I'm going to start with our most recent trip.
To backpack in Yosemite, one needs to either be very organized and a plan far ahead, or be willing to endure a series of strenuous early hour-long wait sequences. We, of course are far from organized, so to obtain a backpacking permit for our chosen "Glen Aulin" trail, we had to stand in line the day before.
Mehdi and I left for Yosemite around 2pm July 25th and arrived at the park's gates around 5pm. Our backpacking permit pick-up location was one the other side of the park at Tuolumne Meadows. From the entrance to Tuolumne Meadows is about 1.5 hours. Once there, we went to the closest campgrounds and realized they were all packed full. We had heard that in order to successfully obtain a permit, people stand in line form 3am. To make sure that we had an opportunity to get the permit, we decided to spend the night in the car and hit the line at the break of dawn. The car was surprisingly comfortable, once all the food was stowed in the bear boxes and the chairs were brought down, the sleeping mats were laid out, the sleeping bags unrolled and Mehdi's position confirmed so that his long legs would be comfortable.
Our alarm went off at 5:30, and we jumped out of the car with our jetboil, tea bags, biscuits and two mugs to stand in line. We were first! I sat on the rock right behind the sign that read "The Line Starts Here." Almost instantaneously, several other groups came out of their car and stood in line. The Tuolumne permit office didn't start giving out permits for the next day until 11am, so safe to say all of us in line ended up becoming pretty good friends by the end.
Once we had our permit, we headed over to the backpacking base camp and reserved a campsite, and then went and explored Yosemite Valley. It was Mehdi's first time. It was also our anniversary! And we searched for a nice place to eat lunch, and escape the heat and couldn't find anywhere but the crowded food court with frozen burgers. :-)
The backpacking base camp was very cozy and crowded. Our site alone had at least 4 parties camping in it, but everyone was really friendly. We met a young man who was doing the entire John Muir Trail in 11 days for his fourth time! Quite the inspiration.
At 7:30am the next day, we met my mom and Milad at Tenaya Lake. We parked one car there and all drove in the other car to the Glen Aulin trail head. After putting all food goodies in the bear boxes at the trail head and adjusting our bags we started on the trail at 9:00am.
The trail was about 6.5 miles. It was gorgeous, stunning, and not difficult at all. It was mostly flat with a few downhill stretches. The trail rain along limpid waters and across large granite surfaces. If it weren't for the stacked rocks, we would have surely lost our way. At about 3 hours, we got to the sign marking Glen Aulin, and it was another .3 to High Sierra base camp. We walked for another 20 minutes before we were welcomed by a wide, but short waterfall running into a dark blue and green swimming hole.
We crossed two bridges over the water and then entered High Sierra camp. High Sierra camp has a store and several tent lodges. You have to walk past the lined tents and the dinky store before getting into the backpacking campground. We picked an amazing campsite farther away and more elevated.
A note of caution: Bear boxes are only located near High Sierra Camp. There is only two and they are incredibly fetid and disgusting. We were very happy that we had brought our own bear canisters, (one for every two of us).
Our first night was incredible. My mom and Milad took a nap since they had been driving from 2am, but I couldn't resist. I wore my swim pants, and went right down to the waterfall. The water was so much warmer than I expected. It was so refreshing and calming to swim in natural waters. Mehdi came along, he waded up to his knees and took photos. We made a cup of tea, as I shivered from the cool breeze on my wet clothes, before making our way back to camp. After changing and drying off, I woke up my mom and Milad and we made coffee and tea and snacked on dried fruits under the sun on a large piece of granite, secluded from any other group. Afterwards, I followed my mom down to the brook using the small path we had in our campsite. And in less than 10 minutes we were both in the water. We tempted Milad in, as well.
On Saturday, we day hiked to the "Water Wheels." It was only 3.5 miles, but a steep downhill in one direction. We found a magical place to sit and eat lunch right at the edge of the Water Wheels. Our hike back was an intense climb in striking, draining heat. But once we returned, we stopped at the Glen Aulin falls and all went in for a swim. I was so happy that I seized the moment and swam yesterday, because on Sunday the water felt far far colder.
On Sunday, we woke up at 7:00, ate a delicious breakfast of oatmeal and peanut butter and then backed up. We were taking a different route back, that began at the same place that marked the "Glen Aulin" location and "High Sierra Camp .3 mi." It went past Murphy Creek and came out at Tenaya Lake. The pros of this trail was that it offered variation in scenery. It moved through forests rather than large open spaces of granite. For this reason, it also offered a cool shade. But it was filled with mosquitos. We could barely sit for a water break without feeling at least two pinch at our legs or necks. It was also relatively flat. We made it back in 4 hours, drove back with the car parked at Tenaya Lake, picked up our goodies from the bear box, returned the bear canisters to Tuoloumne Meadows and began the four hour drive home (with a stop for a hearty pizza lunch, and iced coffee).
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