The photo is the upper 63 ft. section of Upper Wester Park Falls.
I woke up very early. My plan was to hopefully hike all the way back to the car on this day. It was about 16 miles and 3600 ft. elevation gain. I could have done it. Except for the snow.
I did much better keeping to the trail proper on the big climb out of the Mokelumne River canyon (2600 of the 3600 ft.). There were a few places where it is horribly overgrown and I lost the trail but I wasn’t completely frustrated. Only partially frustrated. I got up to Munson Meadow only a little bit behind schedule. I thought I was doing pretty well thus far.
Munson Meadow killed me. As I mentioned before the trail is mostly non-existent. There was also a lot of snow which just makes it very difficult to follow the trail and also very difficult to hike on. This section took a very long time. When I got back to Cole Creek Lake I was now two hours behind schedule and very tired. It was noon and it was still 6 hours from here back to the car.
I ate my lunch on some rocks beside the creek. I was resting, eating, and minding my own business. All of a sudden a coyote came bounding by, no more than 7 feet from me. Then it was gone. It was a big guy (or gal). Not ugly. Beautiful. I had no time to get out my camera. I am sure it did not see me until after it had passed by, otherwise it would not have come so close. It was a very cool experience.
After lunch I continued on. I arrived at Bear River late in the day. It was another four miles to my car but I had no energy to continue. I was far too tired. Hiking in the snow just took too much out of me so I decided to camp here. One big reason why I wanted to go all the way was because of mosquitoes. I figured they would be horrible here at the Bear River. It is the same elevation as at Cole Creek Lake and Munson Meadow and there were quite a few there. However, there were zero mosquitoes at Bear River where I camped. I actually had a very pleasant evening camping here. It was cold and there was even frost on the ground in the morning. Perhaps that is why there were no buggers. Whatever the case, it was an enjoyable camping spot.
In the morning I was up early as usual. I can never sleep in, even if I try to. I ate my breakfast and hiked the remaining four easy miles back to my car. I was home by noon. It was an excruciatingly tough but amazing trip into the Mokelumne Wilderness.
