Miles: 8.6 + 9 JMT miles

Total Trail Miles: 952.3 

Ascent/Descent: 1899/2812 ft 

Start Time: 05:00 

End Time: 16:45 

Temperature: 15°C (59°F)

We had about 9 JMT miles left to get back to the PCT and we knew most of that would be on snow. We made good time though and after the first few miles most of it was downhill. It felt good to arrive back in Tulomne Meadows, it felt warm, sunny and we knew there would be a fair bit of dirt trail. We stopped for an early lunch break where the JMT joined back with the PCT at Soda Springs, where you can drink the water that bubbles out of the ground and it kind of tastes sparkling. We watched the deer roam around us as we ate. We told Slide where we were planning on camping and said that we were happy if he wanted to go further and do his own thing but he ended up meeting us there. We managed to rock hop and log cross Delaney Creek and keep our feet dry. We had read that the Tulomne river has flooded by the bridge and that last week the water you had to cross was waist deep and dangerous but luckily when we went to check it out it was only shin deep, the colder spell must have caused the water levels to drop a bit. We passed Tulomne Falls which were super beautiful, the whole area was more beautiful than I was expecting. We had to cross back over the river by another bridge that we had also read was flooded but this one we could rock hop and keep our feet dry - success! It was then another 4 miles up to camp. We were getting pretty tired at this point and there were lots of slippy snow patches and sections but we eventually rocked up a bit before 5 m, set up camp quickly and tucked into dinner.