After much coercing, I convinced my friend Becky Rosen to join me on a run from Tuolumne to Yosemite Valley. It's a 27.3 mile run. We started at the Tuolumne Meadows Lodge ran up Rafferty Creek to Tuolumne Pass 9,992 feet our highest point. It was a long descent from the pass to the valley but surprisingly most of route was runnable. The section along Emeric Creek was stunning with incredible views and abundant wildflowers. Once we hooked up with Fletcher Creek, it was a steep descent to Merced Lake where I took a potentially nasty fall - but was fine. It generated more laughs than anything! At the Merced Lake Ranger station we hit up the Ranger for some much needed ibuprofen and he gave us filtered water - nice bonus. After a swim and lunch at Merced Lake we continued down the Merced River and swam again. The granite swimming holes were perfect and the water soothed our tired legs rejuvenating us for more running. Our last push through Little Yosemite Valley was hot and dusty and Becky was not psyched on the rattle snake we encountered. We eventually reached Nevada Falls did one last dip and walked down the steepest and busiest section of the entire day into the valley. In the valley we met our friend Rick chowed some sandwiches and caught the YART back to our car. I highly recommend this run!
