Sunrise High Sierra Camp to Little Yosemite Valley

This is an older post from my other blog that I am repurposing for this blog, to which it is much better suited. 

The previous day we had started our backpacking trip at the Cathedral Lakes trail head to Cathedral Lake, through long meadow to our designated camp site-Sunrise High Sierra Camp. I believe it was 8.4 miles of the JMT. It was a fairly easy day of hiking, despite the thunderstorm and hail we encountered. The next morning we woke up to a clear sky and a beautiful sunrise. The air was crisp and cool. 

We made a quick breakfast of oatmeal, packed up camp, and filtered our drinking water for the day from a stream running behind the campsite. You have never tasted water more delicious then freshly filtered, ice cold, snow melt fed stream water from Yosemite! 

Then before we knew it we were off on the the trail again. Our shoulders were sore from the day before but it wore off soon. Pretty views and wild flowers take your mind off your tired shoulders and legs. The first portion of the trail was pretty leisurely, as we were mostly heading downhill, with only short uphill sections.  

Not a bad walk,eh? 

On one of the harder portions of the trail we got to see another mule train! Yippy! 

The day started off clear, but as suspected, the clouds started rolling in during the late morning hours. They look sweet and innocent now.....but it was enough for us to cancel our plans of hiking up clouds rest. We would not want to be stuck up there during a thunder storm. I'm not that adventurous! That trail would have added about 7.5 miles on to the day, and in rain and hail, that is a very very long and difficult 7 miles. So, we decided to save that for another time and press on. 

This is our first view of the back to Half Dome. Most people never get to see this side of it! The Half Dome hike was another change to our itinerary. We had planned to add the 4.5 miles to our trip and climb to the top, but with the weather we had been having, we knew it would not be possible. Some people may have attempted to climb it, but many of people have died that way, especially this year (a record breaking year for deaths on Half Dome). By the time we passed the trail head, rangers were turning people around, so we knew we made the right decision. I imagine it will still be there when we go back next year. This was actually our second time having to cancel last minute after planning to hike it. 

We still had 8.7 miles to go to make it to the valley. 

A sweet little doe. 

This photo was taken maybe an hour later. I am sure you can tell the difference in those clouds. That is how fast storms move into Yosemite. People thought we were crazy with our weather forecast, but we were right. If we were on the granite face when rain and lighting hit, I may not be here to tell you this story! Don't mess with mother nature, that b*tch is crazy! 

So we pressed on to our destination- camp at Little Yosemite Valley. 

This is the spot we chose to set up camp. It was pouring rain at this point, so we set up tent as fast as we could-about 1 minute flat. Once we were in our shelter we chose to check the time. Only 3pm and it was almost dark from the storm. We made a lot better time then I thought! It was going to be a loooong night in that teeny tiny tent. Now that we purchased better rain gear (Marmot Precip jackets) we won't have to wait out the High Sierra storms in the tent, because that is no fun!

It stooped raining for a few minutes, so Zack took the opportunity to sit on a log. 

Then we took a little walk to the Merced River. 

Beautiful, even in the rain. 

I collected some pine cones to show you the variation of pine cone sizes in Yosemite. This was the largest and smallest pine cones I found on my walk. That little one is so tiny, and that big one it so big! This makes me smile. This is the kind of stuff you miss about the world around you if you don't take a moment to slow down and "smell the roses", or in this case, pine trees! 

Then our fellow campers decided to start a community campfire. 

We thought the wood would all be too wet, but they found plenty of dry stuff to burn! 

I personally never start a fire when backpacking, even when rules allow it. I feel it is not really necessarily to survival or enjoyment when backpacking, because we pack enough clothing to keep us warm. I think it is more beneficial to the environment to leave the downed wood in place to deliver the nutrients back into the soil. That wood is not "ours", so I think it is somewhat of a respect thing. But, since they decided to do it, we decided we would also take advantage of it and get extra toasty.  We also wanted an excuse to socialize with some of the other campers. You never know who may have an interesting story to tell! 

We all sat around the campfire and exchanged stories of our journeys. This mom and her 11 year old son hiked up to Little Yosemite from Glacier Point via the Panorama Trail. It is good to see single moms exposing their sons to the outdoors! Girl power! The guy on the left was on a father son trip, planned by his sons. They also hiked up from Glacier Point. This was their first backpacking trip. They were in the mindset that you just add your car camping gear into a backpack and head off. Therefore, they had some heavy gear, including heavy cotton jackets, a giant 6 person Coleman tent, a two burner gas coleman stove, and 10 cans of food and 14 smoked sausage links. Yes, heavy CANS of food! And for some reason he used a baseball bat as a walking stick/"bear club". I couldn't possibly make this stuff up! He admitted he was surprised he hadn't had a heart attack during the 7 mile hike, and frankly, I was too. People don't realize that hiking miles are not the same as treadmill miles. We shared some of the light weight backpacking skills we have learned, and they seemed to appreciate the advice, even if it did come from a girl. By the end of the night the dad said he would try it again, but only if he was prepared with the right gear.  

These two were opposite. The lady on the right has been backpacking with her husband for years, but this was her first visit to Yosemite. Mount Rainier is her normal stomping grounds. The guy on the left I named Frenchy. He is a world traveler who is ultra light, or a "Jardin-Nazi". He caries only one bottle of water, iodine tablets for filtration, a bivy sack to sleep in, and protein gels as food. You can see the two extreme backpacking styles here, and we are somewhere in the middle. 

This night was a highlight of our trip for sure. It was a wonderful experience sitting around the campfire for hours, talking to people you just met, but already have something in common- a love and appreciation for the outdoors!

-Backpacking Bettie