Leon Turnbull Photography

I got up at 4AM to go on my morning hike in Yosemite. The family did not want to go with me so I let them sleep in. I found out afterwards that Nekoda would have come with me. I am mad at myself about this because I thought none of them wanted to come.

It was very warm when I started the hike in the dark. However, there were no mosquitoes! I anticipated they would be out once the sun came up. Indeed, I really thought about sleeping in myself. I was so bummed about the hike the previous evening, I was not feeling good about doing another hike in the morning. I forced myself to get up out of bed. I am so glad I did.

I anticipated that about half of my hike would be off trail and through the forest. Again, this would not be good because there would be more mosquitoes in the forest and brush. However, I came to the turnoff point from the main trail, and I found a good, well defined trail leading off in my intended direction. It was not just a path, it was a good trail. I was shocked to see this. Was there a trail leading all the way to the waterfall viewpoint? I know others have probably been to see this waterfall, but I would be very surprised if there was a trail going to it. The trail continued in my direction almost all the way to the waterfall. This saved me a lot of time bushwhacking through the forest. It was awesome. I was almost all the way to the waterfall viewpoint when I finally realized where this trail was going. It was not going to the waterfall, but it was going up to the top of Mt Watkins. Now this finally made a lot more sense. In fact, I was almost to the top of Mt Watkins already. The question was, however, would I be able to see the waterfall from the top of Mt Watkins? I did not know the answer, but I knew for certain that I could see the falls from the ridge below, so I turned off the beautiful trail and down into the forest. It was a very short jaunt and then I was on the ridge overlooking Tenaya Canyon and Pywiack Cascade.

It was just past sunrise and the sun had not yet risen above the mountains. It was absolutely glorious. I took many photos until the sun came up. I could see Half Dome from this ridge, as well as the spectacular Tenaya Creek Canyon. The canyon and cliffs are incredible here with sheer dropoffs. Pywiack Cascade is about 740 ft. high, and there is a lower cascade as well that is over 150 ft. high. There is absolutely no possible way to get down to the bottom of this waterfall because of the cliffs. This is pretty much the only viewpoint of the waterfall as far as I know, but it is an amazing viewpoint.

Afterwards, I decided to climb up to the top of Mt Watkins since I only had another 200 ft. to the top. I was not really sure that I really wanted to climb up there, but decided I may as well do it since I had the time. It was a quick hike. You definitely cannot see Pywiack Cascade from the top, but there were more great views of Half Dome so I think it was worth it.

I hiked back down the mountain and to my car. There were zero mosquitoes on the entire hike. Even Jadon would have enjoyed the hike. Once I got back to the campsite, however, there were a lot of mosquitoes. Everyone was in the tent (2 out of 3 were still sleeping), so I made a fire to try to keep the buggers at bay. It worked somewhat but not well enough for the kids. They waited in the car while I packed up the tent.

I have said before that I have NEVER EVER seen a bear in any national park (in the USA or Canada). I have hiked probably a hundred times in Yosemite before (and backpacked) and never seen a bear. On our drive through the park to Tuolumne Meadows, my wife Tara saw a bear along the road. I did not see it. But this is the year of the bear, is it not? If the cycle is to be broken, it must be on this trip. Our campsite at Tuolumne Meadows was on the very end of the campground, next to the river and the forest. I was saying to Tara that if any bears were to come into the campground, they would have to come through our campsite first. Less than five minutes after saying that, Tara said, There’s a bear! Guess what? I saw it! The cycle is broken! It was up above our campsite meandering through the forest and not very close to us, but it was most definitely a bear, and it was most definitely in the national park. If Tara had not pointed it out, I am certain I would have missed it.

On the drive back home, we stopped in Groveland at Pizza Factory (the usual lunch stop from a Yosemite trip). It would have been a great trip if not for the mosquitoes, and I am bummed about it (mostly for the kids’ sakes), and also I’m sure the kids would have enjoyed it much more if they had come with me on the morning hike. Jadon’s rating was 0 out of 10 for the weekend (I don’t blame him). Nekoda’s rating was 6 out of 10. Oh well.

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I said in one of my last posts that I was just going to have one final fling before summer for backpacking and hiking. However … I am a glutton for punishment. I wanted to get to Yosemite one more time to check out some new waterfalls that I have not been to yet. I thought it would be a good idea to bring the family for a camping trip and do these hikes with the crew. Big mistake. The plan did not work out very well. Even though Tioga Road had just opened a couple weeks ago, I was two weeks too late for this. The mosquitoes!

The mosquitoes in Tuolumne Meadows campground were horrendous when we arrived in the afternoon. We set up camp quickly and then left to wander around the meadows and visitor center area. It was beautiful along the Tuolumne River area with a nice breeze and no bugs there, so it was a very nice spot to relax. At about 4PM, it was time to go on our evening hike.

The plan was to hike down to Upper Tenaya Creek Falls and waterslide, and have our dinner at the waterfall.

It was not a very fun hike because of the mosquitoes. My poor son, Jadon. He inherits his sweet blood from myself and my mother, but he has it even worse than us. He had at least 10 visible bites on each of his arms and on each of his legs, and more than that elsewhere. The repellent did absolutely nothing for him whatsoever. I had zero visible bites, which I do not understand because they were definitely biting me A LOT. It was not very enjoyable. Down at the waterfall, we had some relief because there was a bit of a breeze and no mosquitoes there, so we ate our dinner in peace at the falls. However, when I went down to the bottom there was no breeze down there, and the mosquitoes were ridiculous, so I had to quickly take my photos of the lower cascades and run back up to my family (they did not come down with me to the bottom – and Jadon was thanking me profusely).

It was a very easy hike down to the waterfall, much easier than I expected, but it just would have been 100 times better with no mosquitoes. Well, I do think I would like to come back here someday. Tenaya Creek Falls was very beautiful but well below peak flow. The lower cascade especially would have been much better with a lot more water in the creek. It is a somewhat popular natural water slide in the summer, and I did see a girl sliding down into the pool at the bottom. She said the water was very cold.

We hiked back up the hill, arriving at the car after sunset. I gave Jadon the keys and he hiked back as fast as possible, but still got plenty of bites on the way. Poor kid. When we got back to the campground, we had some relief because of all the campfire smoke from other campers; there were no mosquitoes around. We relaxed a bit at the picnic table before heading into the tent for the night.

So all in all, even though it was a beautiful waterfall, it was not a very enjoyable hike. However, the next morning would be a million times better (for me, at least).

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Carbost Burn Waterfall, Isle of Skye, Scotland. 80 ft. I thought this would be very difficult to get down to, but in fact was very easy. It is a very pretty falls, it would be stunning at higher flows.

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It was colder during the night than I anticipated. It’s weird how last week it was warmer than it should have been, and this week it was colder than it should have been. Maybe it’s just me? When I got up in the middle of the night to do my thing, the zipper on my tent was ended. Remember how I said it broke last week? After that, I rigged it up so it would work, and open and close if I was very careful. Well, I was being careful, but nonetheless, it tore wide open. This time there was no fixing it whatsoever. I knew this would happen eventually, I just hoped it would not be tonight. I zipped up the outer door, but the inner door was wide open. That meant things could still get in such as: bears, snakes, and bugs. I was hoping and praying that none of the above would actually get in. I’m not sure what would be worse. Bears would be worst, but I was not worried about that. Snakes would be next worst, and that was a very real and scary possibility. but the mosquitoes is what I was most concerned with. I hate hate hate the mosquitoes (I think I may have said that before). Fortunately, there were very few mosquitoes and I am thankful nothing got in my tent during the night (not even any ants!).

This small 10 ft. waterfall was right beside my campsite. Since it was there and since I was there, I decided to take some photos of it. It is kinda pretty.

After breakfast and packing up, I headed up the mountain. I had 1200 ft. to climb to the top of the ridge, then down to the trailhead. It was very slow going through the snow. I got back to the car at 12:30PM. That is 6 hours to hike 9 miles (it took 7 hours on the way in). I was beat up from all the snow hiking, but I had a great couple days in the Mokelumne Wilderness.

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July 6. This was to be my final backpacking trip for the summer. Just when (you might think) the snow is melting out and everyone else is finally getting out backpacking, I am quitting. Yeah, strange perhaps, but the bugs are also coming out to play now, and I hate hate hate the bugs, so I tend to not go out much in the summer. I actually went on one more backpacking trip this year (six) than I did last year. Considering that I also went to Scotland/Ireland for 10 days, I think that is pretty darn good! My trips this year tended to be shorter trips because I already took so many days off work for the overseas trip. I also had more failed backpacking trips this year (four) than last year. That is quite a lot and the reasons vary (ticks, snow, stream crossings, brush) but I usually made up for the failed trips with different ones.

I have heard a lot of people talking about this year and all the snow, afraid to go out in the snow and wondering where they can go backpacking with no snow. At the same time, I have heard other people going on crazy dangerous trips in the snow (with no problems – for them). I think it all depends on your comfort level and the more you go out and the more prepared you are, then the more you will be able to do. For example, one of my failed trips (last week) was going to be a big adventure into the Mokelumne Wilderness. Except that I came across one very dangerous snow field with a huge drop off into the abyss. One mistake and I would be dead. I chose to live and retreat. I am sure others could have traversed this snow field with no problem, but I only had micro spikes. With crampons and ice axe (and experience), I am sure I could have done it. Experience is a big thing. I read often about people dying because they do things beyond their capabilities and without proper preparedness. Also, it helps to be not afraid of heights. Yeah right.

This long-ish weekend (which was not a long weekend for myself), I returned to the Mokelumne Wilderness, to the same location. This would be a scaled down trip from what I had planned the week before (because I only had two days), and also I would be taking a different route (to bypass that dangerous snow field). The snow was still there. Lots of it. There was anywhere from 1 to 5 feet of snow. In some places, I just walked on the snow with my boots. In a few places, I needed to use the micro spikes but there was nothing dangerous on this route. It was just extremely tiring walking on the snow. On a trail that is mostly flat, it is not mostly flat when there is snow. You are constantly hiking up and down the snow mounds, which adds up to a lot of extra elevation, and let’s not mention the huge ankle breaking sun cups you are walking over. Without a GPS, following the trail is impossible, and I lost the trail a few times even with a GPS. All in all, it is just very tiring and very slow going.

You might think that since it was a long-ish weekend, I would see plenty of other backpackers/hikers. I saw zero people the entire weekend. I saw some horse tracks at the beginning but they were going off to another location. I saw one other set of recent tracks in the direction I was going. However, they stopped before the top of the pass. I guess the snow was too much for him/her. I was alone in the Mokelumne Wilderness.

It was 2PM when I came to the junction for the first waterfall I wanted to see. I had hiked for 5.5 hours and only gone 8.5 miles. I determined that it would be at least two hours (likely more) until I reached my planned destination (the second waterfall), but I was already beat up, and the next day going back would be brutal, especially if I took the detour to this first waterfall as planned. I decided to skip the second waterfall and go down to camp at the first one. I was ok with doing this because I really want to come back to this area again anyway, when I have a lot more time.

It was only one mile, but it still took over an hour to get down to the creek. It is a 600 ft. descent, and there is no trail. The first part was really nice, with very wide open granite. It reminded me of the Desolation Wilderness. The last part was steep and brushy. It reminded me of my recent trip to West Cherry Creek in the Emigrant Wilderness. It took a while to get through the brush and down the granite cliffs, but I made it down to the creek and found a campsite.

I thought the mosquitoes would be bad on this trip. I was expecting the worst. However, there was only one single mosquito that I swatted in the evening (there were a few more in the morning – but hardly worth mentioning, and I did not even break out the repellent).

So … stupid mistake number one: I FORGOT MY DINNER! Actually, this was the only mistake on this trip, but how on earth does one go backpacking and forget their dinner! I had to eat my next day’s lunch for dinner. That meant I had no lunch for the next day, but thankfully, I was planning to be back at the car by noon and I had snacks, so I figured I should be ok. (and I was).

The next problem: how would I get up to the waterfall? My camping spot was beside the creek about a half mile below the falls. There was a huge mound of heavy brush between myself and the waterfall. After a bit of exploring, I realized there was absolutely no possible way to get through or around that brush. There was only one option: cross the creek and try on the other side. It looked pretty brushy on the other side as well, but maybe it would possible. It would really suck to come all the way down to this waterfall and not even be able to see it!

Could I even cross the creek? The creek was flowing quite swift (still) and deep, and in some places it was definitely not crossable. Nonetheless, I found one place near my campsite that looked “not too bad”, and so after my lunch/dinner, I made my way to this spot to attempt the crossing, needing to remember that in a couple hours (when I came back), the creek would be quite a bit higher than this. The crossing was up to my thighs, but really not a problem at all. I did not anticipate it would be much worse in a couple hours (and it wasn’t).

On the other side, I donned my hiking boots and made my way upstream. It was not so brushy on this side. There were a couple spots but really not too difficult, and I quickly made my way to the bottom of the waterfall. It was gorgeous! Now I had to wait an hour for the sun to go down before I could take photos. It was worth the wait. Cole Creek Falls is a beauty, and I suspect few people (if any) have ever seen it before.

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