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Iwantmyyosemite
Do you have any suggestions as how to make finding a good camp site easier?
Not really, it truly does come down to developing an eye for it. By definition, an ideal camp site is invisible from the trail. That means you are looking off to the side of the trail for terrain that might hold a good spot so you can head off-trail and investigate. After a bunch of miserable failures beating around places where camping is impossible you eventually get better at knowing where to look.
Good spots can often be found by watching for faint tracks leading off the main trail where other people have already been camping, but you have to learn to differentiate between animal trails and human use. The trouble with going in the early season is that those trace trails tend to vanish over winter.
We generally arrive in the approximate location where we want to camp and spend some time exploring to find a good location. That can take quite a while if you are picky - it's surprisingly easy to blow through half an hour, especially if you find other people have already snagged the most obvious spots. A good trick can be for one person to sit and guard the packs while the other scouts for spots (never leave your packs unattended because a bear can appear from behind a blade of grass and steal a pack in a heartbeat; ditto bear canisters - their lids should be secured at all times you are not actively getting stuff out).
All that said, the camp spots for the Yosemite Falls -> Snow Creek trip I described are quite easy to find.
I am assuming that you have already read up online on what constitutes a good camp site, plus the regulations about distance from trails, water, valley rim, etc., so we do not need to repeat that level of detail here.
On the subject of how long things take, you will be amazed how much time it takes from finding a camp spot to getting everything set up, water fetched, camp tidied up ready for the night, wash yourselves, prepare and eat your meal, brush your teeth, final camp tidy-up, etc. It's meant to be fun, so you don't want to feel rushed/stressed; being able to hang out and be mellow around camp is part of the experience, as is exploring your surroundings in more detail instead of just blasting through to make the maximum mileage every day. On your first few trips, it's not at all unreasonable to start looking for somewhere to stop as early as 3:00 PM if it's a nice area. If you go up Yosemite Falls trail, setting up camp at noon would be ideal, because there is a huge amount you can do in that area.
Mountain House meals we like:
Turkey Tetrazini (probably our favorite)
Beef Stroganoff with Noodles
Chicken a la King
Pasta Primavera
Seafood Chowder (another favourite, especially if you add some peas - see below)
Sweet and Sour Pork with Rice
New Orleans Style Rice with Shrimp and Ham
Breakfast Skillet (ignore the "wraps" - it's fine straight out of the puch)
Granola with Milk and Blueberries (does not require hot water, so it's very quick and saves fuel)
Ignore the "number of servings" on the pouches - one pouch = one person! Just count calories (don't forget to multiply by the number of servings). Don't both have the same thing - that way you can swap if you hit a meal one of you doesn't like.
We like to add a pack of vegetables such as peans, green beans, or corn, split between two entree pouches; doing that adds fiber and a few extra calories. A pouch of mashed potato is a good filler if you are still hungry.
IMO, you should ignore the Mountain House "Pro-Pack" meals - they don't pack well in bear canisters; it's easier to make the pouches conform to the inside of the canister..
We don't bother with freeze-dried desserts - we just eat bars for dessert (a favorite is high-fiber chocolate covered coconut bar). It's quicker, easier, and saves fuel.
Speaking of fiber, you will find that your digestion may clam up in response to the combination of altitude, exercise, unfamiliar food and surroundings, etc. It's helpful to pick meals, bars, etc. that have a high fiber content. We tend to carry along some date-based bars; others here like Fig Newtons.
When choosing bars, we look for 100 calories and up per ounce (1oz = 28g). It doesn't matter how much the bar weighs so long as it has a matching number of calories - you can always split a bar between you. Likewise some freeze-dried meals offer relatively few calories per ounce - we tend to avoid those ones. Again, reading the packages carefully will tell you what you need to know. Given the restricted size of bear canisters, bulk is as important as weight; that's something you have to judge in the store.
Edited 9 time(s). Last edit at 04/08/2013 09:59AM by Royalist.
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