Leon Turnbull Photography

(FYI, the title is from a Jars of Clay album)

I reserved my wilderness permit for Yosemite 6 months earlier. It is just a bit difficult to know 6 months in advance what the snow pack and weather are going to be like, but that is the way of it in Yosemite. If you want to get a permit for Yosemite National Park, this is what you need to do. You can always try to get a walk up permit, but do you really want to drive 300 miles and take a chance that you may or may not be able to get a permit? Some may not mind doing this, but it is not for me.

Assuming we would have an average snow pack, I reserved June 7-9, which seemed like a good time to do this hike. However, of course, we had a below average snow year. The snow is still melting in the mountains, though, and the rivers are still very high, thanks to the “miracle” March (and God). Nonetheless, ideally, I would have liked to do this hike 2 or 3 weeks earlier, mostly because the mosquitoes would be out by early June this year. I was hoping they would not be a big problem (yet). The weather was looking good. There was a delta breeze and the weather was on the cool side (not too hot); hopefully there would be a breeze in the mountains to keep the skeeters at bay, at least a little bit. All in all, June 7-9 was looking like a good weekend for a backpacking trip in Yosemite. I did good reserving 6 months in advance.

I arrived in Yosemite the day before my scheduled hike, picked up my permit, got my campsite (outside the park), and got my dinner in Groveland. I would get a very early start the next morning. I spent the evening at Rainbow Pool, watching a bunch of kids jump off the cliff. There were even some kids less than 10 years old jumping. I sure would not have let my kids jump off that cliff at such an early age! The cliff is about 30 feet high. The river is strong, and there could be an undertow at the falls. Some of the kids were jumping directly into the waterfall base, I don’t know, it seemed a bit dangerous to me, but I did not witness any casualties. After I had seen enough of this, I went down to the lower falls. It amazes me that there are so many people at Rainbow Pool, but no one ever goes down to the lower falls, which is hundreds of times better. It was early and I thought it would still be in the sun, so I did not even bring my camera. As it turned out, the falls were already in the shade. I should have brought it after all. Well, I just took some iPhone pics instead, and relaxed. It was a nice evening.

The next morning, I got to the Happy Isles trailhead at sunrise to begin my big hike. The zoo had already begun! There were already lots of people on the trail. This early! On a weekday! I could not believe it. I was hoping to be alone or mostly alone on the trail this morning. I was not expecting to see so many people this early. Who hikes this early? Besides me? I was upset. I think most of them were hiking Half Dome. It makes sense you would want an early start for that hike. If I had thought about that, I could have started my hike 30 minutes or more earlier than I did. Ugh.

One thing I wanted to do which I have not done before, is to approach Nevada Falls from the other side. I have only seen one other photo of Nevada from this side before. Everyone goes to Nevada on the trail. No ones goes off trail to Nevada Falls on the south side. It must be unbelievably difficult to get up to Nevada on the other side. Surely. Horrible. Well, it took awhile, but I managed to get up to Nevada Falls. It was amazing. It was also incredibly misty. How was I going to photograph this beast? It was wet everywhere. I found one spot that was not too bad, and took a few photos. Then I enjoyed the mist and experience of this incredible waterfall from up close before heading back down to the trail proper. As I was getting ready to leave, I dropped my camera. It landed directly on a rock. The lens hit the rock first. Oh damn. I thought it was done for. I would have to just go on back home. What would be the point of backpacking up to awesome waterfalls if I could not take any photos? Thankfully (and praise God), only the side of the lens hit the rock. Part of the side broke off, but the lens itself was untouched, and I managed to re-attach the side piece even though part of it was broken. The camera was still in perfect functioning order. Whew!

Back on the main trail, eventually I left the zoo and all the other hikers behind me, once I got past Little Yosemite Valley. I was alone, finally, just the way I like it. I saw a couple other backpackers coming down the trail, and I saw a few campers at Merced Lake, but above Merced Lake, I saw absolutely NO ONE for the entire weekend. It was fantastic. It was perfect. Actually, I was not expecting that. This is YOSEMITE after all.

I had hopes of hiking a lot further up the valley than I ended up actually hiking on the first day. It is a very tough 12 miles and 3000 ft. elevation gain to Echo Valley. I was beat. I was dead tired. I had to stop. I must stop. But where can I stop? In Echo Valley, there would be mosquitoes everywhere. (and there was). I continued on and came to Silverlace Falls. I found a nice spot at the top of the waterfall. It was open, there was a nice breeze, and there were no mosquitoes. I setup camp here, had dinner, then went to photograph some falls in the evening, including Silverlace. Day one was in the books.

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We had no mosquitoes (or very few) in West Cherry Creek Canyon. I think we hit this area at the perfect time. Everything was about to change.

We woke up fairly early, had our breakfast, and packed up camp. We had about 9 miles to hike. The temperature had skyrocketed. It would be a hot day hiking back to the trailhead, and it was best to do it in the morning.

We had one visitor at our campsite in the morning, a marmot. He was hanging out on a log by our tent, not paying much attention to us, and drinking my pee. Well actually, I think he was eating ants on the log, but it was the same place where I had been peeing. Flavored protein?

In the two days we were there, we saw no one else in West Cherry Creek Canyon. We had it all to ourselves. That is another reason it was so awesome. Being all alone in the wilderness, with no other human being within miles of you, I find that so refreshing. All that would change on the hike back, however. We saw tons of other day hikers and backpackers on the trail, on the last half of the hike especially. It was ridiculous. Most of them were not going to West Cherry Creek, likely, but still it was crazy busy.

Another thing: mosquitoes! We came to the Piute Creek crossing and all of a sudden, the mosquitoes were a force to be reckoned with. Up to that point, none. Piute Creek and from there to the end of the hike, they were all over the place. There was one backpacker we saw at Piute Creek, who said he had camped there that night, and was eaten alive. Half his arm was missing. I told him to go to West Cherry Creek. There were no buggers there. I think he was going to do it. After he applied the necessary first aid to re-attach what was left of his arm.

Five hours after we started, we arrived at the trailhead. It was hot. We were tired. But we made it. We had a glorious 3 days in West Cherry Creek Canyon. (I did, anyway).

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There was no sun at our camp in the morning. It would take awhile for the sun to penetrate those granite walls. Thus, it was very cold in the morning. We took our time eating breakfast, and packing up our camp.

It would be an easy day. We only had to hike 3 miles back to the top of the canyon. Jadon should have been much happier today. He was not. Not that he complained, but he was not enjoying himself. He was probably bored too. We got to camp before noon, then had nothing to do all afternoon, so we napped and played cards.

At around noon, I tried crossing West Cherry Creek (while Jadon waited in camp). You would think it would be utterly impossible. The inflow to Cherry Lake was about 700 cfs. West Cherry gets about half that flow, so 350 cfs. That is certainly not crossable, but right at the trail crossing, the creek splits into five separate channels, so about 70 each? But at noon, it is much less than that as well. So in other words, I crossed the creek easily. It was up to my knees, and there was a strong pull, and it was freezing cold, but it was crossable. I explored the other side of the creek, and I came up with a plan for the evening. It was a darn good plan, but sometimes plans go awry.

You see, I was 90 percent sure that we could not get to the upper falls on the near side of the creek (where we were camped). There is a granite cliff that comes down from Piute Lake right to the creek, and the main part of the waterfall is around the corner, out of sight. I was certain we would not be able to get around that corner. However, on the other side of the creek, as I explored, I could see the upper falls, and it looked easy to get up to see it. So the plan was to cross the creek in the evening, and go up to the falls on the other side.

However, one problem: in the five hours since I crossed the creek at noon, the creek level had now risen by about one foot (perhaps a bit less) due to snow melt from the heat of the day, and it was now uncrossable! It was crazy how much it had risen, and it was far too risky to cross it now. I figured I could just try it again in the morning. We decided to climb up the creek on this side and see how far we could get. Well as it turned out, this was a better plan anyway! Getting around the corner was actually very easy, and we came up to the main section of the falls, a majestic two tiered waterfall about 70 ft. high. It was a glorious spot (and much better than it would have been on the other side of the creek). I was very happy, and I would not have to cross the creek in the morning. Sleeping in was a much better option now. Yeah, now that is a good plan.

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If it looks like a river, and if it acts like a river, and if it talks like a river, then it must be a river. But in this case, it is not a river. Hiking into West Cherry Creek Canyon has been at the top of my list for awhile, and this year it was a priority to make it there. I brought my son Jadon along for this journey. It was going to be epic, I just knew it would be, and it was.

We arrived at the trailhead and started hiking around 8AM. The first day would be a 12 mile hike, but elevation gain was minimal, and we had all day to do the hike, so overall it was fairly easy. However, Jadon really struggled, especially the last part of the hike. He was very tired, his feet hurt, his shoulders hurt from the pack.

The weight of his pack was only about 20 pounds, compared to the 40 I was carrying. I carried a lot of the extra weight for the two of us (food, etc.). I would have given him more weight, but he does not get much exercise normally, so I figured he would have a hard time as it was, and so I guess I was trying to be nice. I did not mind. I am glad he came with me.

It took us about 8 hours to get to West Cherry Creek Canyon and to our campsite. As we descended into the canyon, we got our first view of the upper falls. West Cherry Creek was roaring! The creek did not look crossable. Indeed, it was not a creek, it was a river. I did not have plans to cross the creek, I just wanted to camp on this side of the creek, but I was not entirely sure if we would need to cross it to view either of the two big waterfalls. West Cherry Creek Canyon is incredibly beautiful. The scenery is among the best I have ever seen in my life. I fell in love with this canyon. I did not want to leave. Ever. The canyon is flanked by two tremendous waterfalls, both of which are well over 100 ft. high. In between, the canyon is guarded by towering and majestic granite cliff walls with no exit point save the one we entered down into. The beautiful river runs through the middle of the canyon. It is absolutely stunning.

I do not think Jadon had the same emotional experience that I did. In fact, I know he did not. I tried to get him to see it. See the beautiful green pool in the river, it looks so inviting to swim, doesn’t it Jadon. Look at the beautiful sunset light on the granite cliff, Jadon. See the moon setting over the end of the valley, Jadon. See these magnificent waterfalls, Jadon. He just seemed to be more focused on the difficulty of the hiking. Well, I really tried. Hopefully, something sunk in. I really enjoyed experiencing this with my son, and I want him to come with me on more trips in the future.

For the first day, we hiked down the valley to the lower waterfall. There was a pretty good trail through the canyon, though it was difficult to follow at times. I was surprised this section was so easy going and there was a good path. Somewhere along the way, my tripod fell out of my pack. As we neared the end, I noticed it was gone. Jadon had been behind me and apparently noticed it, and walked right by it. Oh, I saw a tripod and I was going to say something, but I did not think it was yours. What????? Whose else would it be????? Well, I had to go back and fetch it. It just gave him more time to rest.

We found a terrific campsite above the falls, setup camp, had dinner, then went down to the waterfall. This was the very tricky part. Getting down to the bottom of the waterfall was just slightly crazy. The waterfall goes over a steep granite ledge. The one and only way down is to walk down the granite rock right beside the waterfall. If the rock is wet at all, forget it. You would die. That is no exaggeration. However, the rock was completely dry. It was a bit nerve wracking, but actually quite safe. We had to be careful of course, and we scooted down on our butts on the steepest parts. Once down, we had to wait about an hour for the sun to go down before I could take photos. I explored the canyon, while Jadon napped on the rocks. It was a glorious evening.

It was supposed to be down to freezing the first night, but it did not seem to get quite that cold, though it was definitely under 40 degrees. We were prepared and we were warm enough in our sleeping bags. The only problem is that my brand new inflatable pillow has a leak. I’m going to have to return it. Argh.

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On Memorial Day weekend, I went up into the Desolation Wilderness for a quick 1 night backpacking trip to Lake Lois, a spot I’ve wanted to see for quite a while now. I’m glad I did, it was so incredibly beautiful.

I was certain there would be snow up there, so I brought my snowshoes along. I was not sure if I would need them, but I wanted to make sure that I would get to my destination successfully. The worst thing would be if I did not bring them and then have to turn back because there was too much snow to get through.

I was also concerned that the waterfalls might not be flowing at all because there was still too much snow. Surely by now, the snow would be melting and the creeks would flowing strong. It was a 50-50 chance, I estimated.

Well guess what? There was too much snow!

On the south side of the mountains, I climbed up about 1500 ft. to the top of Rockbound Pass. There was very little snow on the south side, so I was carrying the shoes the entire way. Immediately, as I got to the top of the pass at 8550 ft. elevation and started to head down on the north side, there was complete snow coverage. The snow depth was at least 4 to 5 feet, from the top of the pass all the way to Lake Lois. This was much more snow than anticipated.

Thus, I put on my snowshoes at the top of the pass and wore them the entire way from there to Lake Lois. But did I really need them? Did I really need to carry an extra 4.5 pounds all the way up to the top of the pass? (p.s. I think my snowshoes gained a pound since my last hike). As it was Memorial Day weekend, I saw quite a few other backpackers going up over Rockbound Pass. None of them had snowshoes. I was the only one. So either they were all fools, and I was the only smart one, or else I was the fool and they were all smart. So which was it? Maybe it was both and both. The snow was soft, but no one was postholing through the snow. This was the big reason I brought them along. The snow this spring has been much softer than normal, and I have seen firsthand and heard from others experiencing a lot of postholing. However, here in Desolation, it was definitely possible to walk on the snow without snowshoes. Nonetheless, the snowshoes definitely helped and made the hike much easier. All in all, I am glad I brought them. It was easier and safer walking on the soft snow with the snowshoes.

As I headed over to Lake Lois, I followed some other tracks in the snow that seemed fairly recent. It seemed as though I would have some company at Lois. Then the tracks went off in the wrong direction, down the canyon, away from Lois. There was nothing down that way. Maybe these people got lost, and I would be hearing some horror story about them in the near future. I headed off to Lois in the proper direction. As I approached the lake, however, the tracks re-appeared. I guess they managed to find the way to Lois after all.

Lake Lois was completely iced over. I could see that the inlet waterfall was still snow covered and was not flowing. Bummer! I suppose I should have known it would be like this, but I was hoping I would find it differently. Nonetheless, the lake was incredibly beautiful.

There were very few dry places to camp. Everything was in the snow. Everything that did not have snow, was all rocky. The other backpackers had snatched the one and only good place to camp, and had their tent in the only flat spot that was not rocky. I did not want to have to setup my tent in the snow. Would I have any choice? I continued to the outlet stream. I found this stream flowing quite strong. It would be tricky to cross and keep my feet dry at the same time, and I did not want to cross if I did not need to.

On the other side, everything still looked very rocky. Far off, I could see another couple backpackers, and it looked as though they were packing up and headed this way. I decided to wait for them and ask if they had a decent spot over there or not. As it turned out, they did have a very good spot on the other side. I crossed the stream where they did, which was on a flimsy looking snow bridge over the creek. Would it hold up? I’m sure I weighed more than they did, especially with my 4.5 pound snowshoes.

Well I did not fall through the snow, and I made my way over to the camp. There was really only one spot, but it was perfect, with a nice flat area to setup my tent, probably better than the spot where the other backpackers were. Fantastic. I got everything set up, had my lunch and relaxed for the afternoon. It was nice and warm when the sun was out, but when the clouds covered the sun, it was quite chilly.

In the late afternoon, I wanted to check out the lower outlet stream. I put on my snowshoes and wandered downstream. It was very easy going and the descent was gentle. There was one steep part, for which I took off my snowshoes to make sure I had good traction going down. After this, the snow disappeared, and it became much easier to hike down the mountain.

The creek gave up its gentle descent and made a big drop. I found two fantastic waterfalls, a 50 ft. cascade, followed by a 60 ft. drop. It was easy to get down to see both of these, and they were not snow covered! I was a very happy camper. This made the long hike to Lake Lois all worthwhile.

I got back to camp, and got ready for bed. I had the entire area on this side of the creek to myself, no one else around. It would be around 38 degrees or so this night. I had a new 17 degree sleeping bag so I was not cold at all, but I could not sleep very well. I just could not get comfortable on my sleeping pad. I do not know why. It was a restless night.

In the morning, I got up fairly early, but not too early. I packed up my gear and took my time eating breakfast before heading out. The snow was much harder in the morning and in fact, it was easier hiking in my boots and so I carried my snowshoes all the way back, not using them at all.

Back up on top of the pass fairly quickly, it was a long descent from there back to the car. No more snow. I saw some marmots, 5 or 6 of them, and they let me get close enough to them to take photos and video. Cute fur-balls. I was hot and tired when I got back to the car, but it was sure a fantastic trip to Lake Lois in Desolation Wilderness.

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