That's a fair point guys. I thought your earlier comment was mainly about using the existing fire rings (which is a given). We can certainly live without fire.by nwhkr - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
Thanks for the great tips. We might start off via Budd creek if we get the permits as I am keen to soak-in the birds eye view as we approach the Budds lake. Just checked with the ranger about the fire restrictions and he mentioned that fire is allowed between 6000'and 9,600'. He did say that Echo lake is the only lake out there where fire is allowed (not at Matthes lake) and I just checked that Mby nwhkr - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
Thanks Bearproof and Chick-on! That's great information and will follow the easier route and head back via Budd lake. I am all about LNT as well as using only the existing fire rings and camping on bare ground or rocks. Any suggestion for camping spots around Matthes Lake? I am debating between the Southwest side or the Northeast side.by nwhkr - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
Wondering what's the experts' take on doing a two day one night trip to Matthes lake via Budd lake or Cathedral lake or should I go in from Cathedral and return via Budd lake. I have been to Cathedral a couple of times and have yet to venture to Echo /Matthes. Secondly, does anyone know the quota for Budd Lake TH? I got two different #s from the two rangers today and debating whether a group sby nwhkr - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
Great shots!!! Rock on!by nwhkr - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
That's a great point. The credit for our group heading up to Water Wheel goes to JKW and BasilPop (to a lesser extent ). Hoping to do May Lakes to Glen Aulin and Tioga Pass in October as I did Tioga Pass to Glen Aulin and the falls two years back. Ran into JKW and BasilP at California Falls two years back and they were of tremendous help. Chick-on was helpful w a lot of other info tooby nwhkr - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Happy B'day JKW!!! Hope you are having a blast! ChickOn - great shot of Yose is Better!by nwhkr - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
+1 for ban it fully in all the national parks. I had to once sternly tell a european guy in our hiking group at Cataract Falls (Mt. Tamalpais) to move farther away from everyone, not just from our group, when he lit a cigarette. In hindsight I should have made sure that he's carrying back the cigarette butt as well.by nwhkr - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Wow!!! what an epic trip! Great shots of sunset and sunrise too, thanks for sharing.by nwhkr - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
Quoteplawrence Quotehotrod4x5 So DNC spends thousands upgrading the Lodge only to have another company reap the benefits. Not that I have any love for DNC, but that seems pretty shady. Not shady at all. NPS didn't do anything wrong nor shady by awarding the contract to another company (unlike how DNC got awarded their initial contract back in the early 1990's). I think the change is good anby nwhkr - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Looks like you have already got great advice from some of the regulars here, I would add my two cents. It mainly depends on a mix of one's hiking experience as well as fitness/conditioning. My suggestion will be to make a list of some of the hikes by distance/elevation gain/difficulty for each of the sections valley/Glacier Point/Tioga pass road and once you do 1-2 hikes out here, you can re-cby nwhkr - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
My friends did a White Wolf to Tuolummne Meadows trip via the Grand Canyon of Tuolumne over the memorial day weekend and all crossings look passabale. I did see some sections under the water. Here are the pics that my buddy posted White Wolf to Tuolumne, May 23-25, 2015by nwhkr - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
Quoteeeek Tuolumne Meadows campground will open for the season on Saturday, May 30. Tuolumne Meadows is a half reservation, half first-come, first served campground. Advanced reservations may be made at any campground office, online at http://www.recreation.gov or by calling 877 444-6777. Thanks for the info. Wasn't on this site for the last few days, so missed out on the spots for July 4th andby nwhkr - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Great tips and suggestions out there. I would add bagels out there as my preferred choice of bread for day hikes or backpacking - works well for breakfast or lunch/snacks. It packs well and probably falls in the category of calorie dense food.by nwhkr - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
RIP Dean and Grant, it's a sad news. Saw this earlier today at http://www.outsideonline.com/1981591/dean-potter-killed-base-jumping-accidentby nwhkr - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
If I was in your shoes, I would do the same thing that was suggested to me - hiking up in the evening and camp 1 mile, 1200' up from the tunnel view instead of camping at the backpacker's campground. In our case, we rushed through the Panorama trail so much so that I would be tempted to go down via 4 mile trail. In all fairness, all of us had been to falls at least once so it's probably diffeby nwhkr - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
Here are some more pics, from my buddy w a fancy camera, of our mid-April trip to Pohono and Panorama trail around Glacier Point in Yosemite.. Thanks to chick-on, JKW, Mike C, and ttilley for all the invaluable tips to help me with trip planning, really appreciate it https://plus.google.com/photos/102306834525447874694/albums/6140797701365458465by nwhkr - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
QuotepakoR Was your group the one camping near Bridalveil Creek on Saturday night, and then continuing east on the Pohono trail at 9am on Sunday? I was taking photos of the creek and bridge, and caught a group of 8 people crossing the bridge in one of my pictures. If that's you, I'll send you the photo. We hiked starting on the Four Mile Trail to the Pohono Trail. Beautiful views. Awesome!by nwhkr - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
Nice! I bet Red Peak Pass had less people. I am with you about the Rangers' thing, even though I was passed on to talk to the wilderness ranger. Yeah was thinking about how cool it would be to camp at Taft Point. Taft Point was busy on Saturday afternoon and just the highliners on Sunday at 10am. We had a great trip. My buddy took a video of people highlining at Taft Point and Twas this guy'sby nwhkr - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
Quotechick-on How goes it? Sorry about the late reply/post guys, this week is going craaazy :-|. Thanks a lot for all your tips and we pretty much adhered to your suggestions. Quotechick-on Group o 7... first night at Stanfurd.. (prolly shoulda said where to go for that big o group ... but hey, it's ur hike) Yup, you were spot on about SP being not suitable for a big group. We started atby nwhkr - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
I ran into a group of 4 last Saturday at Yosemite and they arrived at Camp 4 on Saturday morning around 10am and got a spot. hthby nwhkr - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
I recently used mine to get a pair of Salomon hiking boots since mine were punched with a hole at Lost Coast last memorial day weekend when I took a mild tumble while enjoying the scrambling. I didn't notice it until I got back from the trip. Was debating between Salomon Quest 4D II GTX and Asolo Drifter GV. I was also tempted to get a decent benchmade knife though I never needed one so farby nwhkr - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
Quotettilley Quotechick-on Couple of times I did this loop I did it before GP road was open (massive quantities of snow one year and snowshoed it) And the other was minimal snow ... iirc both times I camped at/near Taft b/c afaik it is allowed when road is closed. I've camped near Taft once. Chick-on and Tom, Those are great tips, really appreciate it. I believe at least half the group wiby nwhkr - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
Quotechick-on You don't need to hitchhike. You can hike the entire loop. It's about 30 miles total. Have done it a couple of times in early "season" as a two day trip. Sounds great, we will do that. Our group will start around 5pm on Friday, so we might even shoot to get to Stanford Point by 7/7:30pm as it looks like there are some camping spots there and we won't have to carryby nwhkr - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
Great! thanks for sharing the info.by nwhkr - General Discussion
Quotechick-on All depends what you want to do and how much hiking with your pack you want to do. Thanks for the alternatives and link to TRs, those are great options. Anywho, I will prefer the route from valley even if adds the walk/hitchhiking back to car at the end of the trip. Looking forward to it and thanks for all the tips...by nwhkr - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
Quotechick-on Artist Creek will have a trickle of water in it... but Meadow Brook will w/o question have water still now. It's just ridiculous dry though... and they should all be roaring ... well... that area should be under feet of snow... anywho... get water from Meadow Brook ... the creeklet that feeds "Widows Tears" Falls was dry at the trail crossing about a month ago alreadby nwhkr - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
Quotechick-on Well... actually I wouldn't do that b/c I like sleep spots with views... but that's the general idea. I'd sleep more at Dewey or Stanford or Crocker... or Taft or near Sentinel, etc. if the road was still closed ... Thanks for the great tips and poinnters. Totally makes sense. We wil shoot for Inpiration Point or if we start early enough, we will head for friday night at Stanfordby nwhkr - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
Nice pics and Painted Dunes look amazing. Thanks for sharing the pics and conditions...by nwhkr - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra