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| Vernal Falls |
Mileage: 13 Elevation: 9600 feet
We leave the Backpacker Camp at 6:30 AM after a light
breakfast. It is about .8 mile to the
John Muir Trail Head. Even at that early
hour the asphalted trail is teeming with Half Dome climbers. It will be a hot day and they want to
complete their 16 mile round trip early.
We hop in line choosing the Mist Trail access – but alas no mist, the
drought has really effected this area.
Vernal Falls and Nevada Falls are gorgeous.
Today we are trying a new breakfast plan: quick breakfast
bar with water in the early morning, so we can get on the trail, and then a “second
breakfast” of coffee and cereal with fruit and nuts a couple hours later. The important part of second breakfasts is
the venue – there must be a view and a beam of sunshine in which to sit and
enjoy it. Our second breakfast happened
high above Yosemite Valley with open views, but this time in the shade! The day was already hot.
After 6 miles the JMT separates and we are on our own! After hiking up with crowds of crazy tourists
(one gentleman has 2 GI Joe's sticking out of his backpack) we are grateful for
the tranquility. As we hike we meet
others heading down to Yosemite Valley and hear about water problems at Sunrise
Camp which is our destination. We will
need to set up a dry camp tonight…which is not a problem as long as you are
prepared for it!
Today’s trek turns out to be our most challenging ever, with
a huge elevation gain of 5600 feet in very hot weather. We manage to make it to the ridge above
Sunrise by 5:30 PM, face planting in the first campsite we come to. The views to the east are grand! Heavenly camping! As we set up camp we hear bagpipes in the
distance. Sunrise Sierra Camp, an
expensive back country camp that is totally posh and catered, is nearby. No fly on our tent tonight! We happily eat dinner, clean up and roll into
bed to watch the sunset, read and finally fall asleep in our cozy tent.
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