trip report day 0 – Yosemite permitting & backpacker’s camp

We arrived in Yosemite Valley wilderness permitting office still in the dark on the Saturday morning and took turns napping on the bench out in front. It wasn’t until 7am until the next person strolled up and we officially formed a line.

Early Joey gets the worm.

I know it says 11am, but that means 5am right?

By the time the office opened around 8am, there was a formidable line. The range went over the wilderness permit regulations and then went through noting down the first come first serve permits everyone was looking to get in order. Then he told us to return at 11am to pick up the permits. There as no power in Yosemite Valley that day so the procedure might have been specific to that day. The word was that a fire started the evening before in Mariposa that knocked out power. Only the store had power since it had its own generator.

I was able to pick up my reserved permit at 8am so we could head over to the backpacker’s campground to claim a spot and get our tents set up. The backpackers campground is now located among the in North Pine campgrounds. There is a small parking area for a few cars for unloading purposes. The backpacker campground is then through a wooded area and across a stream. There were plenty of space, though you don’t have to be downwind of the toilets. There is a cash only USD$6 per person cost you pay through an envelope drop. Just make sure you keep the tag on your tent. While there seem to be campsite with tables, bear boxes, and fire pits, the boundaries get blurred as more backpackers shuffle in. It’s a good way to make friends though. The negative about the backpacker campgrounds was that you’ll have to park your car a bit further away, such as Little Yosemite.

Once our tents were set up, we headed back to Yosemite Valley to buy some firewood and returned the wilderness office to pick up permits for the other half of our group. While at the office, we also rented several bear canisters for USD$5 each, for the week. (Yosemite National Park) On our way back, we saw one of the two black bears that’s been said to mull around the campgrounds up in a tree.

We all took a long nap after that having not really slept for the night before. In the afternoon, Arnold and Becky still hadn’t arrived yet and we didn’t have reception at the campgrounds. So we drove around to get a message out, they had car issues and then ran into typically California traffic. We decided to drive around while we were at it.

But that’s also when we noticed the fire in Mariposa, west of Yosemite.

When we returned to the backpacker’s campsite, we found Arnold and Becky spelunking in the stream. Apparently they did not have air conditioning in the car.

We were all assembled and we celebrated with beer cooled in the stream and infinite hot dogs cooked by campfire. Before turning in for my first full night of sleep in 3 days.

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trip report: Illilouette Basin – day 1

Our first day of our backpacking trip ended up being a late start. With a larger group comes different habits and different preferences and it would be something we’d have to adjust to on the trip. The big part of the late start was setting up shuttle where we’d leave a car at the Happy Isle parking lot and the other was to stuff all of use into one car and drive up to Glacier Point.

information

• Glacier Point to Clark Fork Illilouette Creek
  • gps track – wikiloc alltrails caltopo
• distance:  8.1 mi
• elevation change: 1374 ft ascent & 1469 ft descent
• time: 7 hours with breaks (4:30 moving time)

Our hike started just before noon. Being at Glacier point, we had to get out for a starting view of Half Dome and to get group picture to maker our start.

The effects of the Marisopa fire was visible by making everything not so much by the time we started.

Our initial descent followed the Panorama Trail down before taking the right trail at the junction on the Buena Vista Trail. The high noon sun made a scorching affair and the heat was compounded by the smog. Our views were a bit disappointing and we were happy to reach the tree line to get out of the sun. The orange hue among the woods as part of the smog provided an unique view.

At the bottom of our 1.248 ft descent covering 3 miles, we reached our first encounter with Illilouette Creek with a nice camping area. We were happy to jump into the creek and take a relaxing lunch break. My lunch consisted of a couple tuna wraps, as I wasn’t too hungry from the infinite hot dog we had to finish in the morning. Another large group was ending their day here, but ours were just getting started.

The Buena Vista trail started to gain a little bit elevation rising over Illilouette Creek while passing across a stream and an open area a junction with the Mono Meadow and Merced Pass Trail.

We turned onto the Merced Pass Trail to continue up the Illilouette Basin. A few minutes after the junction, the trail crosses Illilouette Creek and our first forging. My Chacos allowed me cross this with ease, though it wouldn’t be great for the sandy section that came afterwards.

The heat would catch up to use here as muscle cramps after the crossing lead us to take a break to recover before pushing through the last section of the day. With information from another backpacker returning from the Illilouette Basin, we know that there was going to be pretty good camping spot a couple hours from our current location.

Once we recovered, we turned right onto the Merced Pass Trail ascending away from the creek. The trail first went through a very sanding area before further climbing on rocky plateau of sorts. We entered a forested area with views of Mount Star King before the trail became more mellow. At the trail junction that came next, we continued straight on Merced Pass Trail. The next section had us in a dream state as the orange light from the lower sun and smog made created a mystical feeling for our walk through the woods. The smog seem to extend the golden hour effect among the trees. When the trees opened up more, we saw some cool rock formations that we wondered if there allowed any bouldering.

The trail eventually started to descend back toward the creek, we got a nice view of a waterfall among the Clark Fork Illilouette Creek. We also saw the heavy smoke in the distance.

Shortly after, we had a water crossing over Clark Fork Illilouette Creek,

where we found our home for our first night just before 7pm at an amazing camp spot with plenty of space and fire pit.

We had time to set up our camp, jump into the stream, and cook our dinner before the sun went down. It was a tough first day as the heat and smog both wore on everyone.

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trip report: Illilouette Basin – day 4

information

• Mono Meadow/Mercer Pass Trail junction to Happy Isles
  • gps track – wikiloc alltrails caltopo
• distance: 8.5 mi
• elevation change: 1033 ft ascent & 2293 ft descent
• time: 6:30 hours with breaks (4:25 moving time)

The morning of day 4 was another lazy morning. I spent a good amount of time on my bluff spot overlooking Illilouette Creek with clear skies making and eating breakfast. With only the finish left, we were on our way at 10:15 am.

We took the trail heading toward Happy Isle and Nevada Falls, which begin with an initial downhill. The the clearish skys, we could we could finally see Mount Starr King among several granite peaks in the distance.

Then our uphills of the day begun without much shade from the blazing sun. We pushed through the initial uphills by stopping at ever shade along the way. We then entered the forest area as we started to go around the edge of the mountain. With a final push uphills we were at the highest point of our day. It was a gap just under Panorama Point where the side trail branching off of Merced Pass Trail, that we didn’t take the day before, met us. Just after the junction, we came to a flat area with a fire ring and a nice camping area. However, we didn’t see any water sources around. It was also at this point that we could see Liberty Cap, Mount Broderick, and Half Dome make their appearance.

Though the best view of these peaks would be just after we turned right onto the Panorama Trail.

We were also greeted by a pair of Sooty Grouse who were meerping at a us continuously.

What came next was a bunch of switchbacks to the top of Nevada Falls, part of which was made in concrete. I guess it was just the start of what’s to come on our way back to Yosemite Valley. At the end of the switchbacks was the junction with the actual JMT and the loss of our solitude. We first turned right on the JMT to visit the top of Nevada Falls, where we took our lunch break.

After break, we turned back and started back down the JMT toward Happy Isle. Arnold had thought there was another way down from the other side of Nevada falls and he was correct with Mist Trail be the other way. But we ended heading down on the JMT since we knew of it for certain and were ready for beer. The views along the JMT of Nevada falls weren’t too shabby either.

The path down was muddy at points and seemed like it took a lot of blasting into the rock face to create. I can imagine the infrastructure upkeep needed for the amount of traffic it sees. The trail here was pretty gentle in its descent, though the lack of sun covered made it a scotching affair. Without any cover though, there were plenty of picture opportunities looking onto Nevada Falls.

After a couple of switchbacks, we reached the junction of Clark Point where the JMT splits with left direction being a longer, but most likely gentiler descent, and the right direction connects with the Mist Trail above Vernal Falls. Since I hadn’t seen Vernal Falls before except from a distance, I was ok sacrificing our knees collectively with the steeper downhills.

We reached the Mist Trail near the top of the Emerald Pool and Silver Apron, which were pretty cool aesthetically, but were very crowded. The crowd mentality also ignored National Park Service signs to keep out of the pool.

Another cool viewpoint here is directly over Vernal Falls, I liked for for the view of the Merced River cutting into the woods below the falls. The afternoon smoke had smothered the valley completely at this point giving everything an orange glow.

The trail from that point involved heading up a steep, ginormous granite slab to reach a narrow and steep access point cut into the walls connecting the top of the falls with the valley below. It was a huge bottleneck point for the two way traffic. At least everyone was understanding of the situation and kind to each other giving way when needed. Places like this really emphasized the need for better funding to the park services to help them maintain and improve the infrastructure so everyone these shared treasures we have.

Along the stairs to reach the bottom of the valley were some of the best places of Vernal Falls itself to capture its grandness.

The trail that covered the rest of the way to Happy Isles undulated along the Merced River, merging with the JMT and crossing the River over a crowded bridge. The smog had gotten quite unpleasant by the time we reached the parking lot.

I crossed my fingers that it wouldn’t be this bad on the other side of the park at Tuolumne Meadows and up the Lyell Canyon where I’d start my JMT hike. At least my knees were glad there were no downhills planned for my first day.

While we were at Yosemite Valley, I picked up my JMT permit at the wilderness permit office and the rangers went over the regulations for my hike. We also talked about the fire and they confirmed that the worst smog would be in the afternoons and that it should be better hiking in the mornings and evenings. The rest of the team were able to return the bear canisters we rented as well.

Finally, we gathered for celebratory beers and burgers. While the prices at the restaurants were overpriced, they were tasty, especially so when Arnold and Becky picked up my check. Thank guys! The beer from store, and groceries in general, were actually decently prices and competitive even against Safeways I found in Davis. After our meal, I said goodbyes and Becky, Arnold, and Joey drove me to Tuolumne Meadows for the start of my JMT, which will continue on the next part of this series.

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impressions

First of all, I’d like to thank Joey, Miguel, Doris, Becky, and Arnold for the fun time we had in the backcountry in Yosemite. I hope we’ll have more adventures together soon.

Our total mileage on our trip was 35 miles over 4 days. We had a total of 5286 ft of elevation gain and 7982 ft of elevation loss. You can find our complete track at caltopo.

ratings (1-5; link for detailed breakdown)

views: 3. Overall, the grandness of the potential views on the sections we did was diminished by the fire in Mariposa, which became the Ferguson Fire. My favorite view points aesthetically were our off trail scramble overlooking Lower Merced Pass Lake

and the grandview from Panorama Trail of Nevada Falls below Liberty Cap, Mount Broderick, and Half Dome. I also can see the appeal and popularity of the Mist Trail and would recommend everyone go see it once, though I probably wouldn’t return during the popular times.

My favorite area though were swimming holes, waterfalls, and cascades on Illilouette Creek near the steepest part of Merced Pass Trail. I can see spending an afternoon exploring the area and camping there in the future. Perhaps when I return to actually finish the loop I aggressively planned.

Relative the Mist Trail and Yosemite Valley, the Illilouette Basin was not busy at all. We would encounter between 2 to 4 groups a day. It was also less trafficked in comparison to the general JMT as well. So solitude can be found in Yosemite.

I felt bad that Doris and Becky’s first backpacking experiences happened under these circumstances, but hopefully they enjoyed the views enough to keep heading outside. Personally, the main point of this short backpacking trip was to spend some quality time with my friends from California and I thoroughly enjoyed their company. While I may not return to do this exact route we did again, I do look forward to more time in the backcountry with my friends in the future.

difficulty: 2.5. The elevation profile of our backpacking trip wasn’t too bad with are largest day of about 2500 ft with a net elevation descend. I would say the trail we did itself was moderate at about a 2 in difficulty, but the smoke from the nearby fire made it harder to breath, irritate your eyes, and hotter in general. I really hate giving out half points, but the smog at that point was just an annoyance.

technical: 1.5. Since this was a backpacking report, this score refers to technical skills beyond general backpacking and wilderness skills and knowledge. Yosemite itself is very well maintained and the junctions are all very well marked even up the less traveled Merced Pass Trail. A park map and a plan is sufficient in most cases though you’d want to walk your plan through with a ranger at the permitting office if that’s all you have or you are a novice to the backcountry.

We had a couple of water crossings almost knee deep, but the creek was calm in general. If you are there at other times like early in the season, that might get more difficult with higher water levels. Again, check with the rangers on the conditions. On our main portion of hiking, the most technical part was all in the steepness either over well worn granite rock face or narrow stairs. These aspect warned the half point rating for technicality as it isn’t scrambling, but additional attention is needed beyond just walking. This is the reason for the additional half point.

If you go off trail like we did around Lower Merced Pass Lake or out toward the cascades and swimming hole, then the technical mark goes up to 2 for the need to scramble, navigation off trail, and going over slippery and mossy granite rocks.

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