We wanted to take a backpacking trip outside of my normal volunteering projects in Desolation Wilderness, and since we have a cabin a little more than an hour from Yosemite, that's where we headed. I went online and found a permit for Lyell Canyon (not over Donahue Pass, for those of you keeping score at home) and we were set.
And as you know if you read this blog, we lucked into a late available campsite at Crane Flat, for the night before, which made the whole thing easier.
We picked up our permit at Big Oak Flat and met our friend Bill King at the campground, where we traded a tent for some good hiking advice. Bill runs Mariposa Trails, a great organization that works on the trails west of Yosemite, and he told us about the abandoned Big Oak Flat Road where it crosses Tioga--at the road to Tamarack Campground (closed this year for renovations).
Sure enough, we crossed the road and wandered down the obvious path of the old road bed, which led us to an amazing field of lupine (the lupine this year in Yosemite is breathtaking!) and then out along a ridge. We followed it until we got cell phone coverage--which was far enough to solve one problem at home, and then went back to the campground for dinner.
The next morning we were up early, and on the trail by 8:30. It was a beautiful clear morning, and the hiking up the Lyell Canyon trail is easy. By 11 am we were at the spur trail up to Ireland Lake, and decided to stop for lunch at Ireland Creek. The plan for this trip was to head up canyon to set up a base camp, then explore the canyon and nearby Kuna Crest for a day, then hike back out.
From there we got lazy, wandering up the trail until we found a lovely campsite set above and well back from the trail, but with easy access to a tiny stream of icy water nearby.. We set up camp as clouds gathered, and took a nap while thunder rocked the mountains around us. It was distant thunder, but the sprinkling rain still arrived and entertained us for an hour or so.
I had noticed a tiny hole in the tent during our nap, and had tried to patch it with a couple of pieces of duct tape, which would not adhere to the slick fabric. Luckily, we also had a patch kit for our Neo-Air mattresses, and one of those worked more or less well. At least it didn't leak.
That evening I fished the river and caught more small brook trout than I could count--each brilliantly colored, if only 6-8 nches long. The cloud cover stayed for the rest of the evening, and few hikers on the trail had told us that the new weather report looked like more rain tomorrow.
The next morning dawned with overcast skies and an occasional sprinkle. We ate breakfast, talked it over, and decided that one of the great luxuries of being retired is that we can change plans quickly and without repercussions. With more rain and thunderstorms in the offing, we decided that it didn't make any sense to linger about, certainly not in the higher elevations, and so we packed up and headed out.
You know about the mysterious encounters on the way out, but the scenery was still stunning, even more dramatic with the cloudy skies. And although we hiked through a few sprinklers and sun showers, we arrived at Le Vin Blanc more or less dry. More or less, because the humidity was quite high, and we were both "glowing" by the time we got to the van.
We drove to our cabin down by Sonora, to discover the temperature outside was 96, and inside was maybe ten degrees cooler. Yikes! Napa looked pretty good. We took a short nap, drank up some water, and drove home to a cool house, cooler temperatures, and a good night's rest.
Here's a link to the rest of the photos.: https://photos.app.goo.gl/qNPxwfoMMGkvJAAo6
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