hiking with doughnuts, and other tales of the wilderness
So I just returned from a lovely few days backpacking in Yosemite National Park. Ryan and I left Berkeley midday on Wednesday. We arrived in the park late afternoon to collect our backcountry permits and bus tickets, and try to adjust to the higher-than-Berkeley altitude. (My house is about 50ft above sea level; we camped the first night at 6500ft and our highest day was 9960ft. For reference, "they" suggest allowing 24-hours to adjust for each 2000ft gain. Hah - who has time for that?!)
I've always defended Yosemite when people say "oooh, i hate that place. it's so busy." However, one long traffic jam in the valley made it all clear: if this is your memory of "welcome to yosemite", you should stay at home.
Wednesday night we ate in the YOSEMITE FOOD COURT (I'm not joking - it was a full-on cafeteria, complete with overcooked pasta and overpriced burgers). While I've been to the amusement parks people call Jasper and Banff National Parks, I have never seen such strange park behaviour. I learned the rules quickly: Wear your high-heels to the cafeteria for dinner. Make sure the cashier understands that you don't appreciate the shortage of trays on which you could have stacked your cream pies and chicken strips. And, avoid walking at all costs. Stops for the shuttle around Yosemite valley are conveniently located so that the lazy traveler need only walk 5 to 8 metres before relaxing in air-conditioned bus comfort. (Ryan wouldn't let me take it to the parking lot. I was trying to save a few steps as not to exhaust myself before our hike...) We had an uneventful night camping in a park campground.
Thursday morning we packed up in the dark and parked the car at the trailhead where we hoped to emerge. We had permits for part of the famous John Muir Trail. We planned (and completed) 28 miles of the JMT, and another 10-mile loop up to one of the most spectacular peaks in the park. Shortly after 8am, we hopped on the hikers' bus up to the high-country. The bus journey took about 3 hours and we were dropped at the trailhead in Tuolumne Meadows (8300ft). A few minutes of pack adjustments and we were ready to go!
Our first day's hike was mostly uphill; we gained about 2400ft, I think. My pack was awfully heavy, and I was sore by the time we got to the deserted High Sierra Camp (8.5 miles). It was on a pretty little stream and I was happy to camp there. Ryan, however, felt compelled to find more than a stream and managed to convince me that Sunrise Lake was "just around the bend". It turned out that Sunrise Lake was about 2.5 miles around the bend. I will admit that the death march paid off - we got to swim in the freezing cold lake and I was quite refreshed by the early evening. We enjoyed Tasty-Bites and couscous for dinner beside Sunrise Lake (11 miles).
Friday morning we got up with the sun (which took until almost 7:30am to hit us because of the surrounding rocks) and has breakfast burritos. It was my food experiment for the trip - refried beans, rice, salsa and tortillas! Beats oatmeal anyday! We hiked out of the Sunrise Lake area, back to the trail, and headed further into the trees. The terrain changed from granite and meadows to woods and streams, and the mosquitoes were out. We found a spot near the junction of the John Muir Trail and one to Tenaya Lake, and pitched Kimmie.
Just as we started to prepare dinner (pasta and sauce), the rain hit. We finished up quickly and retreated to the tent. We played Yahtzee and started reading our books. It rained on and off for most of the night, but the sun was up in the morning. Saturday morning we packed up part of my backpack, left the tent and gear, and headed up the Tenaya Lake trail to Cloud's Rest. Cloud's Rest is quite amazing, as you can see: 9960ft elevation, surrounded by land at between 4000ft and 6000ft. I had a flash of vertigo at the top (part of the rocks were no more than 10 feet wide and the drop was hundreds of feet onto the rock below) - but it was worth every queasy step.
From Cloud's Rest, you can see Half-dome, El Capitan, Yosemite Valley, Tenaya Lake... It makes the park seem quite small. And cars and people seem incredible insignificant. The Cloud's Rest loop was 10 miles, and we were up and down (2200ft) in about 3.5 hours. We returned to the tent just in time to avoid the rain (and thunder). I spent the rest of the afternoon reading my book (The English Patient - for the 15th time!) and napping. By dinner the rain has lightened and we could make Pumpkin Stew (Ryan's experiment for the trip). It was also delicious! Yay for the dehydrator.
We got up early on Sunday morning and packed up the site. The hike into the valley was lovely for the first 6 or 7 miles - then we hit the touristy falls area. I have never before seen people "hike" with a shopping bag of doughnuts. Their presence, and the steep, wet steps on the trail we chose, made the last 3 miles seem unbearably slow. However, by 1:30 we were back at the car. Filthy, hungry, but happy to have completed a delightful 38-mile backpack from Yosemite's high country to the valley.