Let me begin by saying this was the trip from hell, to quote a famous Beach Boys song "This was the worst trip I have ever been on."
Started out OK, and I went in to Glen Aulin on Wednesday on the PotHole Dome side. It has not been used that much so it had points where it was difficult to locate the trail. I know it pretty well, but there were moments. Everything is going OK, until I get to the spot just past Little Devil's Postpile and the trail gets a little precarious and very narrow.
My tent bag got caught on a snag, and got ripped open, literally ripped in half, so my tent is out all over the ground. OK so I grab it up get to a safer place, drop the pack and stuff it between my pack and my bladder pack, which is strapped to my pack. I double check the straps on the tent bag and they seem tight holding the rain fly and poles in place. I slowly work cross the area and get to a pretty hefty drop that had me sitting down to get down the drop. I drop down and the rainfly explodes all over the place. Ok, what next? I gather up the rainfly and carry it to a safer place to deal with. Drop my pack, stuff the rainfly in. I put the pack on, and the bungee strips get completely twisted in another snag, and I can't move. It was so tangled it was beyond comprehension. Took me several minutes to get it unhooked. It gets it cleaned up and take about 5 steps and the tent poles explode all over the ground. The knot I tied had come undone in all the excitement.
Then a gust of wind comes along, has either the rainfly or the tent flys open get caught on another snag and puts a rip in it. It was the tent floor
I am extremely frustrated with myself for not checking the poles to see if they are secure. My energy level is dropping rapidly having to deal with all of this and thrashing with the snags.
Now the pack is listing to the left, and causing me back issues. I believe the virus took a lot more out of me physically, than even I knew.
I get to the bridge and have 1.7 to go, never a problem. I do the first big climb and I am done, my legs are shaking, I feel like I am getting altitude sickness. Screw this, I find a place that looks flat off and well hidden from trail. I am past the 4 miles requirement so it is legal. Find a spot, and settled in. My ego wrote checks that my physical being could not cash.
Cooked a small noodle meal but was suffering from a bit of altitude sickness, so I could not finish it.
I am a very low impact camper, so if you went to that spot you would never know I was there.
Thursday AM woke up took my time, hoofed down to the river for water... gotta love the Katadyn Gravity filters. I had 6 liters of water in less than 10 minutes and all I had to do is stand there.
I did a day hike though the swamp beyond Glen Aulin and it was dry. I knew at that point I was not going down to LeConte Falls as I could not trust my legs doing a 10 miler. I have been down there so many times I knew Le Conte would not be that good. I stopped at the first set of Falls and then took my time hiking back.
All is good rested enjoyed the camp, then left this morning(Friday) Coming back the trail was much easier to find. That trail has some nasty climbs and they wiped me out and a very nasty climb had mosquitoes just swarming. All my clothes were Permethrin treated, so even exposed hands and face had a ton of Natrapel that worked quite well.
Moral of the story not all trips are excellent, sometimes they just go south.
In spite of all the excitement in less than 200 yards, it had great moments of being in the Park and enjoying it.