Twenty Lakes Basin (Lee Vining area)
Hiking is usually a big adventure for me, even more so when I'm hiking alone. As N was getting his adrenaline fix biking down the Mammoth Mountain, I ventured into the wild on my own.
"I can totally do this", - cheered I myself on as I was scaling the switchback road, secretly very happy that I was forced to go slowly due to the trailer a couple of cars in front of me. As I was thinking that, the car suddenly began beeping loudly - it has overheated due to the long climb. "It's alright, worst things worst I'll just call N", - but just as I was trying to stay calm, I glanced at my phone and saw there was no signal anymore. "Well, now I'm truly on my own. That's why I come to the mountains, to test myself", - I was now slowly inching down the unpaved road, praying I don't hit some big pothole somewhere. It was a huge relief to reach the parking lot and park successfully.
Notwithstanding the trip there, I was now at the trailhead, 8 full miles of hiking ahead of me. And the first view that opened up was already not bad at all. I could see the trail hugging the bank of the Saddlebag lake, and wasted no time getting started:
Oh mountains, how I love thee:
All I need is a trail, to set me free:
Hiking alone, you get to set your own pace and the duration of your stops. You get to stay as long as you want at the beautiful lakes you encounter:
And take as long as you need to scale up the hill, without being constantly embarrassed by your snail-like pace:
I got to have lunch next to Lake Helen, the entire lake completely to myself, mounting the rock with the prettiest view:
And yet what I have found when hiking alone is that you don't feel lonely. For one, you get time to disconnect from all the interruptions competing for your attention and just think. Also, there are actually many very friendly people on the trail, who are more than happy to stop and talk to a lonely hiker:
It's around Shamrock Lake, 5 miles into my trip, that I started realizing that something was wrong: I kept passing very elderly hikers, hikers with babies behind their backs, and then hikers with toddlers, proudly scrambling up the little hills. How on earth all of them could walk 8 miles?! And then it hit me: there were boats on the lake as I was hiking along the Saddlebag Lake - that was a ferry service that cut this 8 mile hike down to just 4.
Well, the number of people on the trail did not take away from the beauty of this hike:
By the end of the hike dark, heavy with rain clouds started rolling over the crests all around me. I literally felt chased away from the trail by them.
Well, they didn't prevent me from stopping a couple of times to take pictures of the beautiful eastern entrance to Yosemite National Park. If you are ever in the area, I highly advise on driving there for the views!
Far ahead Mono Lake was glistening invitingly. I'll tell the story of our visit there some other time.
"I can totally do this", - cheered I myself on as I was scaling the switchback road, secretly very happy that I was forced to go slowly due to the trailer a couple of cars in front of me. As I was thinking that, the car suddenly began beeping loudly - it has overheated due to the long climb. "It's alright, worst things worst I'll just call N", - but just as I was trying to stay calm, I glanced at my phone and saw there was no signal anymore. "Well, now I'm truly on my own. That's why I come to the mountains, to test myself", - I was now slowly inching down the unpaved road, praying I don't hit some big pothole somewhere. It was a huge relief to reach the parking lot and park successfully.
Notwithstanding the trip there, I was now at the trailhead, 8 full miles of hiking ahead of me. And the first view that opened up was already not bad at all. I could see the trail hugging the bank of the Saddlebag lake, and wasted no time getting started:
Oh mountains, how I love thee:
All I need is a trail, to set me free:
Hiking alone, you get to set your own pace and the duration of your stops. You get to stay as long as you want at the beautiful lakes you encounter:
And take as long as you need to scale up the hill, without being constantly embarrassed by your snail-like pace:
I got to have lunch next to Lake Helen, the entire lake completely to myself, mounting the rock with the prettiest view:
And yet what I have found when hiking alone is that you don't feel lonely. For one, you get time to disconnect from all the interruptions competing for your attention and just think. Also, there are actually many very friendly people on the trail, who are more than happy to stop and talk to a lonely hiker:
It's around Shamrock Lake, 5 miles into my trip, that I started realizing that something was wrong: I kept passing very elderly hikers, hikers with babies behind their backs, and then hikers with toddlers, proudly scrambling up the little hills. How on earth all of them could walk 8 miles?! And then it hit me: there were boats on the lake as I was hiking along the Saddlebag Lake - that was a ferry service that cut this 8 mile hike down to just 4.
Well, the number of people on the trail did not take away from the beauty of this hike:
By the end of the hike dark, heavy with rain clouds started rolling over the crests all around me. I literally felt chased away from the trail by them.
Well, they didn't prevent me from stopping a couple of times to take pictures of the beautiful eastern entrance to Yosemite National Park. If you are ever in the area, I highly advise on driving there for the views!
Far ahead Mono Lake was glistening invitingly. I'll tell the story of our visit there some other time.