Backpacking in Yosemite NP

Earl, Patrick, Jennifer (Patrick's wife) and I went backpacking in Yosemite National Park in June 2008. Yosemite NP consists of 761,266 acres. Yosemite is internationally recognized for its spectacular granite cliffs, waterfalls, clear streams, Giant Sequoia groves, and biological diversity. Almost 95% of the park is designated wilderness. Yosemite NP is located in the eastern portions of Tuolumne, Mariposa and Madera counties in east central California, United States.

(Abbreviations used here: TM = Tuolumne Meadows; VP = Vogelsang High Sierra Camp; ML = Merced Lake; LY = Little Yosemite Valley; HI = Happy Isles)

Route Plan

• Saturday: Vogelsang High Sierra Camp to Merced Lake (7.8 miles)
  
• Sunday: Merced Lake to Little Yosemite Valley (9.3 miles)
  
• Monday: Little Yosemite Valley to Curry Village (4.7 miles)
  

Day 1 - Friday

Because we didn't hike in the traditional loop style (start and end at your vehicle), we had to park on the Yosemite Valley floor and take a bus to TM. This is where we start our trip. The bus is operated by Tuolumne Meadows Tours. Tickets cost $14.50 for the one way trip and can be purchased over the phone in advance. The bus departs at 8:00 AM from Curry Village bus stop 13b. The bus takes 2 hours to get to TM. The driver was very nice, but insists on leaving on time. We were a few minutes late due to road work on the way in.

We arrived at TM and obtained our wilderness permits right away. We also rented one more bear canister. I neglected to reserve one at REI and they were all reserved. Fortunately, I was able to rent a bear canister for $4 at the wilderness center. It turns out the wilderness centers have a vast stockpile.

The hike (6.8 mi) was beautiful. It was very easy in the beginning, however as the day progressed, so did the incline. We went from 8700' at TM to 10130' at VP. Along the way, we encountered only one unbridged crossing that required shoe removal.



The last 2 miles became more difficult due to some snow covering the trail.



The snow was packed so gaitors weren't needed. As expected, the depth and frequency of these snow patches increased the higher we got. After a long day, we eventually made it to our planned destination, the Vogelsang High Sierra Camp.



We setup camp near a tree and some large boulders that provided shelter from the wind.



Wildlife: We saw a few marmots towards the end of the day. Along with seeing marmots, one can expect to find marmot droppings too. Those happen to be near our camp area...gross.

Also, we encountered millions of mosquitoes. I was being eaten alive all day by mosquitos. More about that later.

Day 2 - Saturday

On Saturday, we broke camp and headed to Merced Lake. From this point on, the rest of the trip was a flat or downhill hike. Early in the day, we cut through a beautiful meadow with granite slabs lining the edges.



The Rafferty Creek meanders throughout this meadow. Lots of baby rainbow trout in the clear water.



As we and descended towards Merced Lake, most of the trail was very close to the Rafferty creek.



As we got closer to Merced Lake, we encountered a well maintained, half mile switchback that took us down 800'. It wasn't the funnest part of the hike. As we descended, gray clouds moved in. We got our rain gear ready and kept going. Upon arriving at Merced Lake, we found that the tent cabins were not yet open for business. We had never planned to use a tent cabin, but the idea to use one was much more appealing than setting up our tent in the soon to arrive rain. So we did.



As soon as we started to unpack our gear, rain started to fall. The rain was pretty heavy and we could hear the nearby thunder. After the rain stopped, we went for a swim in the river feeding the lake. The water was very cold, but it felt good to clean up. We were really happy that we found these tent cabins. We didn't have to worry about drying off any gear. The mattresses on the beds were nice to have too.

Day 3 - Sunday

The next morning, we started out early since we didn't have to break down a camp. As we passed by, I took notice of Lake Merced. It's a lot bigger in person. If we had more time, I'm sure we could have spent a whole day here.



Much of the hike would be along the ??? river, but not close enough to get water. We were on cliffs above the river. At some points there were no trees providing shade over the trail, but there were plenty of trees every else. In the morning, we smelled smoke, which we believed to be from last night's thunderstorm. We didn't spot any signs of a forest fire, however we did notice a haze that wasn't there before. Eventually we crossed a very modern and structurally sound looking bridge and went uphill to an unnamed ridge. We took a break on this giant slab of granite with a lone tree in the middle.



This spot had the best views of any spot we had stopped at. It was a nice place to cool down (very windy) and take the shoes off for a bit. From here, the rest of the hike was downhill and very easy. Much of the hike was along a dirt trail with lots of trees providing shade from the afternoon sun. However the mosquitoes were relentless. Eventually we got close to our destination, Little Yosemite Valley. You could clearly see half-dome despite the increasing haze from a fire of some sort. I should note that a traveling ranger passed me up. He scared the dayslights out of me be because I was walking ahead of my group for the last 30 minutes and was in my own "zone". I jumped 10 feet when he said "Excuse me". The intrepid ranger asked to see my permit. Of course, this had to be the one day that I packed the permit deep inside my pack, out of fear that the rain would damage the permit. So he told me not to worry about it, but to be prepared to show it at LYV.



We setup camp right away and began to prepare dinner.



The camp area is not very private. You are very close to people and can hear conversations. Sure enough a ranger stopped by and asked to see our permits. The rangers actually read the permits carefully. For the first time on the trip, I was able to get mobile phone reception. Yes, Verizon Wireless works in the Little Yosemite Valley area. We called home to let our loved ones know that all was ok and that we were on schedule.

Day 4 - Monday

The last day was upon us. We basically hiked down the Mist trail to the valley floor. I don't ever recommend taking the mist trail again. It was so clogged with tourists and the steps are horror on the body, particularly the one carrying a heavy backpack. Upon reaching the bottom, we took $5 showers at Camp Curry. This was really nice. Then we ate lunch at the Ahwanee Lodge Restaurant. I had a burger and some beer. Mmmm. Then we drove home.

Trip Summary

Overall, this was a fun trip. We all had fun and no one got hurt. I was however, inflicted with 240 mosquito bites. It turns out that "natural repellents" don't work at all. In my experience, natural repellents, which contain a number of natural oils, can actually cause sunburn. Stay away from these types of products. Use DEET. If you are afraid of DEET, find something with Picaridin, which works just as well, in my experience. Never go backpacking in the month of June without multiple types of repellent. Invest in a mosquito net. REI rents the MSR windpro canister stove. This worked great and packs really small. The canister is not under the burner, so you don't have to worry about hipping over the Leaning Tower of Pisae that is your cookware.

The rest of my photos can be found on flickr.