But first, some backstory.
There was once a parrot--let's call him Basilbop--who repeated things he shouldn't say, despite knowing better. One day his owner threatened to put him in the freezer as punishment if he continued to use foul language. Basilbop tried to be good, but he enjoyed mimicking various phrases, and one day he repeated something inappropriate and ended up in the freezer.
A short stay in the dark, cold freezer was enough to convince Basilbop to never say anything bad again.
"Have you learned your lesson?" his owner asked him.
"Yes, I have", Basilbop replied. "But I have one question: what did the chicken say?"
A joke similar to this was told to JKW and me many years ago while we were guests at the May Lake High Sierra Camp. The person telling it was legendary skier and then High Sierra Camps manager Nic Fiore, who had just learned that we owned several parrots. We were relatively new to the High Sierra and our days of backpacking were still in the future. To us, Nic was an inspiration. There were stories--undoubtedly true--that he would visit multiple camps in a day to check them out. Back then we would consider a trip from one camp to the next to be a full day's hike; we were in awe of his Superman exploits. We met Nic several more times at the various camps as we continued to visit them.
A few years later, we were returning to Tuolumne Meadows from Merced Lake. By then, we were comfortable hiking to or from Merced Lake without a "layover" at Vogelsang or Sunrise. Along the Rafferty Creek trail we approached a slower hiker heading towards Tuolumne: it was Nic. We chatted a bit before continuing on; it was the last time we saw him. We stopped staying at the camps not soon thereafter; you can see a lot of beautiful country from them, but there was much more of Yosemite that called to us, so we traded the comforts of our camp-to-camp day packs for backpacking gear.
This weekend, a group of six avid hikers (and one bird...) attempted something some of us had tried a few times before: to visit all the High Sierra camps in a single weekend. As before, we would start at Murphy Creek, then visit May Lake and Sunrise before spending the night at Merced Lake. The next day we would climb to Vogelsang, hit Tuolumne Meadows (which for the purposes of this posting we'll consider a High Sierra Camp**), and finish at Glen Aulin. Ultimately, four of us were successful, reaching Glen Aulin with ample time for the first dinner bell--had the camp actually been open.
We staged the night before in the Tuolumne Meadows campground. Unfortunately a few in our party weren't able to arrive until 2 am Saturday morning, but they are still young and don't need things that us older folks need, like sleep.
After a quick, chilly breakfast and breaking camp, we staged various vehicles, gear, and food where we would be crossing the Tioga Road, before finally converging on our trailhead. We hit the trail later than we'd hoped, but we had done the first day's segment before; unless we hit bad snow conditions, we were not concerned about reaching Merced Lake by evening. To cut out some unneeded trail mileage, we left the Murphy Creek trail shortly past the trailhead and headed cross-country towards Raisin Lake. The travel through here was straightforward with just a few minor obstacles.
Looking north, we could see Falls Ridge; near its east end was our final camp: Glen Aulin. But that would be the next day; we had to continue onward to our first camp: May Lake.
We could have spent hours checking out the trees and granite on "Raisin Ridge", but we had hours of hiking to do.
In short order, we reached Raisin Lake, and soon thereafter were back on the well-trod High Sierra Camps loop trail.
After a short climb, we reached May Lake, whose early-morning waters were still calm. Photosynth
At the far end of the lake, we checked off our first camp, seemingly weeks from being ready for guests.
After leaving May Lake, we headed down to Snow Flat, then continued along a now-abandoned segment of the Tioga Road to Tenaya Lake, which we could see from time to time from openings along the trail.
We resupplied at the Sunrise Lakes trailhead, then rock-hopped across Tenaya Creek.
We hit the switchbacks climbing up to the Sunrise Lakes trail junction, where we could see Tenaya Creek cascading far below us.
In the distance was Mt. Hoffman, where we had been only a few hours earlier. This section of trail often holds snow until fairly late; this year, there were only a few minor patches below the junction.
We passed by the three Sunrise Lakes before reaching Saturday's high point--the broad saddle on Sunrise Mountain.
While descending to Sunrise High Sierra Camp, we heard from another intrepid Yosemite hiker on radio from above Washburn Lake. We chatted for a bit, but both parties had many miles to go.
Perhaps someday guests who had once enjoyed a night in the "Honeymoon Suite" cabin would be inspired to climb Mt. Florence in the distance.
There were enough mosquitoes being a nuisance that we quickly checked off our second camp.
We got swarmed by mosquitoes as we crossed Long Meadow along our second cross-country segment.
To cut off a few trail miles, we headed down the Long Meadow outlet, then headed south of the "Dolly Domes" before regaining the trail. Despite an earlier radio report that the "cleavage" route would be dry enough, we opted for "sideboob" instead.
While the cross-country travel had been slow in places, many trees had fallen across the trail, and the maintenance crews had not yet sliced a path through them, so we didn't make much better progress on trail.
Echo Creek treated us to several nice cascades, but this year the show will undoubtedly be short-lived.
A light haze had built up over the afternoon, softening the harsh afternoon light as we descended to Echo Valley.
As the long day neared its end, we made the final push to Merced Lake.
Across the lake we could see the start of tomorrow's climb up Lewis and Fletcher Creeks.
The world's largest White Fir is still alive, although not looking as strong as in years past.
After quickly pitching our tents between huge fallen pines, we headed to some nice granite above the camp to wash and cook dinner to the last light of the day.
Although the previous night in Tuolumne Meadows had been cold, our night at Merced Lake was quite mild, a combination of the low elevation and the big trees and logs protecting our campsite. We all slept well.
We were up by 5:00am the next morning and out of camp shortly after six. Those who hadn't continued onward to warm up paused near the dining room of the camp for a quick picture. In not too many weeks, people will be lining up here in the mornings to get a cup of coffee or hot chocolate before breakfast.
After several switchbacks, we could get glimpses of peaks and domes surrounding Merced Lake. Those looking for the last remnants of winter might find it on the north side of the Clark Range.
We made slow but steady progress heading up the well-constructed trail the climbs around Babcock Dome.
Eventually we neared the small valley containing the dome's namesake lake; there was still enough water that the cascades were impressive.
We paused for a snack below where the Emeric Lake outlet joins Fletcher Creek, where a series of falls and cascades took our minds off the remaining climb to a meadow.
There were a few mosquitoes in the meadow, but they seemed only to bother those who stopped to take pictures.
The Fletcher Creek crossing at the head of the meadow--a deep wade or long detour in earlier, wetter seasons--eliminated our last potential chance of getting wet feet on our trip.
Our radio chatter with another bird brain on Rafferty Ridge passed the time as we continued towards Vogelsang, walking alongside a nice creek and passing several small meadows. Eventually, we reached our fourth camp, and the high point of our trip.
Normally it costs $55 per person to enjoy a nice meal at the Vogelsang dining room, but we had it all to ourselves for free; not even the mosquitoes showed up to spoil the fun.
After Vogelsang, we headed to Tuolumne Pass and down Rafferty Creek. Fortunately, Vogelsang was not being stocked, so the trail was not the dusty slog it will undoubtedly be in a month or so.
The small waterfall near the trail was still flowing, but not by much. Although the pool below it was very tempting to jump in, we still had many miles to go, so we pressed on.
We did stop at the Twin Bridges across Lyell Fork to cool off and rest a bit.
Shortly thereafter, we touched our fifth camp**; only Glen Aulin remained.
Perhaps the hardest part of doing the hike this way was avoiding the temptation to stop in Tuolumne Meadows and grab a burger, beer, and some ice cream and call it a day. There is no shame in pulling off forty-some miles in two days. In fact, a few of our group did bow out, but the four remaining intrepid (or crazy) hikers continued on to the final camp.
The stroll down the Tuolumne was very enjoyable in the late afternoon sun; all the snow that had been present several weeks ago was gone, and we made good time.
The falls were still impressive, especially when bathed in the late sun.
We reached our final camp in plenty of time for the first dinner bell--had the camp been open. Unfortunately we could not partake of the traditional lemonade, or buy a candy bar or other treat, but the camp was ready to open.
We enjoyed a snack on the small hill overlooking Glen Aulin proper, but we still had to return to our cars and return "home", so we reluctantly left.
Unfortunately White Cascade will be past its prime before Glen Aulin's guests are able to hang out below it on the camp's benches.
For all the miles we had traveled the past two days, we were still feeling strong and enjoyed the final segment of our trip, especially since there was sufficient daylight left that we wouldn't need to use our headlamps. We even considered what it would take to add the seventh and final High Sierra Camp--White Wolf--to the loop: another day or so.
Not far in front of us we saw a coyote enjoying dinner--even if it was at the expense of an unfortunate bird. A herd of deer ran off to avoid a similar fate.
In past years the Tuolumne is still roaring along the cascades in mid-July, but this evening it was much more calm and serene.
It seems birds had been watching over us the past few days, from Mt. Florence or Rafferty Ridge; we saw another perched on a tall tree monitoring our progress.
Even approaching mile fifty-ish, we were not at all tired of the High Sierra. If not for running out of daylight and weekend, we could have continued onward, the mountains, rivers, and meadows rejuvenating us along the way.
Thanks, Nic, for the inspiration!
More Pictures
* Not counting White Wolf; that would require adding another day...
** Feel free to call it a Lodge if you can hit all of those in Yosemite in a weekend--and post about it.
What all of us share is the desire to just walk all day out in the mountains. For some reason, we seem to crave that. Not really hard, not really fast, just happy wallking all day. I saw another thread someone said they had a peak bagger in the group.. a real stickler for that. I think we've all enjoyed peak bagging to some degree (and two are downright climbers), but somehow the call of walking long distances is our common bond. This was a nice prep for me and Basilbop for the JMT. I've been itching for a nice long walk for some time again...
excellent!
