Impromptu trip to Yosemite

After our family trip to Sequoia and Yosemite, and only getting a taste of Yosemite, I wanted to get more of the Yosemite experience. The weekend of July 30th provided the opportunity. I had two days of meetings in San Francisco on Wednesday and Thursday. I checked with my wife to see how she felt about me spending the weekend in the Yosemite backcountry with a buddy that I was working with in San Francisco. She thought it was a great opportunity for me to see the Yosemite backcountry and said I should go. That set the short term planning in motion.

We would have part of Friday after driving up from San Francisco, all of Saturday and part of Sunday, needing to be on the last plane home to Dallas by 5pm. My first idea was to do a 26-mile loop near the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. After consulting my hiking partner, we decided we wanted something a bit more leisurely, so another co-worker recommended the Ten Lakes area. This would be an out-and-back 6.5 miles each way and about a 2,000 foot elevation gain and 600 foot loss on the way in. I checked with the backcountry office and we were able to reserve permits for the area, amazing considering this was planned about a week in advance.

On Friday, we drove up from the San Francisco area. It took about 4 hours to get to the park. We picked up our permits and proceeded to the Ten Lakes trailhead. We unloaded all our gear, stashed our smelly items in the parking lot bear boxes and had a little lunch consisting of Hickory Smoked Tuna in a Tortilla. We saddled up and were on the trail by 1:30pm. With 6.5 miles and 2,000 feet + / 600 feet - to go, we estimated we'd be at Ten Lakes by around 4:30 or 5:00.

The trail starts off with a slow, gradual incline for the first 2.5 miles or so. You meander through wooded areas and out onto granite slabs occasionally. It was cool in the shade, but on the granite slabs, in the sunlight, it was extremely warm and dry. If you are going to do this hike, be sure you fill up with water at the trailhead. There are not a lot of water sources until you hit about mile 2.5 where you will cross a small creek, which could be dry later in the summer. This is also where the incline gets severely steeper. I think you go up about 500 feet in the first 2.5 miles and 1500 feet in the second 2.5 miles to the pass. The scenery also changes here, as you enter a more wooded area and passing an occasional meadow. The wildflowers in the meadows were beautiful. Yellows, blues, reds and whites were in abundance. There is also more water sources in this section, just be sure you are filled up prior to hitting around 9300 feet and around mile 4. This is where you are nearing the pass and there will be no more water until you reach Ten Lakes.





We stopped a few times on the way up for breaks. We had come from Dallas (near sea level) to Costa Mesa (at sea level) to San Francisco (at sea level) straight to the Ten Lakes trailhead at around 7500 feet. This provided no time to acclimate. Our sea level lungs were having difficulties in the thin air at around 9000 feet. We ended up arriving at our campsite around 5:30pm, which was not too bad.

We made camp and started working on dinner. Our first nights meal was a Mountain House lasagna with meat sauce and some tortillas for dipping and sopping up the goodness. Paired with dinner was a fine Maker's Mark and Coke, which was chilled over what little snow we could find and put in an inverted frisbee. This would keep us warm for the first night with temperatures dropping into the low- to mid-40s. We stayed around camp and went down to the lake's edge for a few pictures. Here are some from near our campsite.







The next morning, I experimented with breakfast, based on a tip I got from Backpacker Magazine for cooking pancakes in the backcountry. Theirs were actually beer pancakes, but I opted for just plain old Bisquick and water. Just buy the bottles of Bisquick that you add water, shake and pour. Empty the Bisquick contents into a ziploc bag at home. When you are ready to make them in camp, just add the water and compress the ziploc to mix it up. Once mixed, snip a small hole in one of the bottom corners to pour it out of into your fry pan. I brought a small eye dropper bottle with some maple syrup as well. What a tasty treat.

After breakfast, we decided to do a short day hike past the next lake to the northeast of our campsite, and head north along a 9000 foot ridge around Grand Mountain. This should put is in a position to look at the Grand Canyon of the Tuolomne River. This is a 4000+ foot deep canyon that cuts through the Yosemite backcountry, north of Tioga Road from the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir to Glen Aulin. We would follow this ridge line around, boulder hopping occasionally and doing our own route finding as there is no visible trail. The route finding is not difficult, but my HighGear altimeter watch made sure we stayed around 9000 feet, which was extremely helpful.

Once out on the north end of Grand Mountain, we had some decent views of the Grand Canyon of the Tuolomne valley. We couldn't see completely into the Canyon, but the Valley is breathtaking.



We arrived back at camp in time for some lunch, a quick rinse in the lake and a nice hour long nap. Rick found comfort in his hammock and I laid out my Big Agnes Insulated Air Core mattress on a flat piece of ground with my Thermarest Compressible Pillow.

Later in the afternoon, we set out on another short day hike. This time, we would ascend about 500 vertical feet in a little over 1 mile to the highest and largest of the Ten Lakes. The first half mile or so of this hike from our campsite consumed most of the 500 vertical feet, so it was pretty steep. In the process, though, we were served up some spectacular views of the lake where we were camping at a couple of the 180 degree switchback turns. Here's a sample of what we were blessed with.



The lake at our destination was as gorgeous as the others we had seen, but seemed to be much less populated, probably due to the additional climb required to get here from the trailhead. We were also treated to someone in the distance playing their harmonica. It was a brief, but very tranquil moment. If I ever make it back to this area, this high lake may be a great spot to camp.



We turned around and headed back to our camp, arriving shortly before dinner time, allowing us some more down time to sit and soak our feet in the lake and watch a group of Dads and their teenage sons fish. Dinner tonight would be a Backpacker's Pantry Santa Fe Chicken with some tortillas, and of course, Maker's Mark and Coke. On this night, as well, we decided to have a campfire. Campfires are allowed below 9600 feet in the Yosemite backcountry, in established fire rings. It was nice to sit next to the fire, sipping a bit of Maker's, and re-visiting the past two days, and starting to plan the next trip.





In the morning, we packed up camp, ate some oatmeal with our coffee and tea, and bid farewell to our short-term home in the woods. Before heading out, we snapped a great photo from our campsite looking out over the lake. This is definitely a place I would come back to.



This was also a great warm-up for my next trip in a week, where I'm headed back to the same general area, but heading into the Ansel Adams Wilderness within the Inyo National Forest. This trip, I will be taking my wife and my two oldest children, ages 13 and 11. Look for that trip report soon.

2010 Summer Trip Part 2 - Yosemite National Park

On Day 11 of our Summer Trip, we left Sequoia National Park and headed about 3 hours north to Yosemite National Park. We had tried to book campsites well in advance for Yosemite, but found out later that the campsites book up for the entire year in the first 7 minutes the reservation system opens for the season. So, we were just going to spend the afternoon in Yosemite Valley. As with most of this trip, we were seeing places not even the Canyon Man has seen. This would be everyone's first glimpse of this slice of Heaven on Earth.

We entered the park from the South, through Wawona. If you ever plan a trip to YOSE (pronounced Yo-see) and the Valley, I recommend coming through the South Entrance. Doing so offers up a dramatic entry into the Valley. You drive through a short tunnel and emerge into Eden. I had seen pictures and was in awe of the grandeur of this hallowed ground. You quickly understood why John Muir fought so vehemently to save this land for future generations to see. As beautiful as it looks in photographs, the 2-dimensional images do it no justice, it must be seen in person to behold.

Thanks to the late snow and the heavy snow melt, the waterfalls were gushing as if a dam had broken open. It was a site to see. You immediately are hit in the face with the distinctive Bridalveil Falls to the right and the behemoth slab of granite that is El Capitan. Immediately upon exiting the tunnel, there are turnouts and parking lots on either side of the road. You can stop and snap your own memory. Above is a panoramic I took.

We arrived to the valley around 2pm and we knew we only had a few hours. We headed straight away to Yosemite Village where we would park and grab some food and head out on a short hike. After speaking to some of the workers and explaining we wanted big payoff for little time, they recommended the short hike up to Lower Yosemite Falls. It's a short, paved trail leading you right to the base of the lower half of the two-part fall. Upper Yosemite Falls is reachable, but requires a bit more time than we had. We were not disappointed.

We passed through some groves of large pines and redwoods along Yosemite Creek. Although crowded, it is still quite peaceful. You round a bend and you notice immediately probably a 15-20 degree temperature drop and see large quantities of mist in the air. A few steps onto the bridge and you see the Lower Falls. Very impressive. I recommend wearing a light jacket when visiting any of the falls in Yosemite. The temperature drops dramatically and you will get wet. Here's a couple of shots of the Lower Yosemite Falls.

And from a distance, here is a shot of the Upper Yosemite Falls. There is a trail that leads you to the top.

On the way out of the Valley, we stopped near a meadow with a great shot of El Capitan. El Capitan is a revered climbing spot and often time requires multi-day climbs. If you are not familiar with how someone might achieve a multi-day climb, I offer this photo of a climbers PortaLedge. From Wikipedia - A portaledge is a deployable hanging tent system designed for rock climbers who spend multiple days and nights on a big wall climb. There is also a picture of a couple of guys climbing up together with their gear hanging below them.

We were running out of daylight and wanted to get over Tioga Pass and off Tioga Road before dark. For those not familiar with this area, Tioga Road takes you through some of the majestic backcountry of Yosemite including the famed Tuolumne Meadows. The road reaches elevations near 10,000 feet and is impassable most of the year. It had been opened only a week or two before we arrived, and still had 8 foot snow drifts on the side of the road in places. It is a high winding road which is reason enough to not attempt the drive in the dark, but I also wanted to be able to see some of the backcountry areas I wish to return to at some time. This pristine backcountry appears to be very special and I look forward to spending time basking in it. Below is a shot of one of the lakes along Tioga Road, I believe it to be Siesta Lake, but I could be wrong.

Finally, just prior to darkness, we arrived at Lee Vining, the eastern end of Tioga Road. Here is a shot of the moon shining over the snow that lined most of the higher elevations of Tioga Road. It's unbelievable that this was the middle of June.

While our time in Yosemite was short, it was very memorable and inviting us to come back. Myself, my wife and my two oldest children are already booked for a backcountry trip towards the end of the summer, maybe 15 miles from the spot in this picture above. We are going backpacking in the Inyo National Forest and the Ansel Adams Wilderness. I am so looking forward to that.

I heard about that particular spot from Anthony Jones of Anthony's Audio Journal. His is a terrific podcast that details some of his day hikes and overnights in and around areas in Southern California, one of my favorite places to go. If you are a fan of the outdoors, I highly recommend giving him a listen, along with my faves, the Southeastern Backpackers, Rylan and Golden. These are two terrific ways to find some fabulous places to visit. They give you the sense of being there and make you want to follow in their footsteps.

2010 Summer Trip Part 1 - Sequoia and King's Canyon NP

On Day 8 of a 16 day epic trip, we arrived at Sequoia National Park in California. By this point, we have driven almost 2,000 miles and had spent 3 days at the beach and 2 days at some of California's theme parks. It was time for a little relaxation and enjoying the great outdoors. This was to be the first trip to Sequoia by anyone in the family. We had no idea what to expect apart from seeing some of the largest trees in the world.

We arrived from the south, through Bakersfield. Of the nearly 2,000 miles we had driven to this point, about 1,900 of it had been through various parts of the desert that is the great Southwest United States. The sudden emergence of pine forest was a welcome sight. Equally as welcoming was the cooler temperatures. We went from 100 degrees in Bakersfield to 68 at our home for the next 4 days in the Lodgepole Campground. Overnight lows, in June, were expected to be mid-30's to lower 40's with daytime highs in the low to mid 70's. The perfect camping weather.

We arrived later than we had planned, requiring a fast camp set up in the dark, along with a mad dinner prep. Having done this many times over the past 10 or so years, our family has learned to work well with each other. Everyone knows their assignments and carries them out quite well. My oldest son, Fire Man, is responsible for setting ablaze the camp fire and preparing the grill for some well deserved meat. My wife, daughter and oldest son take care of setting our tents up, a two-man and a four-man tent. I offload all of the gear and distribute to the appropriate family members while I also prepare the dinner. The two little guys, are responsible for playing and staying out of the fire. They also help carry small gear and setting up the camp chairs. Within about an hour, the gear is unloaded, the tents are erected and dinner is almost ready to be eaten. This same ritual will be replayed a few days later when we arrive around the same time on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

After dinner, we had the chance to meet our neighbors, who kindly provided us with some firewood for the evening, until we could get some from the store the next day. They were a kind family from San Diego, up for a few days. They had brought their dogs with them, which I had concerns about, but the dogs proved to be very well behaved and caused no issues.

Prior to turning in for the evening, we started what would be the nightly ritual of loading everything with a scent into the campground-provided bear box. As we would find out over the next few days, there is a fairly substantial bear population in Sequoia National Park. And as these are siblings of the Yosemite Bears, there are strict regulations that must be followed to protect you and the bears.

The next morning, we awoke to a brisk 40 degree morning, it was 35 overnight. My morning ritual began with getting water boiling for tea and coffee and starting a campfire to warm my troop when they would arise. Our plan for the day was to go on a hike near General Sherman's Tree, the largest tree in the world, through the Giant Forest and then determine if we wanted to make it a loop or come out and take the shuttle back to the car. After breakfast, we gathered the gear and the kids and headed to the trailhead.

From the Sherman Tree Parking lot, we would descend a couple hundred feet in a half-mile to the General Sherman Tree. We had seen several of the Giant Sequoia trees coming in, but this one is massive. It doesn't come into perspective until you place something of known size next to it.

We continued down the Congress path through several groves of Sequoias, including the Senate and the Presidents. We stopped for lunch underneath the Senate grove. Continuing on after lunch, we headed towards Circle Meadow and the Bears Bathtub, where we encountered our first bear. It was a cub, playing and eating in the meadow.

You can see in this picture, we were close enough. The boys kept trying to get closer, but we pulled them back. Knowing this was a cub, I surmised that Momma couldn't be too far behind, so I directed us away from the bear and up onto a ridge away from the meadow where we would meet the trail on the other side of the meadow. As soon as we got up high enough on the ridge and around a grove of trees, we spotted Momma Bear, right on the trail. She spotted us, let us know she was there and that she didn't want us any closer, but stayed put. We went about our business and carried forth. Definitely an exciting first day. We would spot several more bears in meadows, but none as close as this pair.

After about 3.5 miles, we arrived at the Crescent Meadow parking lot. Everyone had had enough excitement and danger for the day, so we caught the next shuttle back to the parking lot. Although, the shuttle driver added to our danger and excitement by driving well over the posted speed limit around the many curves through the park.

Back at the Lodgepole Campground, we made a stop into the Lodgepole Village Store. If you ever come to Sequoia and camp here, I definitely recommend a stop in the store. They have quite a variety of items including a full grocery store, camping gear, souvenirs, beer and wine and firewood, something we were in desperate need of. We purchased some kindling and firewood and ice and went back to the campsite to start preparing dinner and turn in for the evening.

On Day 3 in Sequoia, we planned a hike up to Tokopah Falls. The trailhead leaves directly from the Lodgepole Campground. This is a moderate out-and-back hike, 1.7 miles each way with an elevation gain of probably 500-700 feet. The payoff is a giant waterfall at the back of Tokopah Valley.

The trail starts with a fairly strenuous stretch of switchbacks up a series of rock outcroppings alongside the roaring Marble Fork of the Kaweah River. We stopped many times to look at various waterfalls and rapids along the way. The kids found many different species of lizards on the trail as well. About halfway up, we started finding large patches of snow, which the kids loved to jump and play on.

At the end of the Valley, we stopped in front of Tokopah Falls for lunch on a large boulder within the Mist from the waterfall. The temperature dropped probably 10-15 degrees from the trail to the point where we took this picture. It was a terrific place for a picnic lunch.

After powering up with some protein and chocolate, we headed back the way we came. We stopped to filter water once on the way down. The kids enjoy using my water filter and drinking "Glacier Water". Near the end of the trail, we stopped to take a break. Everyone was exhausted and leaned on Daddy.

We arrived back at camp with enough time to explore the area near our campsite. The Lodgepole Campground is a wonderful area. There are plenty of trees to shade your sites. They have full-hookups for trailers, they have semi-primitive and primitive campsites as well. All are near the Marble Fork and are all near the Lodgepole Village, which includes a visitor center, store, post office and public showers. I would highly recommend this as a spot to camp any time you come to Sequoia.

The next morning, we were to pack up and head out after 4 nights, 2 short days and 2 great long days of exploring. This is definitely on the list of places to come back to.

Next stop, a short visit to Yosemite National Park.

Remembering Gary Mittelholtz - Gary "The Outdoors Guy"

For those who may have not heard, we have lost a friend. A friend, whom I've never met face-to-face, but I feel like I know very well. Gary Mittelholtz was the voice behind one of my favorite podcasts, Doing Stuff Outdoors. According to his site, he was an avid outdoor enthusiast, video producer, writer and recently retired broadcast journalist with over 30 years experience in radio and television. He’s currently the Publisher/Editor of a community newspaper serving the River Valley area of southern New Brunswick and a New Media Content Creator. Gary passed away on March 13, 2010 while enjoying one of his favorite outdoor activities, cross-country skiing. An article is published on the CBC website at http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2010/03/14/nb-gary-mittelholtz-obit-342.html.

Gary's podcast was the first outdoors-related podcast I ran across. His love of the outdoors and willingness to share it with me and others was extremely inspirational. It's hard to believe someone as active and young as Gary could be taken so suddenly. My thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family.

I had always hoped to meet up with him on a snowshoe or a hike on the trail. He will be missed. I am on one of my family camping trips that I would have loved to share with Gary "The Outdoors Guy". I know he's looking down from above and will be enjoying all the stories we have to share. There will always be thoughts of him on all of my Outdoor Adventures.

Gary will be missed.

Review of the Mont-Bell U.L. Down Inner Jacket

I received the Mont-Bell U.L. Down Inner Jacket as a Christmas Gift from my Mother-in-Law. Way to go MiMi! I had been searching for an alternative to carrying a fleece. As I mentioned in some of my earlier posts, I'm not a rabid ultralighter... yet. However, after carrying my fleece and my sons' fleece jackets on numerous day hikes, I figured there had to be a solution to the problem of warmth without the weight.

After hearing about people wearing "down sweaters" I did a bit of research. I first looked into the down vests by The North Face. It seemed like a good choice, but was still a bit bulky. I then heard from a friend who was a huge fan of the Patagonia Down Sweater. These were terrific, but the price was a bit high, somewhere around $200 USD.

Then, on a business trip to Boulder, CO, I stumbled upon the Mont-Bell Flagship store. I really enjoy Boulder! If you ever get the chance to go to Boulder, you gotta stop in the Mont-Bell store. It's a Candy Store for gear heads. Anyway, they turned me on to their U.L. Down Inner Jacket, which can be part of a layering system. Take a good base layer, then through your U.L. Down Inner Jacket over it, then put a wind-proof, water-proof shell over it and you'll be roasty, toasty warm. The price is right, at $150 USD. Ordering off the Mont-Bell site, I saved tax and shipping due to a promo they had going on. It weighs in at around 7 ounces, is stuffed with 800-fill power down and compresses down to the size of a softball. It is going to be ideal for backpacking in the higher elevations and for those shoulder seasons.

I was hoping I would get the chance to use it and this winter has been a proving ground for it. We've had record snow falls in Dallas and have had many more cold days than I can remember. I unfortunately haven't had the chance to wear it on the trails to see how it performs, but having worn it in Appleton, WI in near 0 degrees, I can tell you it is plenty warm. I wear my REI Taku Jacket, which I reviewed here, over it and I'm more than comfortable.

So far, I'm more than pleased and am looking forward to field testing it. I will let you know when I do.

2009 - Boys Only Campout in the Wichitas - Day 1

Every year for the past 7 years, my sons and I, my brother-in-law and his sons, my father-in-law and other brother-in-law have taken a trip to the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge (WMWR) near Lawton, Oklahoma. On these trips, we generally spend 2 days hiking, bouldering and rock climbing. This year, for the first time, it was just my oldest son (12), myself, my brother-in-law and his son (11). So, this time we felt we'd be a little adventurous. We got more than we bargained for!

For those who have never been to the WMWR, it is an extremely rugged piece of property near Fort Sill outside of Lawton, Oklahoma. The mountains are small compared to most ranges in the Rockies and even the Applachians, but there are few maintained trails and the terrain is generally covered with very large chunks of granite strewn about. You must keep a watchful eye on the trail at your feet to avoid twisting an ankle or stumbling and doing a face plant into the 10 grit sandpaper-like rocks.

This year started off like others, leaving early out of the Dallas / Fort Worth area around 6:00 AM and driving Northwest through Wichita Falls, TX and then North towards Lawton, OK. We arrived at the WMWR around 10:30 AM. We had several options for our first day. We originally thought about top-roping The Atomic Knee Drop just below the top of 2,464 foot Mt. Scott. We had all done this a few years prior. It is fairly easy to set up a top rope and has a 5.6 difficulty rating, so for our sons and myself, it is a challenging, but not extremely difficult. There is an added difficulty climbing on Mt. Scott as the winds generally howl as you are probably 1,000 feet above the surrounding land. Just beyond Mt. Scott is a large wind farm, harnessing these forces of nature.

On this day, we called an audible and decided to make an assault on Elk Mountain via the 5.6 Great Expectations route on the Elk Slab, but first, we made a brief stop at the Doris Campground and set up camp. Next, we made the short drive over to the Sunset day use area parking lot. Prior to setting out on our hike, we had some lunch, filled our backpacks with water and trail snacks and prepared to leave. By this time it was about 11:45AM. Due to the excitement and anticipation, we weren't even thinking about this possibly being a bit late to start the hike.

From the parking lot, we headed west about 1/2 mile toward the Charons Gardens Wilderness Area to a dry wash and then head due south about another 1/2 mile into the Valley of the Boulders. This boulder field is littered with granite behemoths the size of small homes. Below is a picture taken a few years ago with us standing under some of the boulders in the boulder field.

You must boulder-hop probably another 1/2 mile through the Valley of the Boulders. The Valley of the Boulders is bordered to the east by Elk Mountain and to the west by Charons Garden. While in the boulder field, you will see one of the many iconic rock formations in the Refuge, the Apple and the Pear shown here.

Just beyond the Valley of the Boulders, the trail divides into three directions east, south and west. West takes you into Charons Gardens and towards Crab Eyes, a distinctive rock formation that we plan to visit on our second day. South takes you towards Indiahoma and the Treasure Lake Job Corps Center. East takes you around the south side of Elk Mountain and into Fawn Creek, which is our chosen path for today.

After about a 1/2 mile of attempting to follow the vague resemblance of a trail, we bushwhacked up to the base of Elk Slab to start our climb. A short scramble up a drainage puts you on a small ledge where my brother-in-law began setting up the ropes for a multi-pitch lead climb. My brother-in-law is an experienced climber and has spent around 25 years climbing in the Wichitas. He led me and my other brother-in-law on our first climbs 10 years ago on this very route. Prior to that climb, I had never attempted to climb even a rock wall in a gym. Since then, I've climbed pretty much every year in the Wichitas. I've also climbed in several rock gyms, but still consider myself a novice climber.

It took a little longer than expected getting to the base of the slab and getting set up. We did not have everything ready to climb until around 2:30 PM. Being on Standard Time, we were expecting it to get dark around 5:30 PM, but felt we could complete the route in about 3 hours. We were fully expecting to hike down the east side of Elk Mountain in the dark, but were prepared with our head lamps.

One critical detail we were forgetting was that we had 4 people on the climb and only 2 ropes. This meant that we would need to shuttle ropes at each pitch. My brother-in-law would lead climb and set up protection with me belaying him from below. At each pitch, he would clip into some form of bomber protection and then begin top-roping each of us up. The second and third climbers would tail a rope that we would use to pull the top-rope down to the next climber. As the fouth and final climber, I would remove the protection and meet up with everyone that was clipped into the protection and we would start the proces over again through three pitches. This is a picture of my son heading up the first pitch. Note the rope he is tailing.

We were between our second and third pitch when the sun dipped below the horizon. As it did, we could see Crab Eyes off in the distance. With the sun below them, it gave the appearance of the eyes glowing. All four of us were huddled together, clipped into a bolt with a piece of webbing each holding us from sliding down about 300 feet of granite. Unable to dig into my backpack for our headlamps, we finished our climb with the assistance of a bright half-moon glow, one-by-one feeling our way up the rock.

Once we were at the top of the climb, we still needed to navigate our way through another boulder field and then find the trail down to the parking lot in the dark. It took us around 1 hour of trial-and-error searching to get through the boulder field. Then, we walked around for another hour looking for the trail. At this point, we stopped and took a break. It was nearing 9:00 PM and we still had not found the trail. The temperature was beginning to drop and were expected to plummet into the upper 20's over night, so it was imperative we find the trail and get down. I pulled out my map and compass and determined that we needed to head due east to find a ridge which would then lead us to the trail. Within about 15-20 minutes, we found the trail and headed down.

As with most of the trails in the WMWR, this trail is not extremely worn or well marked. Navigating them in the daylight is sometimes a challenge, in the dark with headlamps adds a high degree of difficulty. Getting off trail multiplies that degree of difficulty by requiring bushwhacking through scrub oaks and briar bushes while avoiding large boulders that cannot be downclimbed or navigated around forcing you to backtrack occasionally. It took us an hour and a half to get down, emerging from our journey precisely at the parking lot where the truck was parked around 11:00 PM.

We were all extremely cold, hungry, thirsty and tired, but we were safe and glad to be down. We first headed to town to see if we could find some grub, but everything was closed, so we turned around and headed back to camp and crawled into our tents and bags until morning. My brother-in-law had to fight off the racoons who invaded our camp taking off with most of our breakfast including about a half pound of bacon and a half pound of ham. It would be eggs and toast for breakfast.

RMNP Backcountry Trip - Day 4

Day 4... the final day started out early. Everyone was to be up by 6am so we could break camp, eat breakfast, touch the glacier and be heading down towards the Wild Basin Trailhead by 9am. Again, it was a chilly morning at 10,600 feet, but perfect for backcountry living. It was sad to think that this would be the last morning in the Rockies for a while. I have grown to have a great desire to live in this part of the world. I've only got to convince the family of it. Maybe some day, but for now, I will settle for my occasional trips to the region and savor them when I get 'em.

First things first though. We've got a bit of business to do. We've got a glacier that needs to be touched. We packed everything up and carried it down to the trail junction. One way leading out and one way leading us to Thunder Lake. We dropped our packs at the trail junction and headed over to Thunder Lake. There is a trail between the Ranger cabin and the lake which will take you around the backside of the lake and lead you to the moraine where the glacier sits. On the west side of the lake, I snapped this picture as the sun was coming up. It was a very tranquil morning.

We arrived at the moraine by around 7am. By now, the temperatures were warming up, so we shed a few layers and headed up the short scramble to the glacier. For a Texas boy, touching snow in August is almost unheard of and is quite a thrill. What a fitting end to a great trip. The boys had put in a lot of hard work, and this was a great payoff.

We stayed up on the moraine for about 30-45 minutes, allowing the boys to engage in a snowball fight with Darren. Due to our time crunch, we had to head down. We got back down to the trail junction to filter some water, don our packs and head down the trail towards the Wild Basin trailhead parking lot. As planned, we were on the trail by 9am.

We made great time coming down. We completed the 6+ miles and 2,000 feet of elevation loss in 2.5 hours. We pushed hard to make sure we had enough time to drive into Meeker Park for a quick shower before getting on our planes to head home. After our showers, we headed to Westminster to return our bear canisters to the REI (aka Mecca for us gear heads) and grab some grub at the Rock Bottom Brewery. Mmmmm, burgers and fries! As I typically do after a big trip like this, I way over eat, but man is it good.

Unfortunately, we had flights to catch. We returned our car, said our good byes and headed home. It was a great trip. Everyone got along great, the boys did a fantastic job and we saw some unbelievable scenery. When I'm in the backcountry like this, I always have the sense of accomplishment that I'm seeing things that very few people in this world will ever see. It is a personal struggle. On one side, I wish more people would take the time to do the work to get into the backcountry while on the other side, I feel selfish, wanting to hold on to these places for a few of us.

In summary, I would highly recommend the Wild Basin area. It can get a bit crowded on the weekends, especially near the Wild Basin trailhead, Copeland Falls and even up to Calypso Cascades and Ouzel Falls. The crowds diminish greatly beyond Ouzel Falls. A few fishermen do push on to Ouzel Lake and Thunder Lake, but that's ok. I think when I come back to this area, I want to possibly do some more exploring beyond Pear Lake, possibly up to Mt. Copeland. Additionally, I'd like to make it up to Bluebird Lake and I'd also like to make it up to the Continental Divide, which is a stones throw from Pear Lake and Thunder Lake.