Mosquitoes and Thunder Storms

Posted on March 28, 2014 by Country Kyle

Day 2: Vernon Lake to Tiltill Valley (June 9, 2013)

I woke up with the sun again this morning to a canopy of mosquitoes staring down at me from the other side of my tent’s mesh. The morning quickly warmed up as I lay there looking up at the pests until it was too warm for me to stay in the safety of my tent. It wasn’t long after climbing out of the tent before I felt the first bite.

I gathered up my cooking supplies and made my way to a nearby sunny rock overlooking the lake. Direct sun made for a hot start to the day, but it kept the mosquitoes down to a manageable level.

After breakfast we hit the trail. It was 9:30AM and the temperature was already approaching 90°F as we made our way up an exposed granite face towards the ridge. This was the last major climb of the trip.

Looking down at Vernon Lake

There’s a trail through there somewhere…

Crossing the ridge brought us into another stretch of forest recovering from fire. The chaparral was above head level and the trail was in serious need of maintenance. The hiking turned into bushwhacking. As we descended through the chaparral we were giving some beautiful views of Hetch Hetchy Reservoir Valley.

We descended down a long series of switchbacks into Tiltill Valley. We stopped here for lunch and a water refill. It was about 1PM and I had already burned through most of my 3.5L supply. I also took the time to rinse off the thick layer of dust that coated my face. The water was cold and refreshing.

As we packed up from lunch we heard a faint rumble of thunder in the distance. After a few more rumbles we determined that the storm was heading in our direction. The map showed the trail moving into more exposed terrain, so we decided to make camp here at Tiltill Creek rather than risk being caught on open granite.

With my tent up, I climbed in just as the first rain drops began to fall. It was quite warm in the tent, but with thunder cracking over head, I thought we had made the right choice.

The storm was louder than wet. The wind picked up as the thunder carried on and the drizzle stayed heavy enough to keep us in the tents. This continued for a couple hours, but by 5:30PM the wind died down and the sky cleared up just in time for a spectacular sunset!

The mosquitoes made it another early night. I was hopeful that they would stay in the high country as we descend to the reservoir the next day.

Sunset at Tiltill Valley (Photo Credit: Paul)

Day 3: Tiltill Valley to Hetch Hetchy Backpacker Camp (June 10, 2013)

The sun returned early the next morning bringing with it mosquitoes and humidity. We took care of breakfast and packing up camp quickly. This was probably the worst morning of mosquitoes. The trail took us strait across the valley through tall grass, marshy ground, and a thick cloud of mosquitoes that were un-phased by the DEET. We moved quickly!

The mosquitoes hassled us until we got out of the valley and well over the ridge onto more exposed ground. It was a relief to get a break from swatting and slapping at the little winged beasts. As we worked our way down the switchbacks towards Rancheria Falls we passed a large group of hikers heading up to Tiltill Valley to do some trail maintenance and invasive species removal. The mosquitoes were certainly going to give them a hard time…

Rancheria Falls

Rancheria Falls was a tent city. This must have been the staging area for the trail crew. From the falls, the trail moves above the shore of the reservoir several miles before returning to the dam. This was probably the most scenic stretch of the trip with many great views of the valley and crosses a couple waterfalls. It was a great stretch to finish the trip on!

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Don’t miss the first part of this trip!

Find more photos on Flickr!

Hot Hot Hetch Hetchy

Posted on March 24, 2014 by Country Kyle

We rolled into Hetch Hetchy Friday evening just before the gates closed at 9PM. After grabbing our permit, we made our way to the backpacker camp. It was warm and the sky was clear as we set up camp for the night. The weather for the weekend was supposed to be hot, so we were planning on getting an early start to beat the heat.

Day 1: Backpacker Camp to Lake Vernon (June 8, 2013)

Crossing O’Shaughnessy Dam

I woke up with the sun at about 5:30AM. Hugues and Paul arose shortly after and we hit the trail by 7AM in an effort to climb out of the reservoir valley before it got too hot.

The wind was blowing hard across the reservoir as we crossed the dam and started up and out of the valley at 7:30AM. The temperature had already reached 80°F!

The climb out of the valley was steep and hot, but we made it to Beehive by 10AM. From here we took a short detour to Laurel Lake for lunch and a swim. At this point the temperature had reached 95°F. I was the first one in the lake and the water felt amazing!

Laurel Lake

After a swim and some lunch, we continued towards Lake Vernon. Much of the trail was through forest recovering from a wild fire several years ago. The recovering forest had a fair amount of standing water to support enough mosquitoes to keep us moving at a quick pace.

As we approached the hottest part of the day we cleared what remained of the forest and made our way across granite slab with sparse tree cover. The sun was beating down hard, but we were getting close to the lake where we would set up camp for the night.

Once at the lake, it wasn’t long before we found a nice campground with a fire ring in a small cluster of trees. We dropped the packs and headed for the lake. Vernon was a bit colder than Laurel Lake, but after hiking in 95°F weather it was just the refreshing swim we needed!

Lake Vernon

Relaxing by Lake Vernon (Photo Credit: Paul)

After a swim and some lake side relaxation, I made my way back to camp to set up my tent and take a much needed nap.

It was still early when I started preparing dinner, but I was baking pizza so I needed the extra time. This was the first trip in CA that I was able to build a twiggy fire on my Fry-Bake because of the ever-present fire restrictions, so I took advantage of it! After baking to perfection, I chowed down on a pizza in the backcountry!

As the daylight faded, we managed to clean up from dinner just before the mosquitoes attacked… The sun had just set, the wind died down and the skeeters came out in full force! Even my 100% DEET didn’t seem to phase them, so we retreated to the tents for the night.

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Find more photos from this trip on Flickr!

Lake Vernon Camp

Tenaya Lake and Beyond!

Posted on March 19, 2014 by Country Kyle

Day 3: Tenaya Lake & Snow Creek Cabin (March 29, 2013)

The morning was very cold with a thick layer of frost covering the tents, so we didn’t waste time packing up and getting on our way. Once we got out of the small valley we camped in the temperature warmed up significantly. The sun was out and a few clouds floated overhead.

The four miles between camp and Tenaya Lake were mostly down hill and went by quickly. We arrived at Tenaya about noon. The lake was frozen over with a layer of blue ice. We could see ski tracks crisscrossing the surface.

Ice covered Tenaya Lake

From Tenaya we were going to follow Tioga Pass towards Snow Creek cabin. Before we could continue down the road, we first had to cross the wide outlet of Tenaya Lake and there was no bridge… We found a section that was fairly shallow and would let us cross to a snow free patch of river bank.

Stepping out of the boots onto the cold snow was accompanied by a few yelps of shock. The snow bank held us about a foot and a half above the water and the first step down was taken with visions of the snow breaking away under foot flashing through my head. The water felt surprisingly warm compared to the snow moments before, but after a few steps the cold crept in and my toes began to tingle, each step getting a little shakier as the cold water numbed my feet. Back on the dry river bank we stopped for lunch and let our feet dry and warm up in the sun. The air temperature was quite pleasant.

Making our way down Tioga Pass

After lunch we started our way down Tioga Pass towards the Tuolumne Meadows Trail. We were getting the full force of the afternoon sun as we made our way down the road. The sun had made the snow quite soft which made for slow going with the snow shoes. Hiking was hot and slow, but offered some spectacular views of Clouds Rest.

Clouds Rest’s granite face from Tioga Pass

Once we reached Tuolumne Meadows Trail, we left the road and started descending towards Snow Creek Cabin. The trail was marked by license plates attached to trees high above snow line. We lost the trail markers as we descended from the ridge where we found the stream that the cabin was supposed to be by.

The exact location of the cabin is not clearly marked on maps and does not appear on the Tom Harrison map that I had. So we were following GPS coordinates that we found online along with a vague description of the location of the cabin. We found the intersection of the Tenaya Lake and Tuolumne Meadows trails. From there is was a matter of fanning out and playing a game of hide-and-seek with a cabin. We wondered the woods for 15 to 20 minutes before I spotted the cabin peaking out between the trees!

Snow Creek Cabin

The cabin was far greater than any of us imagined! It was two floors complete with a wood stove in the living area, a kitchen (no plumbing or electricity, but it did have a propane stove!), three bedrooms, outhouse, and an ample supply of dry wood! There were cards, board games, books, dishes, and even a guitar! We were the only ones there, so we got a fire going and enjoyed a warm evening in a backcountry cabin.

Living area

Kitchen

Warming up by the fire

Day 4: Descending Snow Creek Trail (March 30, 2013)

The next morning we closed up the cabin and started our way down Snow Creek Trail to the valley floor. This trail descended gradually for a couple of miles before we started down the 108 switchbacks to the valley floor. The descent was steep and offered great views of the valley below, but I was very glad we didn’t climb this route our first day out.

It wasn’t long before we were back at the car and on the road back to the Bay Area. The end of amazing trips is always sad, but it was a great feeling to have conquered Clouds Rest in the snow!

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Don’t miss out on the first half of this trip!

For more photos check out the album on Flickr!

Descending Snow Creek

Clouds Rest 2.0

Posted on March 14, 2014 by Country Kyle

Having been defeated by snow conditions the previous year, we were back in Yosemite to attempt a summit of Clouds Rest in the snow. The goal once again, was to loop the valley starting at Happy Isles trailhead and climbing up-and-over Clouds Rest on our way to Tenaya Lake, returning via Tioga Pass and the Snow Creek trail to complete the loop.

Day 1: Happy Isles to JMT Cutoff (March 27, 2013)

Vernal Falls as seen from the Mist trail

This winter had been warmer and dryer than the previous. This was evident as we made our way up the Mist trail towards Little Yosemite Valley (LYV). Most years, this trail is still closed in March due to icy trail conditions. Not a problem this year.

Using the Mist trail cut about 1.5 miles off the distance to LYV where we had camped the year before. This year however, we continued a short ways past to where the John Muir Trail split from the Clouds Rest summit trail.

We made camp near this junction. The ground was mostly free of snow, and there was a stream flowing nearby for water. It was about 4:30PM as we made camp and it began to rain.

The next day we would be attempting the summit of Clouds Rest!

Day 2: Clouds Rest Summit Day (March 28, 2013)

The morning was cool, and the tents damp from the nights rain. We didn’t waste much time breaking down camp as we wanted to give ourselves plenty of time to summit Clouds Rest.

We hit the trail at 9:00AM. The sky was partly cloudy. It wasn’t until after the main switchbacks that we needed to put on snowshoes (The previous year we were in snowshoes starting from LYV).

The condition of the snow was very good as we worked our way towards the summit. The weather was on our side as we made the final steep push that had turned us back the year before. Where there had been a sheet of ice, there was now dry steps leading us to the summit.

We made it!

On the summit of Clouds Rest (9,931 ft)

On the summit just after noon, we could see for miles. The sun was out, but dark clouds were hanging in the distance.

With another summit under our belts, we turned our attention to getting down before more weather moved in. We made our way off the other side of the summit, down the knife edge.

Paul making his way off the summit with Tenaya Lake in the distance

Camp night 2 (Photo Credit: Paul)

From the summit, we made our way into the neighboring valley for camp. The valley was deep with snow, and it took some time to build a sturdy platform for the tent. We were once again camping near a stream, though this one was buried under about 4 feet of snow.

The clouds moved in for night two of weather and it began snowing. As daylight faded, large, heavy snow flakes began falling and we retreated to the tents.

It had been a long day of snowshoeing, but the satisfaction of completing the summit was immense! The next day we would be making our way to Tenaya lake then onward to Snow Creek Cabin.

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Continue with the second half of this trip HERE!

Check out more photos on Flickr!

The Epic Adventures of Country Kyle

Monthly Archives: March 2014

Mosquitoes and Thunder Storms

Hot Hot Hetch Hetchy

Tenaya Lake and Beyond!

Clouds Rest 2.0

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