Some of you may remember me asking about the availability of water in Rafferty Creek about two weeks ago. This was going to be our second backpacking trip of the year and my wife and I had planned to do the Lyell/Vogelsang/Rafferty loop over four days. Instead it turned into a three night out and back, but we had a wonderful time anyways.
We made the drive in from the valley and picked up our reserved permit at the Big Oak Flat Ranger Station, where I refrained from answering “what do you do with your used toilet paper” with: “Set it on fire and throw it in the creek?” which I've always wanted to say.
Soon enough we were loaded up and hiking. The first stop was at the double bridge to take a quick photo.
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As we continued our hike we saw clouds gathering and noticed a few sprinkles every once in a while.
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We stopped to eat lunch on the trail at a beautiful spot where I could fish for a few minutes. While there a friendly Ranger asked to see our wilderness permit, which we quickly produced.
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After a few fish we were back on the trail admiring the non-piscatorial wildlife and listening to some distant thunder.
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Shortly thereafter we were passed by two Rangers on horseback that were on their way out and they warned us we were walking right into a storm. Before the rain reached us however, there was a bright flash of lightning followed by an immediate BOOM that caused my wife to stagger backwards several steps. What had seemed to be distant thunder and lightning was right on top of us.
Having never been caught in a High Sierra storm, I couldn't remember exactly what to do but remembered that we shouldn’t take shelter under a tree. Maybe it’s a solitary tree or a few trees………..otherwise what do you do in the forest?
We headed out into the meadow, discarded our hiking poles and my fly rod, stayed away from the creek and tall trees and bushes, sat down and tried to present as small a target as possible. It worked (obviously) but I’m not sure if it was the best choice. Feel free to offer advice.
We sat there enjoying the lightning show despite being nervous, watching the wall of rain approach.
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I took a short movie from which I snagged two still images, the first one a faint streamer:
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Followed a frame or two later by the main bolt:
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Of course we got soaked from the waist down. Our rain shells did an admiral job and the pack covers worked beautifully. We weren’t really cold other than our hands and even those warmed up after the storm passed and we started hiking again.
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Just past the trail junction heading to Evelyn we set up camp and then headed down to the creek to explore. I saw this little red headed bird while filtering water. Anyone know what it is?
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My wife reading while I’m chasing trout
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Potter’s Point and mist in the evening
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A deer checking out my wife (you can just see her next to the tree trunk on the right)
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The weather the next morning was beautiful, so we ate breakfast, packed up our gear and headed towards Evelyn and Vogelsang.
Unfortunately, this is where a number of things conspired against us. After hiking three miles the evening before in wet clothes I was chafed like you would not believe, and that took some of the fun out of hiking. I was already thinking about the ‘longer than planned’ hike out via Rafferty because of water issues. And finally, we hadn’t been hiking much or exercising in preparation for this trip so our fitness was lacking.
When added all together, we were about half way up the climb when we decided to head back down and spend another evening in the canyon.
We were both pretty disappointed, mostly in ourselves for not preparing better, but we tried to make the best of the situation by enjoying the scenery in the canyon………..
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………………….and catching fish of course.
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That evening I had an audience watching me cast from across the stream.
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This photo sort of reminds me of a Bierstadt painting.
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At the end of the day we headed back to our tent, which was cleverly disguised as a granite boulder.
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Saturday dawned as beautiful as the day before and although I wasn’t looking forward to hiking out with my chafing issues, at least I had nice views to distract me.
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We stopped to admire the river at different points.
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And we would occasionally look back where we had been and would vow to get in better shape for the next time.
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I tried to do my part and moved this little guy off the trail where he would be safer.
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And we finished the hike out; bummed at having not done the loop we planned, but happy at having a good trip anyways.
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Thanks for reading! Feel free to offer any advice on lighting, chafing, or anything else that strikes your fancy!