Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite

TUOLUMNE MEADOWS, YOSEMITE.

For my birthday this year, I went on a 3 day weekend trip to Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon National Park. 3 parks in 3 days…if you’re thinking that’s a lot to do in very little time… you are right.

This was day 1:

Now that highway 120 finally opened up for the season, Tuolumne Meadows was on our to-visit list before the end of the year.

Tuolumne

This was a very spontaneous, do-whatever-comes-to-mind sort of trip. We arrived in Tuolumne Meadows, took a look at the provided map plus newspaper guide, picked a moderate trail that leads to a lake, and off we went.

We decided on Elizabeth Lake. With a distance of 4.5 miles, we underestimated the effects of altitude and hiking uphill for the first 2 miles drained me. We even stopped by the creek to take a breather and filter water (just to try out some of that Yosemite water)

The payout was worth it when we came across these views. It felt like I had stepped into the cover of a backpackers magazine.

Taken with iphone:

With all the rain and snow from the last winter season, the water levels were high. We found the usual crossing hikers take to get to the lake, but it looked to be knee to thigh deep and we didn’t want to walk through the rocky riverbed… so we hiked another half mile further down the trail (it’s a backpacking trail that leads to another lake higher up) and found a narrower section where we used our trekking poles to get us across.

The lesson I learned from that day: Never forget mosquito repellent. We had to put our jackets on and leave prematurely because were being eaten alive. So much for having a relaxed snack by the lake. We didn’t even bother with pictures.

The weather has been weird in California. A storm started brewing on our way back down and about half a mile from our car, the loud clash of thunder struck behind us, shaking us up a bit. It was a bit too close for comfort, and the storm caught up just as we made it back to the car.

No dome hiking this time around — time to go.

*…2018 is here. I know I’ve been neglecting this for a while, but I built a new pc recently, so maybe I’ll get around to writing again.