The start of the day found me fairly pain-free. Although I had the entire day set aside for this I began the climb early to avoid the heat of the afternoon. I ended up hiking out with Craig and Noni as we were all heading to the same place. My knee began to ache about 30 minutes in. This knee issue was beginning to look like an everyday occurrence and I was getting a bit discouraged. By sub-dome I knew my knee was going to be a real issue. One part of me said, "you came all this way... buck up and do it." Another part of me said, "this is not the JMT, save your knee and call it off." I did the latter and after saying "see you down the trail" to Craig & Noni. Spent some time admiring the view for a bit and headed back to camp.
On the way down to camp I came across Aussie & Portlandia again. They were making their way towards sub-dome. Guess I will be seeing them quite often as our schedules seem to be very similar. Took the rest of the afternoon to relax by the river (watering hole) and think over my options for the upcoming days in conjunction with my obvious ongoing knee issue.