Wed, July 18th - the Yosemite adventure continues...

Frost this morning but a very nice sunrise and warming sunlight over my bivi camp overlooking Smedberg Lake. A fantastic camping spot.  Despite lots of campers including boy scouts and a Sierra group the rock slabs and ledges blocked the view and sounds and it felt like I was the only one camping at the lake.  Lots of ups and downs that are not in my hiker notes, including several passes but the views were wonderful.  Lots of Yosemite rock faces, alpine lakes, woods, and streams.  The views climbing into canyons and around rocky peaks and passes are beautiful.  Many blowdowns, especially near Benson Lake, but manageable.  Only met one hiker today, at tonight's camp.  Guess I'm through the tourist hikers and JMTers.  Saw a note from Spins to Baboon and a friendship note to Sunshine but no sign of them on the trail. Hiking Kerrick canyon near Benson Lake, and up and over Seavey pass and Thompson Canyon was excellent.  The hike up Bond Pass was also great but when I dropped down the other side I hit two small lakes where the mosquitoes started in mass!  Camped at Wilma Lake near mile 9888 with lots of mosquitoes.  I literally threw my pack down, jumped into pants and a jacket, and setup my tent to jump into it.  The one lone hiker today hiked by and said I should move another half mile down the trail to a spot with less bugs but I wasn't about to leave my tent now.