Backpacking in Yosemite (Hetch Hetchy)

Greetings!

As is our tradition Jill and I went on a backpacking trip over the 4th of July holiday. Our good friends Elizabeth and Cooper rounded out the team.

We drove about 4 hours to Hetch Hetchy valley in Yosemite National Park where we hiked for 4 days and 3 nights. The weather was amazing. Warm to hot during the days and not too cold at night. The mosquitoes were numerous at times, but manageable.

For Jill and I it was our first time trying out lightweight backpacking. We recently got lighter sleeping bags, sleeping pads and a lightweight tent. It was enlightening (ha!). We are stoked on our new setup and hope to continue to reduce the weight of our packs.

For the full story check out the pictures and captions below…

The Pirate

The Naturalist

The Wizard

The Tree Sniffer

We started at the Hetch Hetchy dam.

Elizabeth on the hike in / up.

Hetch Hetchy Valley.

The trail.

Walking through a wilderness wonderland.

Cheeky deer pretending not to notice us or our food.

Jill and I in our Double Rainbow tent. Photo by E.Mackey.

Heading back to camp from the kitchen.

The kitchen.

Chowing down in the dinning room. Granite for two?

Camp along Falls Creek for our third night out. Stunning, eh?

Morning activities in camp. Getting it done.

Flowers everywhere. A type of Paintbrush.

Flower and granite. So nice.

Carpets of flowers.

This plant is parasitic on tree roots.

False Hellebore, locally known as Poop Squeege.

Young tree. So cute.

Water and flowers everywhere. This water flowed down into a sweet pool that we soaked in and had lunch next to.

The team at work identifying flowers. I think this was a Sub Alpine Shooting Star.

More naturalizing. Cooper brought along a great book about the Sierra Nevada.

From our second camp we went on a day hike up Falls creek to the Jack Main trail.

Cooper and Falls creek. The water flow was amazing.

Looking back towards Lake Vernon. We had a great time route finding on the granite.

Succulents and granite!

Falls creek as we get near the top of our hike.

We made it! Looking back down Falls creek as it drops towards Lake Vernon.

We had to bushwack the last bit but came out onto the amazing Jack Main Trail and these awesome steps.

We had lunch next to a lake and dunked ourselves in this little pool. It was surprisingly bearable.

Raging waters along the Jack Main trail.

Time to head back. More waterfalls in the distance.

We stopped for another quick dip in the narrow pool on the left. The water was WARM!

The happy crew almost back at camp.

Hanging out after dinner.

Post sunset view.

Side trip to the Moon.

While on the Moon we played some dice, 5000.

Some naturalizing before sweet sleep.

Ursa Major aka The Big Dipper.

More flowers.

Hillsides of beauty.

Breakfast! Tea, granola and eggs!

Food ‘n stuff.

Bear can storage. We found the rocks like that.

Cooper purifying water.

Jill telling stories.

Elizabeth on the trail.

Jill moving through granite wall.

Mosquito net comes in handy.

Trees at sunset from our first camp, Beehive.

Sunset at camp 2 near Lake Vernon.

Sunset at camp 3 next to Falls creek outlet from Lake Vernon.

Falls creek outlet from Lake Vernon. The ranger said this was an impassable Hard Closure and she was right.

Tree picture for Petey.

More awesome tree goodness.

Jill, flowers, earth.

Life is good.

This creek is out of control!

We were hoping for a little more snow, but we enjoyed what we found.

Heading out! 3 nights and 4 days. Such a great time.

Looking back towards Lake Vernon at about 7,000 feet.

But wait! There’s more! Sooooo many wild flowers.

Lupines!

Tree, rock, water.

Jill and I pretending to be kids at a campfire circle near our last camp.

Silly good times.

Elizabeth, Cooper, Joel and Jill.

Back home! Our first run with this super sweet bag dryer. Created by team LPT. It works like a dream!

Last one. Too good to pass up. Thanks for visiting!

There are also some videos….   http://www.youtube.com/user/joel123457?feature=mhsn

It was great to have you stop by! Come back again.

Take care,
Joel G