rest of the terrain through Yosemite was a lot of up and down in and out of canyons and the elevation gain/loss was reminiscent of that of the Appalachian Trail. The mozzies were absolutely terrible, I nearly used an entire bottle of Deet in one day and hiking with a mosquito net on your head is frustrating to say the least. I met a wonderful group of section hikers when I camped just about 14 miles south of Sonora Pass which is a highway that leads into Bridgeport, CA. They invited me to come down to where they were camping and we talked all about the trail (which they had section hiked up to where we were over the past few years in 100 mile increments). It was nice to chat with some other people since before then I had seen very few people the past few days. Allen, Larry, Trevor and Alissa (spelling?) offered me a ride into Bridgeport, CA and I couldn't resist. Once I got to Bridgeport I decided to go ahead and just get a ride to Tahoe from Stacie and Christa (two documentary film crew members that have been supporting another hiker who is just behind me). While waiting for a ride from Stacie and Christa I was walking down the street and passed the Jolly Cone ice cream joint where Gary, Jan, and Bob bought me a glorious chocolate cone that hit the spot on a summer day. It was certainly a nice dose of trail magic. From there Paul Mobley (a fellow Sanderson Spartan) picked me up and took me to his and his wife's, Megan, home. We caught up and I hung out with them until yesterday afternoon where another friend of mine who lives in San Rafael, CA (Collin Noble and his Mom) picked me up. Now I am currently deciding whether I should indeed skip a section to get to Canada or to just continue hiking, most likely with Tom and Kobie, until its time for this hiker to come home. I'm currently adding pictures and am accepting suggestions on whether to skip a section or to just keep going. Sorry its been so long since an update. Thanks for keeping up.

Spencer