Re: Trip Report: High Sierra Camps - Tuolumne / Vogelsang / Merced Lake / White Wolf

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Paris92

Trip Report: High Sierra Camps - Tuolumne / Vogelsang / Merced Lake / White Wolf
August 16, 2011 04:12PM

Registered: 13 years ago
Posts: 398

Spent all of last week (Aug 6-14) hiking between and around some of the High Sierra Camps. Our reservations changed many times prior to the trip due to the uncertainty of opening dates for Vogelsang and Sunrise. In the end we stayed at Tuolumne an extra night and did not get to go to Sunrise at all (which only opened this past Saturday.) Spent three nights at Tuolumne, two at Vogelsang, two at Merced Lake, and one at White Wolf; all in the HSC tent cabins. Weather was great the whole week, but it was quite warm for August in the mountains during the day, at night our 35-degree sleeping bags were more than adequate.

From Tuolumne we took hikes to Lembert Dome, and a side trip/hike to Lukens Lake. Both were nice hikes. Had dinner at Tuolumne Lodge one night (great service, not so great food) and at Whoa Nelli Deli in Lee Vining (great food, band, outside seating.)

From Tuolumne we hiked the 6.1 miles to Vogelsang via Rafferty Creek. One highlight of that trip was coming across a small area we are told is called "Shangri-La", and is located along the creek about half-way to Vogelsang. It was a perfect swimming hole with three small waterfalls and a beach. We were told that this diversion of the creek only happens for a few weeks each year, when the water is high, and typically much earlier in the springtime. The other highlight was experiencing the mosquitoes, which we encountered about the same distance into the trip. From that point until the day we left Vogel, the mosquitoes were terrible. Massive swarms at times. Needed full clothing with covered arms and legs and headnets... and lots of Deet. We used the 30% Deet spray and that was OK but needed to be reapplied about four times each day we were there.

Had some great sunsets and it was almost a full moon while at Vogel. For a long side hike we went over past Fletcher Lake, up to Townsley Lake and Hanging Basket Lake. Still quite a bit of snow around up there. Even had ice flows that had broken off and were floating ice bergs in Townsley. LOTS of mosquitoes up there, where it was still swampy near the edge of the water. Hanging Basket was not worth the climb to see IMO, except for the views back towards Townsley. From Townsley we crossed a plateau over and down to Evelyn Lake and then took the trail back over to Vogel HSC from there. Some snow on the trail back also. Still lots of bugs too. Staff at Voegelsang were great, and the food was good also. And we met some other great folks there too. We were told the mosquitoes were diminishing by about 50% each day, so perhaps they are gone by now.

Decided to get to Merced Lake via Vogelsang Pass and the Lewis Creek Trail. This was a spectacular hike and I strongly recommend it (as did others to me here on the Message Boards before I left.) Had to hike around some snow up in the Pass, but nothing too difficult to figure out. We also took the two mile up and back detour to Bernice Lake. Again, still lots of bugs all the way from Vogel through the Pass, down to the Valley and up to Bernice. Had lunch at Bernice while trying to navigate eating a sandwich through mosquito headgear... There is a huge waterfall along this route (Florence Creek I believe) that was simply stunning, and we had to jump and traverse across some portions of that waterway and along Lewis a few times. Boots were getting wet here due to the high water. We finally lost the massive swarms of mosquitoes about half-way to ML HSC along this route.

Merced Lake is always a fun place to stay and the staff there were also great. And we had great meals here too; possibly the best meal ever at a HSC the first night (French Pork Roast and potatoes!) They have a new chef and she is amazing! We shared camp with a few ranger-guided groups of hikers and the rangers provided some great info and stories around the campfires at night. Ranger Dave was especially engaging and had some great bear stories to tell. Some mosquitoes and other bugs (biting flies) here, but nothing at all like at Vogel.

Because Sunrise was not going to open we chose to hike out from Merced along the river to Happy Isles. Bunnel Cascade was awe-inspiring and the journey pleasant, but really warm all day. Again this trail was 14 + miles and grueling, but it was also a spectacular hike (until you get to the tourists at Nevada Fall...) From Nevada we took the JMT down to Happy Isles and drove over to White Wolf. We had staged a car at the Trailhead Parking to prior to leaving Tuolumne, so it was there waiting for us.

It was Saturday night at WW so it was steak night at the HSC. We enjoyed a great dinner there and departed the next morning after breakfast.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/16/2011 04:20PM by Paris92.