travis beals
We set out very early in the morning from Berkeley, and arrive in Yosemite well before noon. It turns out that there are no wilderness permits for today, so we get one for tomorrow, and stay at the Tuolumne Meadows campground for the night. We can all feel the altitude (Tuolumne Meadows is at about 2650 m / 8600 ft), so perhaps it's best that we get a day to acclimatize before hiking.
We set out at a reasonable hour, with some of us walking and some driving the mile from the campground to the trailhead. We store some food we don't want to bring in the bear-proof lockers, then set out. For most of the way, we're on the John Muir Trail, although we do take a detour to visit Cathedral Lakes, where we have lunch. Kathryn and I cook up some Angry Red Lentil Tortilla Soup, which goes down very well. By the time we reach vicinity of Sunrise High Sierra Camp, we've gone about 14 km (8 mi), and are quite tired. Kam finds us a spot with a fantastic view on the other side of a nearby hill, and we trudge over and set up camp. We go to bed quite early.
We set out the next morning after breaking camp, and filter some water from the stream near Sunrise High Sierra Camp. This day takes us over a pass at nearly 3000 m (10000 ft), and the effects of altitude are still quite noticeable. After descending from the pass, we encounter a beautiful stream (probably Sunrise Creek) and spend a while resting there. We continue on to just before where the John Muir Trail forks into the Half Dome Trail, and set up camp. There are obvious bear signs, and Kathryn and I nearly run into a mother bear and her cub when going to get water. Kam also has a rather interesting confrontation with a mother bear and cub (likely the same ones).
During dinner, a bear walked through the far end of our campsite without paying too much notice to us. After leaving, though, he must have gotten a whiff of our food, as he circled around the other side and came back. All seven of us start shouting and waving our arms at the bear, and pick up rocks in case he decides to charge. He eventually leaves, but we realize he'll be back. Before going to bed, we make sure all our food is secured in the bear canisters we had rented from the Ranger Station. We also unpack our packs and put them and their contents at the opposite end of the campsite from our tents, so that the bear can see there's nothing in them without ripping them open. Finally, we remove all clothing that has food odor (i.e. the clothes we wore during dinner), and put it away from our tents. Sure enough, the bear comes back in the middle of the night, and bats around the bear canisters for a while. Kam gets up and starts yelling at the bear, and it eventually leaves. In the morning, we noticed a claw or tooth mark on the fuel canister of my stove (which probably smelled of food), and some items are moved, but there is no other damage.
We wake up to a fantastic view of the sun rising on Half Dome. Ziggy, Andres, and Kam head out early to hike up Half Dome. My ankle is still bugging me from twisting it near Cathedral Lake, so I go with the rest of the group, who are heading directly to Yosemite Valley. One of the first things we see is another bear. We descend for quite a ways into Little Yosemite Valley, pausing to check out the Merced River. As we're now within day-hike range of Yosemite Valley, we start encountering more people. We also see yet another bear—this one appears to be a juvenile, and is disturbingly unafraid of us as he walks towards us on the path. We wait, and the bear eventually leaves.
As we descend from Little Yosemite Valley to Yosemite Valley proper, we pass a number of spectacular waterfalls, including Vernal Falls (pictured at right). Finally, we arrive at Happy Isles in the valley, and catch a YARTS bus to Curry Village, where we feast upon delicious bad food while awaiting Kam, Ziggy, and Andres. They show up a few hours later, and we drive back to Berkeley.
Copyright © 2006 Travis Beals
