The introduction is over. Welcome to the JMT in early season.

I met a man this morning who thought Donohue Pass was clear of snow. The truth was that most of the time I did not know where the JMT even was. The approach was fairly clear, but the pass itself was blanketed in wet snow. My boots got soaked.

Map, compass, and intuition got me to the other side. I left Yosemite and entered the Ansel Adams Wilderness. I descended into a giant snow bowl. My feet were squishing in my boots but at least the snow was consolodated enough that I did not break through very often.

Traveling at less than 1 mile per hour, it took 9 hours to reach the trail junction where Tom had left a message written in the snow. he had left at 2 pm - about an hour before. I took a break to wring out my boots and socks then took off after him.

I enjoyed following his footsteps and was really excited to find all the water crossings were bridged by one thing or another. Then I neared the top of Island Pass and it was a route finding challenge in the snow again. It was very difficult but eventually I arrived at Thousand Island Lake where a camper told me Tom was at Emerald Lake only a little further. I met two PCT thruhikers then and exchanged trail info.

Soon Tom and I were reunited after many years. Plenty of laughs and hiker anecdotes mostly concerning our navigation adventures. Good times had by all.