It's about time I issued an update to let everyone know that I've returned from Yosemite alive and well, which considering the recent conditions in the Sierra Nevada, that was no mean feat. Normally by this time of the year close to all of the park is accessible and most of it's facilities are open, but owing to a very heavy winter snowpack, and unseasonably late winter storms and snowfalls, much of the park, particularly the high country, is still covered in snow.
My original plan was to hike around 55km (and up about 2000m) round trip to Tuolumne Meadows from Yosemite Valley, but since the road to Tuolomne Meadows hadn't been officially opened when I was supposed to leave (it had been plowed, but they were worried warmer weather would cause the 8 foot high walls of snow at the side of the roads collapse as they melted), I had to change my plans, and instead took out a wilderness permit to hike to Merced Lake, which would be between 35 and 40 km round trip, so I also decided to shorten my trip in to the wilderness and spend a few more days in the Valley. As it happens, that was the first of many good decisions I made for the week, they may not have all been for the right reasons, but I stand by all of my decisions.
My first day of hiking took me along the Merced river and up the Mist trail, past Vernall and Nevada falls, then through Little Yosemite Valley. My wilderness permit dictated I couldn't spend the night in the established campground in Little Yosemite Valley, so I trudged on with my 40kg pack, and made a decision that I wasn't going to hike any further than I had to with such a load on my back, and I made camp at the first spot my permit allowed, at Moraine Dome.
Without going in to a lot of detail, camping out in the wilderness solo for the first time is quite an experience. In one 16 hour period I think I learned more about myself than in the past 16 years, and the following day I decided not to press on further to Merced Lake, but to retreat back to the campground at Little Yosemite Valley. I may have made that decision based on not being all that comfortable being alone in the wilderness, or maybe it was my legs aching from hauling my pack up nearly 1000 metres in elevation in addition to the 12km distance I travelled the day before, but as I said earlier, regardless of my reasoning, it was the right decision, since the Merced river, which the trail I was to take follows, was rising by the hour as warmer temperatures started to melt snow at an accelerated rate. In some areas of the trail that I had only hiked a day earlier, there was up to a foot of water where it had previously been dry. Had I stuck with the plan B of hiking to Merced Lake, there would certainly be deep water to navigate, and fast streams to negotiate, not to mention that although Merced Lake is a lot closer than Tuolumne Meadows, it too is also above the snow line. There's a good chance that if I ever made it to Merced Lake, I may still be there.
Friday was a day of consolidation as I made the comparatively short and flat hike back to the Little Yosemite Valley campground. While I had gone off in to the wilderness to find solitude, it was kind of nice to see a few people again to regain some feeling of safety in numbers. Other than the rising water on the trail, it was a fairly uneventful day. The short hike gave my legs a chance to recover for my hike to Half Dome on Saturday, but that can wait for part 2.
