Day 80: ⛺@ mile 977.7 - ⛺ @ mile 998.9

Date: 26.06.2018 Miles hiked today: 21.2 Miles Total Mileage: mile 998.9 Aaah I feel much better after 2 nights with a lot of sleep. I feel my energy coming back, finally! But we got warned by the two park rangers yesterday that there are a couple of very very steep uphill hikes waiting for us... I hoped to be done with steep uphill hikes by now. But nope, they are even worse! The first one is a 800 feet uphill hike in just about 1 mile. Then of course a steep downhill follows until you reach the bottom for the next uphill hike, 1300 feet in about 2 miles. I was done after these two climbs. Luckily after the second climb a little less steep downhill hike follows until we approach the Dororthy Lake Pass. But while the two climbs felt like passes Dorothy Lake Pass is a very gently and moderate climb. I wonder what makes a pass a pass and the two uphill climbs of today are just climbs but no pass even though they were steeper? Mmh no one knows. Zero's and my goal today is to hike 20 miles or more so we can hike to Kennedy Meadows North today. If we hike up to the pass we just done 20 miles, so for sure we want to get there. It's a hot and humid day again and we follow a beautiful wide river. I want to jump in the water but feel to lazy to take off all my clothes and wait to be dry again and being eaten by moskitos. We always pump into that river as we hike along, he is teasing me and I tell myself if we see it 3 more times that's a sign that I have to dip in it. And so it comes. The third time is a perfect spot to take a dip into. Plus it's also a little windy so there are no mozzies! We lye down on the hot rocks and dry very fast. This feels so good we just keep on chilling for a while. These are the moments which make your hike enjoyable and why you do this. But we still want to hike that Pass today and that only works of we get up again! Dororthy Lake Pass is also the northernmost trail entrance to Yosemitee National Park and marks the point where northbound hikers are through with Yosemite and southbound hikers are just beginning. Either way, it's a dramatic change in scenery as I shall see tomorrow. Feeling refreshed and full of energy we get up for the last couple of miles. And we hike to the pass and further on for totally 21.2 miles today! That's a good hiking day, leaving exactly 18 miles plus one pass for tomorrow and only 1.2 miles away from the 1'000 mile marker. That's definitely doable. We camp on a small green foresty island, surrounded by two rivers. An absolutely beautiful spot but we didn't consider that that must be heaven for moskitos too! Eating my ramen noodles I have to walk around to not eat all moskitos swarming around my face. I sprayed myself with 98% DEET and my legs are all white and dry of that strong chemicals already. That helps to not being biten by the moskitos however they still keep flying around you very close. I can't stay out here any longer so I hide in my tent. We are all very annoyed by the moskitos. Basically you can just hike or hide in your tent. The may only positive side is that you get to bed early, so another 9+ hours of sleep before I have to get up tomorrow :) 

Last day in Yosemite National park

The river we dipped in!