The Background:
This wasn’t our first backpacking trip nor even our first National Park trip. But it was the trip on which my soon-to-be wife and I first articulated what would become our lifetime travel quest. While making 27-hour drive from Iowa to Yosemite, somewhere in the middle of Nevada, we were in a conversation about where we had vacationed with our families while growing up. I had always vacationed for a week every year at a wonderful Minnesota lake resort with my family, grandparents, cousins. Her family traveled to different destinations, frequently moving on a day-to-day basis. I believe it was me who stated, “we should set a goal to vacation in all 50 states by age 50”. In our late-20’s already, I think it was a half-serious goal at the beginning that just gave us something to talk about after all those hours on the road.
While I’m sure it is not a unique goal among travelers, we quickly embraced the idea, documented where we’d been already and the quest was officially underway. Of course, we still had several hours of driving ahead of us and defined the set of “rules” that would apply; mainly that we must visit something together, airports don’t count, just driving through also does not count.
The Drive:
We are usually “destination” travelers and don’t spend much time stopping at roadside attractions; on this trip, we hit the road after work on Thursday afternoon and arrived at our Tuolumne Meadows campsite by Saturday lunchtime, aided by heading west across time zones and putting in a 16-hour driving day on Friday. The hard drive led to our first minor injury of the trip; a hand cramp suffered by Becky during her driving shift. Caveat: being 1996, this trip was documented with an old-fashioned film camera, no high quality digital stuff here!!
Left: Somewhere in Wyoming. Right: Icing the Hand Cramp
Left: Great Salt Lake. Right: Somewhere in Nevada
Left: First Look at the Sierra Nevada. Right: Entering Yosemite National Park
The First Day:
Once a backpack permit was acquired and we had settled into a campsite, we actually got right back into the Pathfinder and drove from Tuolumne Meadows to the Tunnel View entrance and down into the main Yosemite Valley for which the Park is known. I had made an earlier trip with a cousin from LA and really felt my wife needed to experience the awesomeness that is the Yosemite Valley. We stopped at Tenaya Lake along Tioga Road on the way.
Left: Tenaya Lake. Right: Becky at Tenaya Lake
Left: The Iconic Valley View. Right: Bridal Veil Falls
The Backpack Part 1:
On Day 2, we were ready to stretch the legs. Our plan was a four-day hike into and back out of Yosemite Valley. We loaded up the backpacks and crawled back into the P.F. for a very short trip to the Sunrise Lake Trailhead. Our goal for the day was to hike around 6 miles, going over Clouds Rest and setting up camp overlooking Little Yosemite Valley on the other side.
Now, I am not entirely comfortable on exposed trails and the summit of Clouds Rest is only a few yards wide at the top with drops of several thousand feet on each side. As a result and much to my wife’s frustration, we really didn’t spend a whole lot of time admiring the amazing view and pushed on to our campsite overlooking the Little Yosemite Valley. While this has long been one of our favorite backcountry campsites, it also is the site of the one of the oddest backpacking situation we’ve experienced.
After dinner, we settled into soaking in the views highlighted in the photo series below. We stepped away from our sitting rock for a few minutes for a different view that took us around a boulder pile. As we rounded the pile on our way back to the sitting rock, a hiker had discovered our left-behind water bottles and appeared to be enjoying a refreshing swig. When he heard a boot scuff, he quickly placed the bottle back into its spot and turned for a conversation. The solo hiker was planning to sleep on top of Clouds Rest and it was already nearly dark; we suggested he’d need to hustle to make it to the top by full dark, so off he went.
Our other more enjoyable encounter of the night was with true “wildlife”. I was awakened in the night by some sounds somewhat near our tent. Being in bear country, a quick jolt of adrenaline had me reaching for a flashlight and something with which to make some noise. By the time I unzipped the tent to get a decent look, whatever it was had moved away. A short while later, the same sounds reawakened me. This time, having rolled back our rain fly, I could simply sit up and watch a pair of mule deer grazing about ten feet from the tent. Thankful for there to be no bear threat, I enjoyed observing the deer for a few minutes before settling back into a slumber.
Left: Becky at Sunrise Lakes Trailhead. Right: Loren along Tenaya Creek
Left: Clouds Rest from the Trail. Right: Snow on the Trail in July.
Left: Half Dome from Clouds Rest. Right: Loren on Clouds Rest
Left: Becky and Half Dome. Center: Looking back up to Clouds Rest. Right: Half Dome from our Campsite
Left: Moonrise over Mt. Starr. Right. Half Dome at Sunset
The Backpack, Part 2:
Day 3 was a descent past the back-side of Half-Dome and down the John Muir Trail, with stops at both Nevada Falls and Vernal Falls. Hard to say there was “one” highlight of this day as the waterfalls and descent to the Valley at Happy Isles is one of best hikes in the country, in my opinion, even if also one of the most popular hikes in the country. Of particular noteworthiness was a fairly large timber rattler that crossed the trail ahead of us. Some young children coming up the trail also spotted the snake and ran up the hill to peer under the rock where last seen. Our “no, no, no…” and “stay away” was not working until my wife realized that we needed to switch to “peligro” to try to keep them safe until the parents made their way up.
Left: Half Dome on the Descent. Right: Loren by the Merced River
Left: Top of Nevada Falls. Center: Becky at Nevada Falls. Right: Nevada Falls and Liberty Cap
Left: Becky at Emerald Pool. Right: Looking down at the Mist Trail
Left: Vernal Falls from John Muir Trail. Right: Vernal Falls from Bridge
Left: Timber Rattlesnake, tail on the left in photo, most is under the rock. Right: Celebrating at Happy Isles Trailhead.
Yosemite Falls
Backpack, Part 3 becomes Day Hiking:
Our intended plan had been to camp at the backpacker’s campground and then return back to Sunrise Lakes Trailhead by ascending the Yosemite Falls trail and connecting a few trails together. But, a sore knee from the descent and the ease of a shuttle bus back to the high country led to a quick change of plans. Day hiking from a campground in Tuolumne Meadows quickly became our new strategy. Prior planning had identified Elizabeth Lake, which has the trailhead in the Tuolumne Meadows Campground, and Waterwheel Falls as our destinations for the next couple of days.
So, after the resettling back into the T.M.C.G. in a new spot and enjoying a relaxing evening at the tent, we arose in the morning set for a day without motorized transportation. At that point, our next strange event occurred. A solo camper from a site nearby saw us getting our gear ready and struck up a conversation. He asked our destination and, after we mentioned Elizabeth Lake, asked if we minded some company. Sometimes on the trail you get good vibes, sometimes not so good. This was definitely leaning more toward the not good. But, we couldn’t think of a good way to decline without worrying about all of our camping stuff if he was not with us. Our day hike definitely wasn’t as relaxing as we were planning; but, thankfully, this hike was a short five mile round-trip and the day turned out just fine.
The second day hike was a much more challenging seventeen mile round-trip to Waterwheel Falls; but, it was relatively flat with five waterfalls to see along the way.
Left: Trail to Elizabeth Lake. Right: Near Elizabeth Lake
Left: Loren, dinner at the campsite. Right: Starting out toward Waterwheel Falls
Left: Becky at a small creek crossing. Right: Loren by Tuolumne River
Left: View of the High Country. Right: Becky at Tuolumne Falls
Left: Tuolumne River at Wildcat Point. Right: Loren at California Falls
Left: Top of Leconte Falls. Right: Leconte Falls
Left: Waterwheel Falls. Right: Becky and Loren at Waterwheel Falls
Left: Tuolumne River. Right: Loren at Tuolumne River
Left: Cascade near Glen Aulin. Right: The privy at Glen Aulin
Left: Unicorn Point from Tuolumne Meadows. Right: Tuolumne Meadows
The Next Adventure:
After two glorious days in the high country of Tuolumne, we packed up the car and began the long trek back toward home. We weren’t bee-lining as much as we had on the way west, driving the “loneliest road in America” across Nevada and making what was basically a car tour through Arches National Park in the height of the summer heat. We did get out for a photo here and there; but, with temps exceeding 100 degrees, we were more than willing to stay in our air-conditioned car.
Left: Leaving Yosemite National Park. Right. Entering Arches National Park
Left: Three Gossips. Right: Balanced Rock
Left: Delicate Arch. Right: Loren at Pine Tree Arch
Left: Becky at Landscape Arch. Right: Double Arch
Cove of Caves
The Final Stop:
After the relatively quick pass through Arches, it was back on the road to high mountains. Becky’s uncle Jerry lived in the Denver area at the time and owned an undeveloped, near-vertical piece of land. So, a quick drive up some forest roads for a peek along with some always interesting conversation with Jerry
