We hiked 11.4 miles yesterday from Tuolumne Meadows down the Tuolumne River to the head of Yosemite's Grand Canyon in preparation for next week's backpacking trip deep into the Ansel Adams Wilderness. It was our longest day hike ever by more than a mile.
When we take new trails, there is always a surprise awaiting us. On this trip, we had no idea we would be fording one river and several creeks along the way. In fact, the one river involved a 100 foot crossing in thigh deep, freezing cold water. It left us both with squishy boots for the remainder of the hike, but aside from one blister, and two tired bodies, we made it just fine.
This concluded our three days of hiking in Yosemite. We're going to take it easy over the weekend, eat out at some resturants, listen to some live music, hang out at the house, and make sure we have everything packed for our 20 mile journey to the base of Mount Ritter and Banner Peak starting early Monday morning.
To summarize Yosemite, it has the most varied landscape of any National Park we have yet to visit. From the insanely crowded Yosemite Valley, to the numerous high meadows, innumerable rivers, creeks, and high alpine mountains of the relatively quiet eastern side of the Park, it struck me as a combination of The Tetons, Yellowstone, and Olympic Mountains all rolled into one.
I'll add on some more photos of the past week's hikes, as well as some photos from around the house, over the weekend.
That's all for now. I'm headed back to the couch.
Ben
No comments:
Post a Comment