I slept fairly well in my tent every night. That is quite unusual for me. I’m not complaining. I have a new pad and a new pillow. Maybe that is the reason. (shrug shoulders)
I got up at a decent hour (not too early, not too late) and had a good breakfast. This would be a long day and almost all of it completely off-trail. What was I getting myself into?
The first huge obstacle is crossing Frog Creek. Frog Creek is a major crossing. This is the only way to access Edith Lake. When I was up at Lake Eleanor last month I could not cross it. Now we are in the middle of a heat wave. The Tuolumne River was flowing at 2400 cfs. Snow melt was at its peak. Frog Creek would be near its highest for the year. The last gasp for the rivers and creeks. I was 95% sure I would not be able to cross it. I had a backup plan but I had to give this a try. This was my third attempt at getting to Edith Lake. A couple years ago I tried via a different route. The wrong route. I completely and totally underestimated the difficulty and I had to bail. Last year I had a permit for the proper route, however, as we all know last year was an epic snow year. It is impossible to know what the weather and snow conditions are going to be like when you need to reserve your permit months in advance. When my permit time came around there was still snow. Going down to Edith Lake when there is still snow would have been deadly. (now that I have been there I know this to be true). The granite rock you go down is incredibly steep and can only be done when the rock is completely dry. I wisely canceled my permit. Third time is a charm, right?
Frog Creek was high. It did not look possible to cross. Or was there a way? There were some logs. I was able to wade half way across the creek in an easy section and then cross the difficult part on logs. It was a bit sketchy but I was able to cross it safely. If the logs were not there I am not sure if I could have crossed it.
There is a lot of brush on the route, most notably on the immediate other side of the creek. It was manageable though and I had a good route loaded into my GPS that avoided much of it. I never felt like I needed to turn back so it couldn’t have been that bad, right? It did seem worse on the return trip, however, and I will talk more about this on DAY 4.
It is a long off trail hike but finally I came to the end of the ridge above Edith Lake. The view is absolutely stunning. I could see the lake below me and in the far distance, the big waterfall. That was my destination. Wow. It was so far away. I was dead tired. There was no way I could make it there.
I decided that I would need to camp at Edith Lake and try to make it to the big waterfall in the morning. It is a very steep descent down to Edith Lake on granite rock. There are cliffs that you need to avoid. In fact there are a lot of cliffs all over the place. It takes a long time to pick your way down and around them. Once down at the lake there is a lot of brush. This also took a long time to get through and find somewhere to camp. Eventually I found it: the perfect spot overlooking the lake. There was absolutely no one else around.
There were many reasons why I had not planned to camp at Edith Lake but it turned out to be the absolute best thing to do. One reason was that all the waterfalls down here were very difficult to reach. I underestimated them and could not have seen them all if I had camped elsewhere. A second reason was mosquitoes. I knew they would be horrible. HOWEVER … mosquitoes were actually a non-issue. There was a good stiff breeze on both days I camped here. There were no mosquitoes. They only came out once the wind died down after sunset and I was already in my tent. This was not luck. I am 100% certain this was a direct blessing from the Lord. There was not much wind the prior day at Lake Vernon or the day I left Edith. Only on the two precise days I was here there was a wind? That is no coincidence.
The Edith Lake waterfall drops about 215 feet into the lake. It is a pretty decent view from my campsite and this is where I photographed it. I did make an attempt to get up close to it but it proved impossible. The only way to do it would be in a raft. Am I going to drag my raft all the way down here? No chance. The hike is way too difficult. Maybe a small light dinghy would be good but I am never going to be back here again. I just enjoyed the view of the waterfall from my campsite.
Big heat wave. No trail. Two rattlesnakes (almost stepped on). One bear (a problem bear). Heavy brush. Cliffs. MAJOR creek crossing. This adventure had it all. Epic waterfall. Epic camping location. Epic beauty. Zero people. Bucket list waterfall bagged. This is YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK.
First things first. It would take two full days of hiking just to get to my waterfall (two and a half actually). My first night would be spent at Lake Vernon (a popular spot). I arrived at Hetch Hetchy entrance before 7AM. Since they are now open at sunrise (this is a new thing for this year), I thought that I could pick up my permit early. It was going to be a very hot day and I had 3000 ft. to climb. I wanted an early start. Nope. There was no one at the booth that early. I could not pick up my permit until 8AM. I waited for an hour. Thankfully the ranger was nice and let me get my permit about 15 minutes early after he started up all his machines and cleared out the moths (his words).
He said he needed to physically see my bear canister. This has never happened before but it was for an important reason. He said there was a problem bear at Lake Vernon causing havoc. (actually there were two problem bears – I learned from a second ranger later). One was a small black colored bear that was sneaking up on people and stealing food and running away with backpacks that have food in them. The second was a medium brown colored bear that apparently tore apart someone’s tent because they left sunscreen in it. I got the whole spiel from both rangers about what to do if I encounter these bears and if they cause problems. I did not mind. It is important. These bears are only problems because of dumb things that backpackers are doing and not minding or storing their food properly. I did see the brown colored bear up at Lake Vernon (not the black one). He did not cause me any problem, however. He ran away when he saw me and was about to climb up a tree. He stopped when he finally realized I was just a human. I took a quick picture and left him alone.
I saw two rattlesnakes both of which I almost stepped on. The first on the trail up to Lake Vernon. It was a big one and it did not even rattle. It was right in the middle of the trail and I almost did not see it. The second was up at Lake Vernon and this one did rattle when I almost stepped on it. Yikes! These things freak me out more than bears.
Anyway, I started my hike at about 8:30AM. Last time I went to Lake Vernon I started at 7:30 and arrived at 3PM. This time I arrived at 3:30PM. That is not too bad but I was dead tired. It was about 95 degrees this day (at the reservoir). It is a 3000 ft. climb up to Lake Vernon. It was excruciatingly hot. There were plenty of people. One big group I passed said they were going to Laurel Lake. The funny thing is there was one guy in the group that was a speed hiker. He would go way ahead of his group and then wait for them to catch up. I kept seeing him as we passed each other back and forth. He caught up with me at the junction to Lake Vernon. I wondered about this because it is two miles past the Laurel Lake junction. Sure enough he shortly came trudging back saying he went too far. Yikes that is an extra 4 miles he had to hike! On this hot day!
There were a lot of people at Lake Vernon spread out along both sides of the lake. There are plenty of spots but I prefer camping below the lake along the creek. It is much more pleasant to me to camp along a raging creek than beside a lake. I was the only one down there and had the area all to myself. Also, my primary thought was that there would not be any mosquitoes down away from the lake. I was wrong about that, there were plenty of mosquitoes, but they only came out at dusk just prior to me getting in the tent for the night.
After I ate dinner I hiked to the end of the lake where Falls Creek Falls is located. My objective here was not to go up to the big waterfall which I have done before but I wanted to get a better photo of the Middle Falls Creek Falls. I did not go to the very bottom last time which I thought was a mistake. When I arrived I realized why I did not do that before. It was difficult to get down and there were no views of it from the bottom anyway. Well I would try to rectify that nonsense. I scrambled down to the bottom, worked my way up the creek and then climbed up on a big rock at the corner and right beside the bottom of the waterfall. I got a decent view and photo. Not bad.
I returned to camp and went to bed. Tomorrow would be a very tough day …
I slept horribly in my vehicle. I do not think I got even two hours sleep. I crawled out of my sleeping bag at 4AM and drove into the park. There were a surprising number of people already up and driving into the park. Ugh. So crazy.
I was still tired from hiking the day before. My leg was still feeling cramped. On the previous day I tripped over a branch and my leg cramped up badly. I was down on the ground for five minutes before I could move. The rest of the hike I was very careful not to fall again. I was not sure how much hiking I could do on this day and I had a tough one planned.
I have always wanted to hike to the base of Ribbon Falls (on my bucket list) but this was not my initial plan. I was planning to hike up a certain trail to a new waterfall. This trail seemed to be an old road at some point in the long ago past because it had been paved and there were still remnants of this. It must have been a very bad idea to build a road here. A large number of rock slides and fallen trees have now obliterated it. It was not easy climbing over all the fallen trees and slides especially considering I was so tired to begin with, but I continued up the trail as far as I could. I was within about a mile of the waterfall and then the trail became impassable. It was just too overgrown and there was poison oak as well. Perhaps it could have been done but I did not feel like bushwhacking the last mile. I turned back. I will try this one another day via a different route.
It was still early so I decided to do the Ribbon Falls hike. If I had known how difficult it would be I probably would not have done it but then I would have missed out on something very special. There is a well defined trail up along the creek, a short distance to the waterfall. It is up hill of course but how bad could it really be? Ummm, how about very bad? You gain a whopping 1300 ft. in elevation in about a mile. There is no joking around on this trail. It is straight up!
I was dead tired when I finally came into view of Ribbon Falls. Holy camoley! What a glorious spot! The entire 1612 ft. drop of Ribbon Falls is right in your face. It is absolutely breathtaking! The entire area is very misty and wet and cold and windy, making it quite difficult to photograph. I moved back as far as I could to take photos. I rested on a rock, enjoying the tremendous view and ate my lunch. It was only 8AM or so but I was very hungry and tired.
I was just a little upset to find a large garbage bag hidden behind a rock up here. It was way too big for me to carry back down. What the hell? What jerk would haul this big bag up here and then just leave it? You can bring it up 1300 ft. and not take it back down? Unbelievable.
Reluctantly, I picked myself up and hiked back down the trail to my car and drove home. It was a glorious day in Yosemite National Park.
In 2023, of course, we had a huge winter in California. You might think that I would have gone to Yosemite National Park quite a few times last year. I did not go once. It is probably the first year ever that I did not get to Yosemite. To be true, I had 2 or 3 solid plans to go there but they all fell through for one reason or other. This year I will rectify that mistake. I have already been to Yosemite once (Eleanor Creek Falls – an amazing trip). This past weekend was my second visit and I have at least one more trip planned in the near future (backpacking permit is already in hand).
It was the Memorial Day weekend. I had no reservation to enter the park. You need a reservation. I HATE this new rule. You need to plan your trips well beforehand. I am not one to plan so far in advance, normally. I will come up with my weekend plans just a few days ahead of time. Where I go depends on many things, including the weather and what I feel most motivated to do. Oh I think I will go to Yosemite this next weekend. Not! I do not have a permit! Well, of course you can still go to Yosemite without a permit. You just need to enter the park before 5AM. That means getting up at some ungodly hour. That is a big problem as well but that is exactly what I did this long weekend.
After church on Sunday I drove to Yosemite. My plan was to do a hike in the evening to a couple new waterfalls, sleep in the car outside the park, then get up at 4AM to drive into the park and do a second hike.
These first two waterfalls are inside the park but you have to walk in, not drive in. It is about a 4.5 mile hike one way. There is a trail but it is long gone. Obliterated from recent fires and brush regrowth. There are many downed trees you have to climb over. It is very difficult. I was really worried about stepping on rattlesnakes. It is about the right elevation and with so much brush and downed trees it seemed prime location, especially beside the creek. I saw none, thankfully. It also seemed prime bear territory. I saw none of those either. Just one deer. The hike really wore me out. Was it because I am out of shape? Or was it just due to all the downed trees and bushwhacking? Probably both. The first waterfall is pictured here: Upper North Fork of South Fork Tuolumne River Falls, 44 ft. high. I knew beforehand this would not be a great waterfall as I have seen photos of it. It is a nice little cascade but nothing too exciting. I expected the lower falls to be much better, however. On Google Earth it looked to be a real nice one. Google Earth lied. It was worse than the upper falls and hardly worth taking a photo (though I did).
I got back to my vehicle after dark, very tired, bruised, and beaten. But I got two more Yosemite waterfalls under my belt. Could I get one more tomorrow? Stay tuned…
This May is our 25th wedding anniversary. If you remember last year I mentioned we were going to take a trip to Iceland. Unfortunately that fell through. My wife had a serious illness last year and she is still not recovered enough to the point where she can hike again. There is not much point going to Iceland if we cannot hike at all so we are delaying that trip for now. Instead, we decided to take a weekend trip to Shelter Cove, a place where neither of us had been before. My wife loves the ocean so it was a perfect getaway. We took our puppy Journey as well. It is a dog friendly place and she had a lot of fun running on the beaches.
The road to Shelter Cove is one of the worst I have driven. Twenty miles of head spinning, very slow going, very windy, losing your lunch type of roads. I only wanted to drive this road down and back out once and once only (but of course I drove it twice). There is little to do in Shelter Cove. Very few stores and shops. There are three beaches. We spent a lot of time on the beaches and Journey loved it. We saw a lot of wildlife: sea lions, seals, pelicans, deer, elk, and even a whale (in the far distance). We had a view of the ocean from our hotel room and could see the seals on the rocks below us. In fact, the seals were out there on the rocks the entire day, not moving at all (they were alive – I went down to check – what a life they must have!). It was a very relaxing weekend. Just what we needed.
I did have hopes of seeing at least one new waterfall in the area. The first morning I had severe pain in my neck, mostly caused by not having brought my own pillow from home. Journey was not feeling well that first day either so we decided to just sleep in. The second day we were both feeling better so we got up very early and went on a hike. We hiked all the way down to the ocean, a 1300 ft. descent. There we came across a large herd of elk (including some big ones) and they were blocking our path. They would not let us by them and in fact started to come towards us. Probably they were just curious (of Journey) but I did not feel comfortable walking by them and there was no way to get around. We had our breakfast and then hiked back up to the car.
I was disappointed since I’ll probably not ever be back there (though maybe I will someday). On the drive home I thought I should get at least one waterfall so we stopped at 50 ft. Dora Falls. It is one of the prettiest waterfalls you will ever see. It is a short hike and all three of us went up to see it. I was very happy to find that it was still in shade and good to photograph. I did not expect that since it was almost noon when we got there. It was a perfect relaxing weekend in Shelter Cove.
