Hey y'all. We have booked another backpacking trip for this summer in late June. This time, we will be doing White Wolf to Tuolumne. I'm introducing my 8-year old to backpacking, so we will take 5 days to do the route and just take our time. I absolutely loved last year's route from Hetch Hetchy to Tuolumne and will miss the Rancheria Mountain climb and also the beautiful campground in Pleasaby SteveHall - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
Here is the Pate Valley bridge. I also documented the entire trip with photos in case I want to do a written trip report later. Pate Valley bridgeby SteveHall - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
You're welcome. I could have easily made the video an hour long but decided to keep it moving along. I shot a lot of footage since I had been waiting a decade to do the hike.by SteveHall - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
I don't fish but my friends were fishing just about everywhere we found a creek. And they were always catching and eating fish. Some of the best fishing was probably near the bridge crossing the river in Pate Valley. They caught the biggest ones there.by SteveHall - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
Greetings all, As forum members played a big part in helping me to prepare for doing the route from Hetch Hetchy to Tuolumne Meadows, I wanted to share my hiking video here with everyone. I did a lot of filming along the entire route in an effort to showcase it. I hope you enjoy it. We did the 47-mile route over the course of 5 days from June 27 to July 1, 2020. Very little bother from mosby SteveHall - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
I recently returned from completing the entire route from Hetch Hetchy to Tuolumne Meadows. I filmed the journey and will put together a 30-45 minute hiking report video in the coming weeks (or months as time allows) to share with you. Until then, here is a little info about our hike. Our group saw 5 bears in total. Never bothered us at camp and mosquitoes were a minimal nuisance. Day 1: Hby SteveHall - General Discussion
Did my online wilderness orientation meeting this morning. It went really well and is a nice set up. The trip is confirmed for a couple weeks from now. We will be doing it as a 5-day route.by SteveHall - General Discussion
Thanks for the updates and info, chick-on. I'll let you know how it goes.by SteveHall - General Discussion
Hey chick-on (or anybody else), do you think this route would be passable as far as creek crossings go if I went ahead and did it in late June? I'd like to go when there is something left to see at Waterwheel Falls. Also, are the side trips to Le Conte Point and Rancheria Mountain summit worthwhile?by SteveHall - General Discussion
Wow I had not heard about this situation. It sounds like the backpacker was trying to descend a place called Cottonwood Slot, which is quite dangerous and impassable without ropes for anyone trying to hike all the way through it.by SteveHall - General Discussion
Coming back to this thread a decade later to let you know that I never made this trip. This summer I had plans to backpack Baffin Island in Nunavut but that looks to be closed to visitors indefinitely and we will have to delay by a year. Thus, I circled back to this forgotten trip and just booked some permits for late August.by SteveHall - General Discussion
moved reply. It keeps posting in the wrong placeby SteveHall - General Discussion
It's definitely time to round up the burros in DV once again.by SteveHall - General Discussion
Hey balzaccom didn't realize you lived in Napa. We live over in Sonoma and had to evacuate for one week. But everything turned out okay for our house. Not so for several of our friends. Glad your house was safe and sound.by SteveHall - General Discussion
Not sure how this thread got bumped to the top, but just for reference my original report can now be found here: http://www.panamintcity.com/yosemite/illilouettefall.html My four other Yosemite reports include Sierra Point, Rainbow View, Ribbon Fall, and The Diving Board. Those can be found on my Introduction Page. Hoping to figure out a new sixth report/hike that can be done perhaps thby SteveHall - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
The seventh and final hiking report from French Polynesia has now been published. I hope you enjoyed the reports and can make it out to this beautiful area someday. Three Pines Pass (Moorea, French Polynesia)by SteveHall - General Discussion
Thank you, hikerchick395. Definitely some of the best views I've ever seen. Finally managed to finish up the sixth report from this trip. For this report, we have moved on to the island of Moorea for our final two hikes. This hike really focuses on the trees of the island but it also features outstanding views once again at the end. Three Coconuts Pass (Moorea, French Polynesia)by SteveHall - General Discussion
Our fifth report continues the hiking on Bora Bora with a visit to the Cave of Mount Otemanu. This was a challenging hike but well worth the effort with the outstanding views and interesting cave to explore. Cave of Mount Otemanu (Bora Bora, French Polynesia)by SteveHall - General Discussion
Our fourth report from French Polynesia finds us on the beautiful island of Bora Bora visiting the highest point that it is possible to hike to. Mount Pahia (2,169 feet in elevation) was our destination. The views from the top looking all around Bora Bora were a definite trip highlight. I'm sure this report will be helpful to a lot of future hiking visitors to Bora Bora. Mount Pahia (Bora Bby SteveHall - General Discussion
You're welcome, ttilley. I actually consider Tahiti to have the least scenic beaches of all the islands I visited. Tahiti was mainly just a jumping off point for us. We were there less than 2 days. And that leads me into the next report. For our third report from French Polynesia, we have documented a hike to the highest point on the island of Maupiti. This was an incredible hike with greby SteveHall - General Discussion
The second report documents a hike to Lower Fautaua Waterfall. This is the lower portion of the falls which were shown in the first report. These are two separate trails (although they share the same first 2 miles) and completely different hikes. Another masterpiece of a hike on Tahiti. I'm sure anyone who loves Yosemite's waterfalls will appreciate both of these hikes. Lower Fautaua Fallby SteveHall - General Discussion
Last month we spent a couple of weeks hiking in French Polynesia on the islands of Tahiti, Moorea, Bora Bora, and Maupiti. The hikes (especially on Bora Bora and Maupiti) were among the best I have ever experienced. As a result, I have seven new hiking reports that I am working on which document some of these beautiful areas. I'll try to publish one report per week (time permitting) if you areby SteveHall - General Discussion
I definitely agree with Abby's expressed hope in the article. This was terrible.by SteveHall - General Discussion
Great question, ttilley. And one that I was wondering myself while hiking. There seems to be conflicting information on the 3 warning signs. My guess is that the fine/jail time is probably only enforced on someone who tries to enter the county past the end of the trail. But who knows for sure. It would be a risk to hike without a permit, that's for sure. I think a worse risk than the fine iby SteveHall - General Discussion
Continuing with the long-running idea of forum members sharing their trip reports from Hawaii on here, I've got another one for you. Back on April 30, a friend and I hiked the entire length of the Kalaupapa Trail on Molokai, Hawaii. It was quite an impressive and visually stunning hike and I'm glad I made the effort to get to Molokai in order to do this one. The full set of photographs withinby SteveHall - General Discussion
Thanks for all these updates. I hadn't heard about these storms coming through and causing so much disruption. Interesting to hear about the park evacuations due to having no AC.by SteveHall - General Discussion
Hey chick-on, thanks for your kind words. I agree with you about the book idea and actually already have a small chunk of one written, I just paused it for a while due to the lack of time (real busy with family and secular work). I could certainly write an entire book highlighting places not covered anywhere else. Right now, though, I'm still focused on carrying out more exploration. Let's seby SteveHall - General Discussion
The fourth of the five new reports covers an epic desert hike into a previously undocumented major canyon in the Funeral Mountains. USMM 142 Canyon (Funeral Mountains)by SteveHall - General Discussion
The third report features the hike which was the centerpiece of my trip to see the 2016 Superbloom in Death Valley. This was a place which we have been calling Tramway Canyon for the past couple of years, although this was the first time I actually hiked into it. This hike features a great variety of wildflowers (eight different types), mining ruins, and canyon narrows. After this, I will haveby SteveHall - General Discussion