Leon Turnbull Photography

Twas the night before the night before the night before Christmas, when all through the national park, not a creature was stirring, not even a park ranger. The waterfalls were flowing by the lake with care, in hopes that the madman soon would be there.

And he was!

Yes, I was off to Yosemite National Park on the morning of the government shutdown for a one night winter backpacking adventure. I had my permit, and I was allowed to enter into the park. It was only a partial shutdown, and I would be walking into the national park from Cherry Lake. I would be hiking to Lake Eleanor, but not just anywhere at Lake Eleanor, I would be hiking to the very far end of the lake. It was going to be extremely difficult, and I was expecting snow and winter conditions, so my pack was much heavier than normal.

When I picked up my permit in the morning, I find it interesting to see who else is backpacking at the same time. There was one other permit there for someone hiking in the next day for 2 nights. Here’s the thing: there was a big winter storm coming in! Did he not know this? Even more interesting than this, however, is that I saw him! He was just starting out at the trailhead when I was finishing. This was 4PM on Sunday, only 45 minutes before sunset. He only had 3 miles to hike, but he would be arriving at his destination after dark for certain. I asked him if he knew there was a winter storm coming? He replied “there is? Well, I do have a rain fly”. He seemed a bit clueless and unprepared for a winter storm. I mean, if you are going backpacking, how do you not know what the weather conditions are going to be? In 2018, I went on 9 backpacking trips, and had zero days of rain. In 2017, I only had one day with an afternoon thunderstorm, no other rain on any of my trips. Is this just good luck? Or good planning? I think it is both, actually. I watch the weather very closely, and pick the best days to go backpacking. I may change my planned dates if the weather is not looking good. I just think backpacking is a lot more fun if you do not have to deal with a lot of rain. For this trip, I knew there was only a 10 percent chance of rain for the weekend. In fact, I was expecting a bit of a shower for the hike back out on Sunday, but that did not even happen.

I was expecting cold weather, though, and snow on the ground. That did not happen either, but I wanted it. You see, I have an idea for a winter backpacking trip in the near future, but it is a very hardcore trip, and I have not backpacked in the winter before. I wanted a first trip to ease into something that would be incredibly difficult. According to CNRFC, there was snow at Lake Eleanor, and the temperature would be about freezing at night. Well there was no snow, and although it was cold at night, it was not even close to freezing. It was colder at Llewellyn Falls in September. Thus, I did not really get the winter experience I was hoping for. I had brought my new Thermarest Neo Air X Therm winter sleeping pad, and I brought both my sleeping bags, tucked inside each other at night. That was a bit overkill I think, and added an extra 2 pounds, but if it was as cold as expected, I think it would have been needed.

It was a great trip nonetheless, and also extremely difficult. There is an easy trail from Cherry Lake to Frog Creek at Lake Eleanor. It is a long hike, about 9 miles. I started hiking at 9AM, arriving at Frog Creek about 1PM. From there, no more trails. I crossed the creek, and went up to Frog Creek Falls, a very lovely 30 ft. cascade. After this, I wanted to hike to the end of Lake Eleanor where there is a very large waterfall (in fact, you can see it from the trail along Lake Eleanor). I planned to camp somewhere along the creek above the falls. Getting down to the waterfall, though, was going to be a challenge. The cliffs are huge at the end of the lake, and I did not think I would even get to see the waterfall at all from up close. It was very tiring just getting to the end of the lake. You need to climb way high up above the cliffs, then back down to the creek. It is only 1.5 miles, but it took almost 3 hours. I finally arrived at my camp, a nice spot along the creek, at 3:45PM, just one hour before sunset.

I dropped my pack and headed straight down to the waterfall. It is not easy getting down to it. At the brink of the falls, it is extremely steep and cliffy, but amazingly I found a view of the waterfall from the side. It is not a great one, but I was pretty happy to get even this view. I was not expecting anything. However, I could not get any further down. It was just too cliffy. It was now very late, and I just had time to take some photos and get back up to camp.

I was almost back to camp when I realized that I forgot my Inreach device back at the waterfall viewpoint. Ugh! So stupid, madman! I had to go all the way back down to retrieve it. By the time I got back to camp, it was after sunset. I set up my tent in the dark. I was extremely tired. I had been hiking basically non stop for 8 hours. It was now dark and cold, and I did not feel like cooking my dinner, so I had a snack and hopped into bed. It was early, but I was so tired. I tried to watch a movie on my phone, but I was too tired even for that. Time to sleep!