#sickdays: May 2014

The low snow year opened up many of the alpine lakes in the Sierra backcountry for some early season backpacking. Friends of ours, Ari & Andy, targeted the Yosemite area and watched closely as snow melted & Tioga pass opened, looking for the best route for our early season adventure. Rolling with mother natures whims, eight of us ended up choosing a walk into the Hetch Hetchy Backcountry: from O’Shaghnessy Dam to Lake Vernon and back – a 23 mile hike with almost 5k of elevation gain over the two days. The hike offered us a first hand view of not only our 200 million gallon/day water supply, but also the 2013 Rim Fire. The walk took us along the edge of the 400 sq mile burn and we saw the randomness of the destruction – some meadows reduced to charred stumps and sterile soil alongside swaths of heathy forest. Most of what we saw was somewhere in-between, trees showing damage but regrowth had already begun in the grasses and wildflowers. Overall a very sad sight to see.

Though the hiking was strenuous it only ate up about 6 hours each day, which afforded us a nice afternoon/evening at the lake. Chilly temps kept us from jumping in, but we enjoyed views of the granite surroundings, and even saw a big mamma-bear with two cubs, chowing down across the lake. We bundled into almost every layer we brought before the evening came with a pulse of snowfall, followed by a night of very steady and strong winds. When I awoke at 6AM, my best guess was sustained 25 mph winds with gusts easily into the 40’s that ripped water droplets off the two foot rollers coming down the lake, sending spray 10’ in the air – pretty crazy with just a half mile fetch. Fortunately our little campsite on the North side of the lake sat behind a small peninsula and behind some large granite rocks and huge trees which helped block the brunt of the gusts.

When we got home in the evening, salty and smelly, I couldn’t help but appreciate the source from where each drop of water came, though I certainly have mixed emotions about what the area was before we flooded it.

The perpetually excited Special-K getting geared up in the AM – ready to depart from Diamond O

Early AM at the entrance

Group of 8, lined up to get into Yosemite – think we could work on our carpooling

Enjoying the views before we even leave the cars

First look down Hetch Hetchy from the road

Learning a little bit about our surroundings

Constructed in 1934, O'Shaughnessy Dam now holds back 117 billion gallons of water

Looking across the reservoir at Wapama Falls

A fresh crew heads out

The trailhead begins in a tunnel at the far side of the dam

Switchbacks climb over 1,500' from the water

With views along the way down valley

Evidence of the burn right down to the shore

After a steep few miles up, we are under half way to our destination of Lake Vernon

Some final views of the reservoir before we head north into the woods

K & I on day 1

Once up and over hill, we start to see some more significant evidence of the burn

A few pockets of complete devastation

With whole patches of forest wiped out

Fallen trees cross the trail from the burn

The only indication (other than our brief evening snowfall) that we are still in Spring

The group as we near our peak elevation right around 7,000'

We pop out of the dense woods and onto more classic Sierra granite slab

One final break before we descend into camp

First views of Lake Vernon

And we've made it

Lake view from our camp spot

Shelter for the evening

The proper way to start a campfire

Dudes around the ring

Who then settle in to enjoy some liquid fire

And then the snow started to fall

Bundled for the flurries

As the clouds pass, the far side of the lake is left with a very small dusting

Heating our backsides as temps drop near freezing

Back on the trail on Sunday AM

K, ever-spry

Back up on some classic Sierra landscape

Our fearless leader, Andy

A nice break, halfway back to the car

Who could resist a selfie

Some of our views as we descend back to the reservoir

And down to the dam

Back on pavement with the thinned out crew

The drive to and from goes straight though the burn

What was, and could have been

On the heels of a low snow year, the Merced was in shape early season, for a third year in a row. With thin snow in the mountains above Yosemite it will likely just run for a few weeks so B-Mac, Crain & I enlisted Jordan, Maher and Harlan (a buddy from my epic Grand Canyon trip) + his lady, to head up for a weekend of splasy-fun whitewater and some epic riverside camping.

Flow was on the low side of runable, so a bit boney, but fun none the less. With a likely ligament tear in my wrist I was signed up to join Brian as a passenger – critical deadweight, not as in the 'important' definition of the word – I’m sure he wasn’t looking forward to the commentary. Riding up front was definitely a different experience on the river. Nothing seemed quite as intense and I was afforded a lot more time to just look up and around and enjoy the beautiful spring weather just outside of Yosemite park – not to mention take buckets of 40 degree water to the face. The river is more of a technical one, lots of rock dodging vs big hits, so a very different experience when on the sticks as compared to lounging up front.

We were lucky enough to snag the last and best camp site at Railraod Flat. And enjoyed a debaucherous evening cooking and enjoying a sizable fire on a nice secluded beach down at river level. The big evening turned into a delayed and lazy morning in camp before we hit the river for an afternoon float from Redbud past Neds before heading home.

Just our second season on this river, I can definitely see how this visit could become a springtime tradition pretty easily. Need to heal up the hand then next on the hit list is The Mighty T.