Story:
A week before July 1st I noticed an opening for the Glen Aulin trail in Yosemite National Park. When I called the Wilderness Permit office to see if the record was correct on their website, the ranger said that yes, they had an opening for one person for that day. That worked for me and I booked that spot right away. This would be my first 5 day 4 night backpacking trip in the US. I planned for 2 nights at Glen Aulin, 1 night at May Lake and 1 night at Sunrise Camp - which constitute 3 of the High Sierra Camps (Vogelsang and Merced Lake are the other 2).
Considering that I would be walking about 40 miles in 5 days, I wanted to keep my pack weight low (under 40 lbs would be good, around 30 would be excellent). For this trip I chose to take a home made Penny Alcohol stove which weighs a couple of ounces rather than the traditional white gas MSR stove. To be sure I took extra fuel (16 + 8 oz) which is simply denatured alcohol bought from a hardware store as I was not quite sure how much I would end up using as this would be my first time using one of these at any altitude.
Here are the instructions to make a Penny stove yourself.
http://www.csun.edu/~mjurey/stoveinstruct.html
Pictures of the Penny stove I made.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jwania/sets/72157620651374198/
Next, I got down to planning what to eat over the 5 days. All the food (except for the first days), all personal items like sunscreen, soap, bug repellent, trash would have to fit in one bear canister as there are bears in Yosemite and canisters are required by law and wise if you don't want the bear to rip open your tent in the night or during the day when you may be on a day hike. The High Sierra Camps also have bear boxes but relying on those would limit flexibility in choosing campsites. I did end up staying at the campsites near the HSC as they have toilets and tap water, making for a convenient destination. In the evening, it was nice to sit around the campfire and meet other interesting backpackers. I have not been able to decide which bear canister to buy, hence I was going to rent one from Yosemite Wilderness office when I picked up my real permit on July 1st. They charge $5 for the whole trip, rather than per day, and they assured me that they have enough and they never run out. To make sure that all my food would fit in one of the canisters I made a paper ring from a grocery bag roughly the size of the canister and made sure all the items fit in there. Breakfast would be tea and oat meal, on 2 nights I would have pasta with pesto or basil sauce, and on 2 nights I would have dehydrated backpackers pantry meals. For lunch and snacks, I had trail mix, power bars, Oh My Goodness bars, cheese, crackers, salami, tuna and salmon in foil packs, and a large cucumber. Managed to fit a small bottle of scotch as well. For the first day, I picked up 2 sandwiches from a grocery store on the way to Yosemite.
Wednesday July 1st.
I left home at 5:15 am. Made a stop in Oakdale for coffee, sandwiches and gas. Picked up permit and bear canister at Oakhurst Ranger station on Hwy 120 and headed to Tuolumne Meadows. Made a bathroom stop at the Visitor Center in Tuolumne Meadows where I also packed up the bear canister with food. Then drove to the Lembert Dome, Glen Aulin trail parking lot and started my walk at 11:45 am. On the way, I made a 10 minute detour to look at Parson's Memorial Lodge. Then I walked to Glen Aulin snapping pictures along the way. The trail follows the Tuolumne River. The Tuolumne River leads to Hetch Hetchy reservoir which supplies water to San Francisco, and it is one of the cleanest water sources in the US. Had to cross streams and the river a couple of times on the way over logs and proper bridges. Covered the 6 mile walk all downhill (600 feet) walk in 3 hours, hence I was at Glen Aulin Falls and High Sierra Camp by 3 pm. After finding a nice camping spot and setting up the tent, I thought about doing the hike to Waterwheel falls on the same day starting around 4:30 pm or so. After giving it some thought, I decided to keep the original plan of doing that hike in a leisurely manner the next day rather than rush it on the same day. I spent the evening enjoying the view from my campsite and chatting with others around the campfire. The weather report had called for 20% chance of rain but that did not happen. We did have cloudy skies which made for cool and comfortable hiking weather.
Thursday July 2nd.
I was up early and after breakfast hit the trail at 8 am for the 6 mile round trip day hike to Waterwheel Falls. Encountered many mosquitoes on the initial part of the trail which goes through a wooded and swampy area in the beginning. Was glad that I had taken my mosquito head net. On the way to Waterwheel, one passes California and Le Conte Falls. Once again the day was cloudy but not rainy and the hike to Waterwheel was all downhill, with the steepest portion at the end. Initially I had thought that coming back up would be a chore, but it was not that bad with just a fanny pack. On the way back I lost my mosquito net, hence had to use a bandanna around my face to keep the bugs off. Since I had all day for this hike, I took my time and made my way slowly. In the evening, I met a father and son - Kirk and Kevin - who have been backpacking for years and were preparing to do the John Muir trail in 3 weeks. It was lots of fun exchanging stories with them. They had just come from May Lake where I was headed the next day.
Friday July 3rd.
I woke up a bit late and took my time having breakfast and packing up. I started the hike to May Lake around 9 am which was 8.7 miles and 1400 feet up from Glen Aulin. Unlike the two previous days, Friday was sunny and clear, but not hot. The trail started in the woods and later turned to a mixture of woods and stretches of granite. There were plenty of streams along the way to fill up on water. On this trip, I only used the water filter once as I felt the stream or river water was clean, and other times I got water from the tap at the High Sierra Camps. On the way to May Lake I met Alfred and Kay, a really nice Asian couple who became my travel partners for the next two days. Their story was interesting. Kay went from not liking the outdoors to backpacking the John Muir trail once she caught the outdoor bug. They got into backpacking after their kids had gone off to college, but later the kids also got into backpacking and have now done many extensive trips together. As our pace was similar, we walked together and reached May Lake at 2:30 pm, 5 1/2 hours from when I had started. I had heard that many people climb Mt Hoffman from May Lake, hence I wanted to try that. I started for the peak at 3:30 pm and was very pleased to climb the 1500 feet from 9300 feet to 10750 feet in an hour and a half. Had heard conflicting accounts on how long it had taken people to go up but I am glad I tried it myself to see for myself. It only took an hour to get back to May Lake. After setting up my tent, I was ready to chow down on dinner. Had miso soup and asian cashew chicken for dinner. Although the backpackers pantry dinner entre says it's good for two, I usually eat it all by myself. Which explains why I don't lose weight over my backpacking trips. I eat too well. After dinner, Alfred and I walked over to the HSC fire ring where a few people had gathered and were attempting to light the campfire. Alfred jumped right into the endeavor and had the fire going in no time. I stayed up till 10 pm when I felt sleepy and went to bed. May Lake and the peaks were lit up by an almost full moon, which looked pretty.
Saturday July 4th.
Our next destination was Sunrise High Sierra Camp. To reach this camp, we had to hike down from May Lake to Tioga Pass road, cross the road and hike along the road to the trailhead for Sunrise near Tenaya Lake. From there we would walk on the same trail which goes to Clouds Rest, then go East towards Sunrise. On the way every single person we met coming from Sunrise warned us that the area around Sunrise and Cathedral Lakes were infested with mosquitoes. This really dashed our hopes. Glen Aulin had some mosquitoes and May Lake had had far less as it was higher and cooler there. However, Sunrise and Cathedral were surrounded by meadows and swamps with pools of stagnant water hence the mosquito problem. As we approached Sunrise we applied extra bug repellent, filled up the water bottles and made our bathroom stops as we did not want to make any unwanted stops around Sunrise. We had decided to move on until we found a better spot and if we did not, then we would just head back to the road by covering twice the distance and end the trip a day earlier. It would be no fun cooped up in the tent all evening and night hiding from the mosquitoes. The trail started to climb after Sunrise and reached a high point of 9950 feet around Columbia Finger. From there it was mostly downhill but with one other hump around the junction of Cathedral Lakes which is a popular day hike destination, even though the trail is steep on the approach, but we were headed down and out. We reached the road at 7:30 pm. It had been a really long day. Had covered almost 16 miles in 12 hours with lots of elevation gain and loss. Alfred and Kay were going to sleep in their mini van fitted with a bed and I decided to head back and stay at a motel if needed. It seems like I was quite wired and did not feel sleepy at all, hence drove all the way home reaching home at 1 am.
All in all a great trip which I will remember forever. Covered 45 miles in 4 days with overall elevation gain of 19,000 feet. The best part is that I was not walking like a pregnant penguin on Sunday. The final backpack weight was about 37 lbs which reduced by a few lbs as food and fuel were consumed.
Have already started dreaming about visiting the other High Sierra Camps but will first wait for mosquito season to get over.
High resolution pictures of the trip can be found here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jwania/sets/72157621007051338/
A week before July 1st I noticed an opening for the Glen Aulin trail in Yosemite National Park. When I called the Wilderness Permit office to see if the record was correct on their website, the ranger said that yes, they had an opening for one person for that day. That worked for me and I booked that spot right away. This would be my first 5 day 4 night backpacking trip in the US. I planned for 2 nights at Glen Aulin, 1 night at May Lake and 1 night at Sunrise Camp - which constitute 3 of the High Sierra Camps (Vogelsang and Merced Lake are the other 2).
Considering that I would be walking about 40 miles in 5 days, I wanted to keep my pack weight low (under 40 lbs would be good, around 30 would be excellent). For this trip I chose to take a home made Penny Alcohol stove which weighs a couple of ounces rather than the traditional white gas MSR stove. To be sure I took extra fuel (16 + 8 oz) which is simply denatured alcohol bought from a hardware store as I was not quite sure how much I would end up using as this would be my first time using one of these at any altitude.
Here are the instructions to make a Penny stove yourself.
http://www.csun.edu/~mjurey/stoveinstruct.html
Pictures of the Penny stove I made.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jwania/sets/72157620651374198/
Next, I got down to planning what to eat over the 5 days. All the food (except for the first days), all personal items like sunscreen, soap, bug repellent, trash would have to fit in one bear canister as there are bears in Yosemite and canisters are required by law and wise if you don't want the bear to rip open your tent in the night or during the day when you may be on a day hike. The High Sierra Camps also have bear boxes but relying on those would limit flexibility in choosing campsites. I did end up staying at the campsites near the HSC as they have toilets and tap water, making for a convenient destination. In the evening, it was nice to sit around the campfire and meet other interesting backpackers. I have not been able to decide which bear canister to buy, hence I was going to rent one from Yosemite Wilderness office when I picked up my real permit on July 1st. They charge $5 for the whole trip, rather than per day, and they assured me that they have enough and they never run out. To make sure that all my food would fit in one of the canisters I made a paper ring from a grocery bag roughly the size of the canister and made sure all the items fit in there. Breakfast would be tea and oat meal, on 2 nights I would have pasta with pesto or basil sauce, and on 2 nights I would have dehydrated backpackers pantry meals. For lunch and snacks, I had trail mix, power bars, Oh My Goodness bars, cheese, crackers, salami, tuna and salmon in foil packs, and a large cucumber. Managed to fit a small bottle of scotch as well. For the first day, I picked up 2 sandwiches from a grocery store on the way to Yosemite.
Wednesday July 1st.
I left home at 5:15 am. Made a stop in Oakdale for coffee, sandwiches and gas. Picked up permit and bear canister at Oakhurst Ranger station on Hwy 120 and headed to Tuolumne Meadows. Made a bathroom stop at the Visitor Center in Tuolumne Meadows where I also packed up the bear canister with food. Then drove to the Lembert Dome, Glen Aulin trail parking lot and started my walk at 11:45 am. On the way, I made a 10 minute detour to look at Parson's Memorial Lodge. Then I walked to Glen Aulin snapping pictures along the way. The trail follows the Tuolumne River. The Tuolumne River leads to Hetch Hetchy reservoir which supplies water to San Francisco, and it is one of the cleanest water sources in the US. Had to cross streams and the river a couple of times on the way over logs and proper bridges. Covered the 6 mile walk all downhill (600 feet) walk in 3 hours, hence I was at Glen Aulin Falls and High Sierra Camp by 3 pm. After finding a nice camping spot and setting up the tent, I thought about doing the hike to Waterwheel falls on the same day starting around 4:30 pm or so. After giving it some thought, I decided to keep the original plan of doing that hike in a leisurely manner the next day rather than rush it on the same day. I spent the evening enjoying the view from my campsite and chatting with others around the campfire. The weather report had called for 20% chance of rain but that did not happen. We did have cloudy skies which made for cool and comfortable hiking weather.
Thursday July 2nd.
I was up early and after breakfast hit the trail at 8 am for the 6 mile round trip day hike to Waterwheel Falls. Encountered many mosquitoes on the initial part of the trail which goes through a wooded and swampy area in the beginning. Was glad that I had taken my mosquito head net. On the way to Waterwheel, one passes California and Le Conte Falls. Once again the day was cloudy but not rainy and the hike to Waterwheel was all downhill, with the steepest portion at the end. Initially I had thought that coming back up would be a chore, but it was not that bad with just a fanny pack. On the way back I lost my mosquito net, hence had to use a bandanna around my face to keep the bugs off. Since I had all day for this hike, I took my time and made my way slowly. In the evening, I met a father and son - Kirk and Kevin - who have been backpacking for years and were preparing to do the John Muir trail in 3 weeks. It was lots of fun exchanging stories with them. They had just come from May Lake where I was headed the next day.
Friday July 3rd.
I woke up a bit late and took my time having breakfast and packing up. I started the hike to May Lake around 9 am which was 8.7 miles and 1400 feet up from Glen Aulin. Unlike the two previous days, Friday was sunny and clear, but not hot. The trail started in the woods and later turned to a mixture of woods and stretches of granite. There were plenty of streams along the way to fill up on water. On this trip, I only used the water filter once as I felt the stream or river water was clean, and other times I got water from the tap at the High Sierra Camps. On the way to May Lake I met Alfred and Kay, a really nice Asian couple who became my travel partners for the next two days. Their story was interesting. Kay went from not liking the outdoors to backpacking the John Muir trail once she caught the outdoor bug. They got into backpacking after their kids had gone off to college, but later the kids also got into backpacking and have now done many extensive trips together. As our pace was similar, we walked together and reached May Lake at 2:30 pm, 5 1/2 hours from when I had started. I had heard that many people climb Mt Hoffman from May Lake, hence I wanted to try that. I started for the peak at 3:30 pm and was very pleased to climb the 1500 feet from 9300 feet to 10750 feet in an hour and a half. Had heard conflicting accounts on how long it had taken people to go up but I am glad I tried it myself to see for myself. It only took an hour to get back to May Lake. After setting up my tent, I was ready to chow down on dinner. Had miso soup and asian cashew chicken for dinner. Although the backpackers pantry dinner entre says it's good for two, I usually eat it all by myself. Which explains why I don't lose weight over my backpacking trips. I eat too well. After dinner, Alfred and I walked over to the HSC fire ring where a few people had gathered and were attempting to light the campfire. Alfred jumped right into the endeavor and had the fire going in no time. I stayed up till 10 pm when I felt sleepy and went to bed. May Lake and the peaks were lit up by an almost full moon, which looked pretty.
Saturday July 4th.
Our next destination was Sunrise High Sierra Camp. To reach this camp, we had to hike down from May Lake to Tioga Pass road, cross the road and hike along the road to the trailhead for Sunrise near Tenaya Lake. From there we would walk on the same trail which goes to Clouds Rest, then go East towards Sunrise. On the way every single person we met coming from Sunrise warned us that the area around Sunrise and Cathedral Lakes were infested with mosquitoes. This really dashed our hopes. Glen Aulin had some mosquitoes and May Lake had had far less as it was higher and cooler there. However, Sunrise and Cathedral were surrounded by meadows and swamps with pools of stagnant water hence the mosquito problem. As we approached Sunrise we applied extra bug repellent, filled up the water bottles and made our bathroom stops as we did not want to make any unwanted stops around Sunrise. We had decided to move on until we found a better spot and if we did not, then we would just head back to the road by covering twice the distance and end the trip a day earlier. It would be no fun cooped up in the tent all evening and night hiding from the mosquitoes. The trail started to climb after Sunrise and reached a high point of 9950 feet around Columbia Finger. From there it was mostly downhill but with one other hump around the junction of Cathedral Lakes which is a popular day hike destination, even though the trail is steep on the approach, but we were headed down and out. We reached the road at 7:30 pm. It had been a really long day. Had covered almost 16 miles in 12 hours with lots of elevation gain and loss. Alfred and Kay were going to sleep in their mini van fitted with a bed and I decided to head back and stay at a motel if needed. It seems like I was quite wired and did not feel sleepy at all, hence drove all the way home reaching home at 1 am.
All in all a great trip which I will remember forever. Covered 45 miles in 4 days with overall elevation gain of 19,000 feet. The best part is that I was not walking like a pregnant penguin on Sunday. The final backpack weight was about 37 lbs which reduced by a few lbs as food and fuel were consumed.
Have already started dreaming about visiting the other High Sierra Camps but will first wait for mosquito season to get over.
High resolution pictures of the trip can be found here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jwania/sets/72157621007051338/
Tips:
Lots of mosquitoes in July. Don't forget to take mosquito net and bug spray.
Lots of mosquitoes in July. Don't forget to take mosquito net and bug spray.
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