This morning, we picked up the car, a brand new Hyundai Elantra with less than 400 miles on the clock. We also met up with a friend of Rox, Wayward, who drove up from San Diego to meet us.

After grouping up, we headed to Vons to pick up food for the next few days. The were some storm cells hanging around the mountains as we left town and it looked like it might have been a good day not to be up there.

We drove nearly an hour north up the Owens Valley to some hot springs which Wayward knows, near Mammoth Lakes. We parked up here and had an awesome steak dinner while the sun set.

Even though it was getting late, we still visited the hot pools after eating. We soaked in the hot water until nearly midnight before returning to camp. The plan was to be out of camp by 5 am, so I cowboy camped under the stars to save time packing a tent.

We woke up very early the next morning and drove to Yosemite national park. When we got to Mariposa Grove we were surrounded by hundreds of tourists, a good taste of the kind of travel experience we’re not getting on the PCT. The first half mile in the grove is on a manicured path with a lot of information about the giant sequoias and the surrounding forest. The path runs under staggeringly huge trees, thousands of years old. The limbs are known to drop off, and sometimes new limbs regrow from the remaining stubs looking like entire trees of their own.

One tree has a tunnel cut right through the middle of it. On one side, dozens of tourists are queueing to take photos with the tree. We join the queue and take photos of our own before walking through.

Walking through the tree instantly takes us away from the crowds like some kind of magic portal. On the other side a trail takes us 3 miles further into the forest. We spend a few hours walking on this trail, under more giant sequoias and through to the upper Mariposa grove. We see dozens of giant sequoias here, and the historic Galen Clark cabin which used to be a visitors center and museum, but now sits boarded up.

After returning from the trail, we drove back through Yosemite to a lookout over Yosemite Valley. From here we could see El Capitan, Bridal Veil Falls and half dome in the distance.

We cooked burgers for dinner here, right in the middle of the carpark. Eating fresh homemade burgers, with a view like that was amazing. A lot of other tourists were looking a bit jealous, maybe wondering where they could get some too.

After eating dinner and watching the sun set, we headed back from Yosemite. We drove all the way back to the hot pools to make camp for the night. By the time we got back I was a bit tired for swimming, but the others had another dip in the hot water. Instead, I set up my tent and went straight to sleep.

The next morning, we cooked a big breakfast and headed back to Bishop. I checked in to the Hostel California for one more night, but there won’t be any more vortexing for me on this stop, I’ve already spent long enough off trail and I’m badly itching to get back on.