It was my big Yosemite National Park spring trip. As I left town I saw a coyote. Seeing a coyote is always a good omen. Right after this, Don Henley’s song came on my playlist: “Nobody on the road.” That is always a good omen. Then I saw a bunch of vultures sitting on a fence. That is NOT a good omen. Then I came up to a long line of cars behind a slow truck. Not a good omen. Then I saw some cute lambs, so all was good again. Ha, I am just jokin’ with you.
My backpacking trip was to start the next day (Sunday). It was supposed to rain this afternoon (Saturday). I wanted to go on an easy morning hike, then pick up my permit, and then sleep in the car that night and get a very early morning start on my hike the next day.
I decided to go to Little Nellie Falls. That is an easy hike and I have not been to it before. Although the hike starts from within Yosemite National Park the waterfall is actually just outside the park so it does not count towards my goal of seeing every waterfall in Yosemite. That’s ok. I still need to see this one, don’t I.
I bought some new hiking shoes for this trip. On the way to the waterfall I could feel my pinky toe starting to hurt. The same one that got broken on a backpacking trip a couple years ago. This was not good at all. Once I got to the waterfall I taped it up and it felt better on the hike back out but I wondered if should wear my old shoes on the backpacking trip the next day. I brought them with me but they were in pretty bad shape. I was not sure what to do.
Little Nellie Falls is a pretty little 25 ft. high waterfall. It is certainly worth visiting at least once and an easy 5 mile round-trip hike.
I drove to Hetch Hetchy to pick up my permit. There was a long lineup of cars at the entrance station. All the parking down at the dam was filled so they weren’t letting in any more cars until others left. It took awhile but eventually I got my permit and they let me in. The ranger encouraged me to start a day early. I wasn’t sure I wanted to do this because it was supposed to rain but it looked pretty clear at the moment and with all the people there probably would not even be any parking in the backpacker’s lot so I agreed. (I was hiking from Smith Peak trailhead but going to park in the backpacker’s parking lot for sleeping that night). Starting early messed me up with my footwear. I was going to think about how I could tape up my old shoes to make them usable but I could not do that now because it was late in the afternoon and I needed to get going. I just wore the new shoes and hoped for the best. The Smith Peak trail is seldom used. I like it because it is the only early season access to the Tuolumne River. There were no other cars at the small parking area. Nobody on the road. I hiked in about 3 miles and set up camp. This early start should make my next couple days a lot easier.
I made pizza for dinner. This is the first time I’ve done this on trail. I’ve thought about doing it before but always figured it was a big hassle to bring all the ingredients along and make it, but it was not a hassle at all. And it tasted awesome. I will certainly be doing this again on all future backpacking trips.
It started raining after I set up camp. That is when I discovered there was a big rip in my tent. Two rips, actually. I patched them up with my tape (the same tape I needed for blisters on my feet). This tent is essentially on its death bed. Would it survive 6 nights on the trail? At least there was no more rain in the forecast, thankfully. Day 1 of Yosemite backpacking trip complete.
