This gave us a chance to check off the short Lookout Point trail, which was quite lovely with a fresh covering of snow.
From the top we had great views all around, and when the sun wasn't blocked by clouds the air was warm.
Just as we were leaving the point, we could see and hear the plow clearing the road near Poopenaut Pass. We changed our plans a bit: we would head to check out some mystery trail signs near the Canyon Ranch area, then JKW and I would finish a segment of the old Hetch Hetchy trail while the pink bird flew back to get the car.
Unfortunately, half a foot of snow, two major fires, and century-old logging operations made it impossible to find any signs of the trail that intersected our slightly more obvious route and at one time had headed down across Poopenaut Valley to "McGill Meadow" and Lake Eleanor.
There is of course no reason for such a trail to exist today, but it was built before the Hetch Hetchy Railroad and Lake Eleanor Roads provided a more motorized way of traveling from Hog Ranch/Mather to Lake Eleanor.
We were able to follow the still-maintained trail to a second "mystery" junction--one that provided access to the Smith Meadow trail higher up--across an open, snow-covered flat.
After leaving the Canyon Ranch area, the trail climbed a bit onto rocky ledges, providing views of Hetch Hetchy and Tueeulala Falls in the distance, and Poopenaut Valley below us.
Just before the trail reaches the Smith Meadow trailhead, it crosses a nice creek below some pretty cascades.
Just past these falls were some remains of an old work camp that was used in constructing the road and railroad that replaced the trail we had followed.
While the modern trail drops to a small parking lot near the creek, the old trail continues towards Hetch Hetchy. It is washed out in places...
...and obscured by brush in others, but we were able to follow it mostly to the next small creek, where it appeared to intersect with the road/railroad bed.
JKW had stayed back at the car and was quickly consuming our lunch, and we still had one more trail to hike, so we had to leave more century-old trail rediscovery work for another day.
Since we knew another storm was coming in Saturday night, our destination was a low-elevation one: Poopenaut Valley.
The trail into the valley is as advertised: steep and surrounded by poison oak. Despite the dampness, the trail had good traction. The valley itself had been mostly spared from the Rim fire, but a recent sign indicated that there was no desire for another flare-up:
A pile of rocks was possibly the only sign of an old cabin built by Mr. Marshner over 100 years ago.
Compared to the congestion of Yosemite Valley and the civil engineering works of its nearby sister valley, Poopenaut Valley was very peaceful and quiet. The road we had left was high above us, barely visible and silent, and we were surrounded by open meadows and tall trees. The waters of the Tuolumne that were not diverted upstream were deep and calm.
It doesn't have the majestic waterfalls of Yosemite or Hetch Hetchy, but we were able to catch glimpses of a substantial seasonal fall just below the valley in a gorge that few have probably even seen, and even fewer visited.
Despite the threats of rain, we were able to get camp set up without getting wet.
The evening was quite mild, and we even got a glimpse of sun before final sunset. There were surprisingly a few mosquitoes out, but they didn't seem to be biting--yet.
The rain had started around maybe midnight and was still falling when we woke up the next morning. We were in no real rush so enjoyed pancakes and bacon for breakfast before packing and heading out.
The warm rain was melting yesterday's snow, and the small seasonal streams were even higher than they had been the previous day.
On the way out, we crossed the faint depression of the "official" trail, which we followed to the water's edge...
...then back up all the way to the car, being careful not to slip or rub up against any of the poison oak. On the way up I was grateful it wasn't hot and sunny--I was sweating enough in the cool rain while trudging up the trail.
The trail to Poopenaut Valley could certainly use a switchback or two (several, in fact...), but perhaps its lack of any real development over the past century isn't a bad thing.
On the drive out, we could see several seasonal cascades flowing into the gorge below Poopenaut Valley.
Perhaps it was the weather, lack of crowds, lack of bugs, or just the scenery, but I found Poopenaut to be quite interesting--at least off-season.
More Pictures
