08/24/2006 - CA, Yosemite

Wed 8/23/06:

As usual, I was already sleep deprived before my vacation.  I was swamped trying to wrap up with my work and house stuff so I could head off on my trip.  I didn't even start packing until 1am, and finally got to bed around 3:00am.  Unfortunately, I was getting up at 3:30am to catch an early flight. 

 

Thurs 8/24/06: 

Woke up at 3:30, packed the car and headed to the airport.  Other than being tired, the flight was non-eventful, and not too much delayed; within the normal and acceptable half hour to hour.  Went and picked up the rental car.  They upgraded me to an Explorer, which might have been good as I was going up to the mountains; but I went and asked them for a car that was a little better on gas as I hadn't heard of any bad weather on the way for the area.  The gave me a Hyundai Sonata.  I was skeptical at first, but it turned out to be a really great car.  Nice ride, fully loaded, CD changer, smooth; great for the long drive to Yosemite.  I stopped to get a bite to eat on the way, and pick up some Heet for fuel.  (My lightweight backpacking stove runs on either Heet - gas line antifreeze, or Denatured Alcohol.)

When I got to the park, I chatted with the rangers for a bit on the conditions.  My primary pick was a big loop that would certainly be a push.  The weather had been good recently, and the forecast looked good for the next couple of days, so I decided to go for it.  I am thinking about getting back into adventure racing, and this would be a good test, for sure; especially with my current level of sleep deprivation.  I told the rangers of my intended route.  I'm guessing they didn't think I was serious because they didn't tell me about a wildfire along the route; which I found out about later.  The route starts at Tuolumne Meadows, goes to Glen Aulin with a side trip up Cold Canyon.  It then continues down the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne and up to Harden Lake and then White Wolf.  It then follows the Ten Lakes trail back.  I was going to try to do this in a little over two days, and still hit Tenaya Canyon on Sunday before driving back to San Francisco.  I figured I might be able to find a lift in White Wolf, or even do the hike in three days instead, if things didn't work out as planned for whatever reason. 

I got the necessary permit, and went back to my car to decide what to carry.  I decided to really give my body a test, and only took a small amount of food; and decided to leave the stove to conserve weight.  I took along 12 granola bars, 2 candy bars, and 2 packages of Ramen.  By the time I finished packing, and drove up to Tuolumne Meadows, it was already 3pm; and I was exhausted.  I still decided to head in, and get a little jump on the trip.  The beginning section near Tuolumne was a pretty meadow, with the beautifully clear Tenaya creek snaking through the landscape.  I could see peaks that I had climbed previously all around me, but I had never done this trail and had heard good things about it.  The trail is in decent shape, and has much more downhill than uphill.  It's fairly well traveled, with a bunch of horse crap on it at the start.  Horses go to Glen Aulin, so it's a little more touristy and traveled.  Glen Aulin has water and heavy tents that are more like cabins.  After passing Glen Aulin, I headed up Cold Canyon for a bit to explore, then back down into the main Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne.  I only saw two other groups the entire trip.  Both of them had gone down a little and were hiking back out.  Interesting. 

The trail wasn't really all that rough.  There are tons of side trips though, as the scenery is spectacular.  The big walls are awe inspiring, and the water is a beautiful blue and crystal clear.  My only regret of the trip was that I brought iodine.  It was almost a sin to iodine that water; many times I thought about just drinking from the river.  Even though it probably would have been okay, I played it safe and used the iodine.  Still, next time I'd definitely bring a filter as that would have tasted SO much better.  I made it down to California falls, and sacked out for the night.  Around 11 miles with the side excursions.  The stars were wonderful at night; so brilliant that I was even able to take a photo of them.

 

Friday 8/25/06:

Woke up early, had a granola bar, and explored near the falls.  Packed up camp around daylight, and continued down the Grand Canyon.  Did a few scouting side trips along the way down.  Again, beautiful scenery; big walls, great views, crystal water, and great waterfalls all day.  There was a deer that tried to go around me, and he slipped and slid about 10 feet down a granite polished slope.  Had never seen a deer fall before.  There was some big Sequoias and Redwoods in a couple wider sections of the canyon, with some huge pinecones.  Unfortunately, the gnats were out in full force, and it was really annoying.  I tied my bandana over my head to protect my ears and the sunglasses mostly kept them out of my eyes.  They still got in my eyes, nose and mouth though.  Really detracted from the experience.  There was two significant uphill portions on the trail.  Up and over a big shoulder (around noon), and the last climb out to Harden Lake is over 3200 feet.  Big gains.  Nice overlooks though.  This big gain at the end definitely the reason most people just hike down and back up from Tuolumne meadows though.  I got to the trail split around 4pm, and the last big climb towards 5pm, and Harden Lake around 8pm.

The closer I got towards Harden Lake, the more I noticed that there was a lot of smoke from a wildfire.  Heading back to White Wolf, I ran into about 30 firefighters, that had been fighting the wildfire, bedding down for the evening.  Chatted with a few of them for a bit.  Turns out the fire was only a couple of miles away, and the trail I was on was officially closed.  Would have been nice for the rangers to tell me that little tidbit of info.  They were amazed at how far I hiked; but I was just hiking.  I'm sure they were exerting way more energy; fighting the fire, digging trenches, etc.  I thanked them for all their hard work, and went over to White Wolf.    White Wolf isn't much of a town, mainly a restaurant and a campground; with a few houses and ranger quarters.  Filled up on water there, and headed out on the Ten Lakes trailhead.  Wanted to make some good progress, as I still had a long way to go and this section is mostly uphill with several good ups and downs.  I reached the trail junction outside White Wolf around 10pm; the trail was taped off with a sign saying it was closed due to the wildfires.  Hiked into the night, and then found a small field to throw down my bag. 

The weather was awesome, a little warm during the days; but not too cold at night.  I didn't even use my tent; just slept in my bag under the stars.  Wish I would have known; could have dropped four pounds...  Oh well, better exercise...

 

Saturday 8/26/06:

Woke up early and got a jump on the day.  Still had a long way to go; most of it uphill.  The trail leading up to Ten Lakes is pretty, but it's like the scenery on many trails.  Some nice meadows, but more of the usual trees and glacially deposited boulders.  There was a neat plateau near Grant Lakes which had a prairie dog town.  The trail was gorgeous as you dropped into the Ten Lakes area.  Beautiful blue lakes surrounded by rugged peaks with wonderful vistas.  This would definitely be a wonderful place to backpack into and camp.  Reached the prairie dog town around 9am, and was at the first of the lakes at 10am.  The trail back towards Glen Aulin has some great views, but it definitely has a lot of elevation gain/loss.  You go up and over several shoulders/passes on the way.  The water is beautiful and clear; with trout you can watch in the streams.  I was back in Glen Aulin at 6:45pm and back to the car at 9pm.  My feet got pretty torn up during this loop.  I had some wicked blisters that I duct taped.  Even taped two toes together to help them not rub at all.  The total mileage was around 92 miles in just over 40 hiking hours; not bad.  I did it all on 10 granola bars, 2 candy bars, and one uncooked ramen too; as well as only 9 liters of water.  I had a quick dinner and then drove down the road a bit to find a pullout to throw out my sleeping bag and catch a few winks.  Tomorrow was going to be another big day.

 

Sunday 8/27/06:

Again woke up early, and made the long drive down and around into Yosemite Valley.  My plan was to do Tenaya Canyon solo.  Tenaya is a technical canyon that runs directly in front of quarter domes, half dome, etc.  I had a quick breakfast, and left my car at the backpackers lot.  The idea was to have my car waiting for me at the end of the day.  I would try to hitchhike, or catch up bus back to where I just was; near Tuolumne Meadows.  I found out the bus left at 8am from the lodge; so I figured that was my backup plan.  Tried to hitch a lift, but wasn't successful.  Caught the 8am bus towards Tuolumne Meadows.  I was geeked as it was called the "Backpackers Bus."  Unfortunately, they did double duty, and it was also a tourist bus.  Thus, while I learned about the area on the way up; it was taking a lot longer than I had anticipated as they slowed down and stopped at a lot of attractions.  I was already concerned on the timeframe; as the guidebook says Tenaya is a 10 hour day, and I still had to drive back to San Francisco that night. 

I reasoned that I was traveling solo, so I should be able to beat the guidebook timeframe.  I finally got to the Sunrise trailhead around 11am, and started the hike in.  10 hours would put me at 9pm; it's dark at 8pm.  Would make haste.  The hike starts with some dense bushwhacking and river crossings.  I found the warning sign; verifies I'm on the right route.  I finally made it into the Tenaya drainage; incredible scenery.  The first big glacier polished slickrock bowl is incredible; and is where the old glacier used to come to.  Unreal.

The next section is a forested section, sometimes quite dense.  There is then a climb up the left side to a boulder.  I continued down the stream to get a view of the big drop.  I made it up the the big drop.  This first canyon section terminates at a waterfall over 1000 feet down on glacier polished rock; called the Pywiack Cascades.  Very cool.  Backtracked up canyon a bit until I found a spot that was able to be climbed up to the Lone Boulder.  Made it to the Lone boulder around 1:30pm; a little behind the guidebooks timeframe.  Not good news.

From here, I followed the guidebook's instructions to cross the first scree field, through a vertical band of bushes, and stay to the left of the second scree field.  I crossed high, to try to not lose a lot of elevation; getting through that band of bushes was quite a push; very dense.  When I got to the other side; I saw a lone pine tree like the route describes; but the downclimb was HUGE.  I re-read the description and it id say that "the steepness of the rock slope makes for a nervous descent", but this was very unnerving.  I started down a bit, and found some really slick patches.  Lost my footing once, but was making sure I had as good of hands and other footing as possible.  It would be a fall of over 800 feet down onto a boulder field.  Certain death. 

Geez, this didn't seem right.  I climbed back up and re-read the description.  I looked around a little, but the descent route seemed to fit the description.  Wow, he must be an incredible climber.  I slowly picked my way down.  It was the scariest, most dangerous, most exposed downclimb I had ever done.   

Unfortunately, when I got to the bottom, I found out that I was not on the right route.  When he said stay to the left of the second scree field; he meant stay to the left, but go down the first gulley.  There was probably only 100 feet of exposed climbing in the first gulley, and then it landed on a huge sloping scree field.  There was a lone pine tree at the bottom that was not visible from the higher route I chose.  I was pretty ticked; as the route I took matched his route description too.  He needed to be more clear, or at least pick better things to base the description on; not a lone pine tree, as both gulleys had those.  I would definitely be writing him a letter to suggest he clarify that description; it could certainly get other people in trouble, or killed.  I took a photo of where I should have climbed down (20060827D1-57 Correct Descent.JPG), and where I did climb down (20060827D1-58 My Descent.JPG)  What a difference.  Pretty proud I downclimbed that.

Even more unfortunate now, was that now it was around 3:15 and I was almost 2 hours behind the guidebook schedule; with still an estimated 7.5 hours to go.  That would put me out at 11pm; not counting that it would slow me down route finding in the dark.  I then still had a five hour drive to San Francisco.  I started to think this might not have been the best idea.  Oh well, nothing I could do about it now; have to just be careful (I was solo, and an injury would be a VERY bad thing right now), and keep moving as fast as I could.

The next section is known as the Lost Valley.  A very pretty, and again sometimes very dense forested section.  It ends abruptly at a rap into the inner gorge.  This is where the canyon gets constricted, vertical and more technical; I got there around 3:45pm.  I still took the time to climb around the ledges and see the initials of an old time canyoneer, Steve Foster who made an annual trip down the canyon from 1909 through 1937 and initialed a wall.  I also signed a register that is placed on these ledges.  I then took the drop into the inner gorge.  Fortunately, I started to make up time on the guidebook timeframe.  I could travel fast on the boulder hopping and technical sections of the canyon.  Before too long, I had made up the two hour deficit and caught up to, and eventually passed the guide book estimated timeframes.  Quite a relief. 

The canyon was rugged and beautiful.  There was a lot of water in it, some flowing.  The water was beautiful and clear, but also quite chilly.  There were a couple chest high places, and one swim.  Definitely brisk.  Good reason to keep moving; to keep warm.  One rappel was right next to a bunch of flowing seeps; and a beautiful pool.  Farther downcanyon; there was a lot of downclimbing and a few exposed sections; but nothing too bad.  I found the route finding pretty easy in the technical section; lots of options.  There is one cool rap that has a huge pothole in the face on the way down.  By the time I hit that rap (5:15pm); I was around an hour ahead of the guidebook estimated timeframe.  Definitely a big relief, as I now knew I'd probably make it out before dark.

I made it out of the technical section at 5:45pm, and started the hike out.  It was very dense vegetation with decent route finding and scrambling.  Sometimes it was on a rough rocky riverbed, with more rock scrambling.  I ended up catching up to a team of four that had just done Tenaya as well.  They started into Tenaya at 7am.  Now I was definitely feeling better about my timeframe.  I chatted with them for a bit, and then passed them heading for the exit.  I stopped and took some photos of a beautiful buck, and then continued in the dense vegetation.  I made it to the developed Mirror Lake trail at 7pm.  On the way out on the trail, I ran into, and chatted with, some tourists from China.  They were wondering where Mirror Lake was.  I informed them that Mirror Lake has been rapidly filling in with dirt and debris brought in from Tenaya Creek.  I walked with them, and showed them where the lake used to be.  I hiked out with them, and said goodbye at the bus stop.  While waiting for the shuttle bus, the other four canyoneers made it out and hopped on the same bus.  Turns out, some of them were going to San Francisco as well.  I hopped off at the next exit and made the walk back to the car. 

Back at the car around 8pm when the sun was starting to set.  My feet were all blistered and torn up; from the previous days hiking and from hiking all day in water today.  Brutal.  The grand total was over 102 miles, in less than 50 total hiking hours; including a technical canyon.  Definitely a good weekend.

I stopped at the store, and tried to call a couple of the park employees that were looking for a trip back to San Francisco.  (It was the end of the park season, so many employees were trying to get back to San Francisco, and had signs up at the store asking for a ride.)   Would be happy to help them get back (though it would be very short notice) and wouldn't mind the company for the long drive ahead.  Only got answering machines, so would be making the drive solo.

The drive back was good; lots of time to reminisce about the weekend; the beautiful scenery, the long hikes, the worry of not making it out of the canyon by nightfall, the relief of making up the time on the guidebook estimates, the people I had met, etc.  Got to the hotel around 2am; and was teaching a class the next day at 8am.  Yet another adventure...

 

Hope you enjoy the pics!

A.J.