June 24
1018-1037
After a breakfast at the horse camp we are back on trail around 10am at Sonora pass.
Sonora pass was one of the early routes across the Sierra for gold miners. It soon developed a nasty reputation because of its high elevation and rugged conditions, and more traffic went farther north through Donner Pass.
Some of the gold mining towns in the area had electricity powered by turbines placed in snowmelt raging streams. These were some of the earliest electrically powered settlements on the west coast. It had to be patently bizarre to travel across the mountains to find a tiny, isolated, outpost with electrical lights.
We notice a large storm forming behind us and worry about the folks who are braving the long Ridgeline we went over yesterday. I have flashbacks to 2013, and hope everyone is safe.
Our Initial climb from the pass takes us over 10k feet. We will never be above 10k feet for the rest of our trip. From here on it is all downhill. Sort of. Our lungs rejoice at this.
My shoes are absolutely trashed.
Enormous holes have been torn into the outsides of my shoes from the rocky trail in Yosemite. Snow and small rocks pour into my shoes, which drives me crazy, but there are no good places to bail to purchase new shoes. We are in the middle of nowhere. The horse camp where we had dinner last night is powered entirely by generator and is disconnected from the outside world.
Evidence of Volcanism abounds, with large cinder cones bordering the trail. At the end of the day we see a perplexing sign next to the trail. It looks like the symbol for Pi and the number 24. Does anyone have any idea what this means?
Homestead Hikers 
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