Spring 2002: Toulumne

 Enough city time in Seattle, studying for Econ 401, and doing dishes at the sorority house, it was time to hit the road to spend the entire quarter visiting National Parks through independent study courses. My good friend Larson and I were taking a full course load with classes in Biology, Earth Sciences, and American Indian Studies. We would study all of these courses as we visited National Parks and spoke to superintendents, tribal chiefs, and visited with the rocks.
We exited a dreary March day in Seattle to take I-5 all the way down into California. Along the way, we even were interviewed for a local tv spot on the local news about gas prices and how they were affecting our Spring Break plan. Not much, as we were taking a full spring break. We drove as far as we could until we found our way to a campground a little south of Sacramento. The next day we awoke and finished the drive to our destination, Yosemite National Park.
Our goal on this trip was to never pay for camping, so after looking around the Valley for a while getting some work done for our classes and preparing for the next day of hiking, we went back down the road to where there was a forest service campground. It was now pouring down rain on us which made us slightly nervous for the next day. We met some permanent campers, a family that asked us to come over and visit. So we did and their tent smelled like a greyhound bus. We felt sorry for the kids living in this environment.

We got up the next day to a cold, drizzly day. We drove into the Valley and got our permit. They were happy to give it to us, but curious about our route. The previous summer I had worked at Yosemite, so I knew this hike well. I remembered the notches on the trees for winter travel. We were going to hike up from the Valley to Tuolumne passing by the face of Half Dome along the way. The trail switchbacked steeply at first. We were snowshoe free for the first mile or so, but soon that was over and we were slogging through the snow. Then we got the joy of having snow start coming down on us. We spent the entire day just slogging through the snow until our energy and the light gave out on us. We were prepared for this and spent the evening winter camping in a snow storm. It was semi exciting and we actually slept pretty well. I awoke to see my stuff floating in a pool of water at the end of tent. Luckily enough, this stuff was in a dry bag and I was glad that I had been smart enough to bring that. We continued our hike through a foot of fresh powder. For skiers, this is a dream come true. For hikers, not so much.
Eventually, we were able to pop out to Olmstead point and take a look down on Cloud's Rest and the now much whiter Yosemite Valley below us. Having endured the snowstorm, we would now have to endure a long trip on the snow covered Tioga Road. This was fine with us as the route finding of the day was now finally over. We could relax and just follow the white powder snow to our final destination. The views from the road were not too incredibly bad anyway.

 The peaks, trees, and frozen lakes were all around us. One of the highlights of this hike was being able to walk across Tenaya Lake. This cut off quite a bit of time as instead of skirting around it on the road, we walked on top of the frozen water just hoping the entire time that the ice was not too thin and it would drop us down into a freezing pool of water. That would ruin the day quite quickly.
We made it just fine across, but were inspired by it and when we saw some old tracks going into the woods, we decided that they may be a short cut to Tuolumne Meadows. Nope, they lead us away from the road and into some heavy deep snow. We got a little testy with each other here as we were both getting exhausted from two days of just snowshoeing, but we used our map reading skills to eventually find the road again. This was putting us rather close to dark, though, and we were debating whether to camp for a second night. Instead, we put on our headlamps and finished the last hour in the dark. When we got there, we found one other person there, a backcountry skier named Lance. He offered us a beer and I was glad to take it from him for my first legal beer. You see, this was my 21st birthday and I was spending it doing exactly what I wanted to do. I was having an adventure with a good friend out in the wilderness. It was the best tasting beer I could have. But honestly, I was extremely tired, sunburnt with the most painful chapped lips ever. I was happy to have a good rest in the comfort of the toasty ski hut.
We had grand ambitions originally of climbing one of the 12 or 13000 foot peaks that dominated the landscape from Tuolumne, but instead, we were just happy to have a day to take it sort of easy. We decided to instead just snowshoe over to where my summer tent cabin was. This was interesting to see as just the floors remained from a small community of summer cabins. We then decided that we had to get on top of something to get some views. So we decided on a March ascent of Lembert Dome.
Lembert Dome was the first peak I climbed in Tuolumne when I arrived there. We were now going to go up it in the snow. We actually had to lose the snowshoes since the all granite peak would not allow us to use them. The snow had sloughed off in so many places that it just would not have been practical. Getting to the top of this peak still filled up a bunch of our day and I was glad that we had not tried to fight our way to the top of Mt. Dana or Mt. Gibbs.

Instead we got to take our time and enjoy the views at the top. You could really see for miles as we enjoyed a clear brisk day. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing in the ski hut. Lance wanted me to try to break into the safe at the ski hut since it doubled as the campground office I had worked at the previous summer. I could not remember the combination, though, so I disappointed him. That evening the ski hut was filling up with cross country skier coming out to enjoy the fresh snow. I was happy we were getting out the next morning as their body heat really made it stuffy and hard to sleep.
With a few hours of sleep under our belts, we awoke the next morning to a glorious day. We said goodbye to Tuolumne and the amazingly pristine landscape that existed after that wonderful snowstorm. We were said to see it go, but so happy we got to have the experience. On this day, we were really moving quickly. We wondered if another day was going to have to be spent camping out in the snow, but no, going downhill was so much easier.

We flew on the road by not taking our "shortcut" through the woods, though we did take another trip across the lake. The peaks were so white with snow and we enjoyed it, but soon we were on our way down from Olmstead Point. This was even faster as the gradual downhill from the road gave way to the steep downhill of the trail. There were places where breaking trail was a ton of effort and now we were literally running down them in our snowshoes.
In late afternoon, we were happy to see the green of the Valley show its face. It was amazing to spend a couple of days in the white country of the high Sierras, but in March it was time to spend some time in a snow free landscape. We were able to get our campsite from a couple days ago and spent another day in Yosemite doing hikes on our own. Funny though, we both chose the same hike, going to the top of Yosemite Falls. We were sad to see this part of the trip end, but it was time to get to some warmer weather and some desert conditions.

A Big Failure on Mt. Adams

College students are full of great ideas like, let's climb Mt. Adams in October. It seemed like a good idea the previous weekend when we were up on Snoqualmie Peak. I had climbed the mountain when I was 12 years old, so how hard could it be. Larson and I left on Saturday because it was a long drive down to Trout Lake. We planned to climb the mountain and then head back up to Seattle where we had just had our first week of classes for junior year of college. The weather was looking really good, but it looked like some weather could move in by Sunday night. We would be off the mountain in plenty of time by then. We slept at the trailhead and then got an early start in the morning. The trail was pretty steep with a lot of uphill as one could imagine climbing a mountain. We were moving along pretty well though and we were well equipped for what we were going to encounter.

The trail was mostly dirt but led us to the rocks. From there, we fought our way over boulders, but didn't really have to deal with snow. That is until it started coming from the sky. The mountain looked clear in the early morning, but by late morning, we were in for it. It became almost whiteout conditions. We could not see where the route was going and the weather was windy, wet, and cold. After a while of dealing with this, we decided to bail on the mountain. It would have to wait for another day as we still had several thousand feet of climbing and we were still quite a ways off from the top. So we turned around and it wasn't too hard to make our way back to Larson's truck. When we got there, we were in for a surprise and that surprise was that Larson had lost his keys up on the mountain. We were successful in breaking in to the back of the truck and getting it unlocked, but getting it started was another story. What were we to do? We were the only car at the trailhead. As we were debating what our options were, we were lucky enough to find 3 lost souls who decided to drive to the trailhead. When we engaged them in conversation, they were happy to take the two of us back down to Trout Lake to call someone. I cannot believe how incredibly fortunate this random act of kindness was for us. From there we were able to call my mom. Her and her husband drove the couple hours out to Trout Lake, then the many hours to Seattle, and finally the couple hours back home on a Sunday in October to save her son and his friend from the unfortunate situation of losing the keys on the mountain. The next weekend, my dad was already going on a trip with me, so he drove Larson back to Trout Lake with his extra set of keys to pick up his truck. What a journey. Not really what we had planned when we haphazardly planned to ascend Mt. Adams in October, but it was still an adventure. 

Donohue Pass to Mono Pass

I was heading on a trip on the John Muir Trail from Tuolumne over Donohue Pass and then back around to Tuolumne eventually. Honestly it seemed like the most natural backpack for me to take from where I was living. It took care of a decent chunk of the Park, covering approximately 35 miles. I could not tell because the map that I had only had mileage inside of the Park and nothing for the Forest Service land that I was going to be spending a big chunk of my time within.

The first part of the hike was easy going and gorgeous. I honestly think that anyone could close their eyes, spin around in a circle, point in any direction, and end up someplace exquisite at Yosemite. Lyell Canyon was so pleasant because it was directly in between the Cathedral Range and the Kuna Crest. I was walking in between two dramatic shifts in elevation. I walked a few miles and then right in front of me was Potter Point and Amelia Earhart Peak.
At some points I would be walking right by the Lyell Fork of the Tuolumne River and at other times I would be walking in a big open meadow. It was such a nice time of year because the runoff was still so high. I walked for quite a while and soon I was coming to where the trail began getting steeper. I saw a gorgeous sight in the sky after a bit. It was a rainbow that just appeared out of nowhere. The skies were nearly clear blue with no chance of rain in sight. It was crazy, it felt like God smiling on my life.
The smile on my face would only increase with the coming beauty that would appear before my eyes. The trail was steeper and I could see in the background the highest mountain in the Park, Mt. Lyell. At 13,114 feet, I definitely wanted to climb that Peak this summer.
I kept up my approach and soon I was huffing and puffing my way up the steep switchbacks. When I popped out near treeline, I saw some impressive mountain lakes. I filtered some water and just sat there soaking up the scenery for as long as I could take it, then I had to hit the trail again.

Just when I thought that this was the most beautiful lake that I saw in my life, another one would appear over the next set of switchbacks.

Now I was face to face with the Lyell Glacier. This was the most difficult part of the climb. One needed an ice axe and crampons to climb Lyell, so any thought of a random climb was out of question on this day. I stared at how awesome the peak was, though, and vowed that I would come back and climb it someday. After this last alpine lake, I was already fairly near to 11,000 feet, so I came out on Donohue Pass a few minutes later. There was a couple up there when I was starting to head down, so I talked to them for a few minutes. They were in such a good mood as most people that you meet in the backcountry usually are.
I was flying coming down from Donohue Pass. Soon I ended up at Waugh Lake which quite possibly could have been the most beautiful lake I have seen in my life. It was long and silver in color. I took a break by the lake as it was already getting late in the afternoon as I was now fifteen miles from anywhere. I just soaked in the beauty of the lake and thought about how lucky I was to get out of the city of Seattle and be there right then.

I decided to just walk a few more miles to the next lake downhill about a mile or so, which I did not know the name of because it was not on my map. I thought it would be a nice place to camp, but I began to question my decision as I approached the lake. See the mosquitoes this time of year were just horrendous. At times, I was honestly running to get away from them. They were huge and attacking at will. I got to the lake and they were just as bad. All I could do was deal with them in their most annoying form as I did not have a tent with me.

I threw down my gear and relaxed. It was just me at this side of the lake. There was another group camping farther down the shore, but I could hear them and not see them. I pulled out my macaroni & cheese and had myself a regular backcountry meal. I was quite accustomed to the bagel with gouda and sausage for lunch and the noodles or mac & cheese for dinner. It was quite a meal for one man.
After dinner, I looked at the beauty that beheld my eyes when the mosquitoes gave me a five second timeout. I decided that the right move would be to have a bath in the lake. I was inspired by a couple people who skinny dipped in Tenaya Lake after playing ultimate. I guess it was just the spirit of Yosemite that just called for anyone and everyone to experience the feeling of being naked in the lake. I hoped that my neighbors did not want to come over at this point, as I stripped off all my clothes and took the plunge.I did not stay in long, but I felt good to wash the grime of the day off me. I got out and I felt wonderful. Then I had to get my clothes on quickly as the blood suckers were on top of me as soon as possible.
I threw out my thermarest, my sleeping bag, and my bivy sack. I climbed in my bivy sack and only had the mosquito net closed. It was quite a strange feeling to be bundled up at 7:30 at night laying down by myself in the middle of nowhere. I actually was not supposed to camp there because it was day use only as there was another trail coming in from the East that was only a few miles from a road. I did not think anyone would ever notice because I was sure that I would be up and out with the morning sunshine. I could not cover up for too long and soon I was reading my book, which at this time was Visions of Cody by Jack Kerouac. Talk about a book that was hard to read. Here I was out in the middle of nowhere and I still can’t even translate what Kerouac really wanted to say with that book. My roommate Andrew told me that he only knew one person who had read that book all the way through. I could see why as it was just one big long sentence. I see the point of artistry in literature, but frankly I need some structure as the reader in order to translate. Oh well, I tried to get his message until the lights went out in the sky. I laid under the stars and checked them out for a while as the mosquitoes went to wherever they go during the night. It was wonderful, I just wished that I could be spending this with someone who would appreciate it with me.
I awoke in the morning to a beautiful sight. The lake in the morning was a spectacular place to wake up rather than a dorm room on campus in Seattle. 
I took off up the hill after gathering up my stuff including the bear canister which I placed far enough away from where I was sleeping so that I did not encounter any bears at night. I slammed down a few pop tarts and then headed straight up. I knew that today was going to be challenging in the early morning hours, especially. Yesterday, I hiked along a flat area for quite a bit before I had to cross a Pass and then was able to coast downhill to my campsite. Today, I had to cross two Passes and another one that was basically unnamed.
    I arrived at the Alger Lakes after passing through some gorgeous country in the early morning fog, not taking any pictures as my camera had run out of film. The Alger Lakes were beautiful, just like anything else in the Yosemite region. There were three of them in the high alpine, which everyone knows makes them quite wonderful. It was a chilly morning, so I did not even think about jumping in.
    After this section, the trail turned into a series of switchbacks. It was also rather steep and that bear canister was starting to feel like a burden that I did not want to have anymore. I still tried to make good time as I hiked up the trail. The trail was steep and brutal, but also amazing. This whole trip was like nothing I had ever seen before on a backpack. The beauty surrounding me every second was in a way like my Grand Canyon trips, except here it would be so varied going from meadows, to lakes, to peaks, to tundra, to forest, and on and on and on. This was by far the best part of the trip when I summitted the Pass between Koip and Parker Peak. Here were two summits side by side, but by the time I got up there, I had no ambition to bag them. It was windy as all get out on top too and I was wondering if I was going to have enough time to make it back before dark. I decided to forget the peak bagging even though I knew that I may never return to that spot again.
    I descended and it was so amazing. I passed by these gullies that drained big amounts of waters with steep waterfalls coming down. I did not descend for too long when I saw a lady run past me. It was completely random frankly because I thought I was so isolated. There must have been some way that she got back there, but me with no vehicle, I was unaware of the easy access to where I was backpacking. She did not even seem concerned with me being there and barely even recognized my appearance. I thought about her for quite a while, as that is the real joy of the backpack, getting to hash out all concerns. It was as if she was a ghost, for I never saw her return. Where could she possibly have come from?
    The trip to Parker Pass was rather disappointing as the rest of my trip goes. Not saying that Parker Pass was not nice, it was just not very challenging to get there as the rest of the passes were. It was actually more downhill than up. There were some gorgeous lakes around Parker Pass and the Kuna Crest was a much different perspective that the flat alpine tundra environment that I was walking in. Mono Pass was much the same as it was less than a mile from Parker Pass. I cruised down and in the late afternoon I was heading for Tioga Road, happy to take the big pack off my back.
    This was not going to be an easy way home, though. I knew that when I got to the trailhead, I was still about three miles from home. This was because the trailhead that I was coming out at was the Dana Meadows Trailhead instead of the Lyell Canyon trailhead where I began. From the Dana Meadows Trailhead to Tuolumne Meadows, there was a trail that hung close to the road, but I was hoping that I could catch a ride. The first option was to pick up the YARTS bus, but as I got to the parking lot, it was just pulling out. I looked at the schedule and it was not due back for over an hour. I could not wait that long, I figured that I could hitch a ride. I was lucky because there was a couple at the trailhead who had just returned from a hike. I got to talking with the guy and he seemed nice enough. That was until I dropped it on him that I was hoping for a ride back to Tuolumne. He became very standoffish toward me. He said that he couldn’t because he did not have any seatbelts for me. I said I did not care considering that he had a Volkswagon van, he could have fit me. But he told me no and took off without reconsidering.
    This frustrated me to say the least. Instead of waiting for someone else or the bus, I took off down the road. I was not going to let setbacks stop my progress toward home. I started walking and considered thumbing it, but I was still annoyed by that prospect. Luckily, the second car that passed me was a girl that I knew from Ranger Camp and our nightly campfires. She was a  climber girl and she picked me up in her Volkswagon bug. I was so happy that I was not going to have to end my hike by walking up the road. She took me home where I immediately made my way down to the community shower and began unpacking for the upcoming week.