August 8, 2016 - Little Yosemite Valley

Title: August 8, 2016 - Little Yosemite Valley
Hike Info : Description : Trail Lessons : Background : Menu : Extra Photo's : Animals 

Trail head: Illilouette Creek

Hike Info:

Type:  Backpacking

Trail:John Muir Trail

Destination: Little Yosemite valley
Actual Destination: Sunrise Creek

Distance:  5.61 miles ¹

Start Time: 9:22

End Time:  4:35  

Travel Time:  7:13 (0.74 mph)

Moving Time:  4:19 (1.30 mph)

Elevation Rise: 1,179'

Maximum Elevation: 6,844' 

 ¹Usually I figure anything less than a half a mile an hour is GPS error. But because we were going through brush, I lowered that threshold down to a tenth of a mile per hour.

Description:
Today's start is a quote from Tolkein's The Lord of the Rings:  "Short cuts makes long delays." ² This is where Frodo tried to elude the Black Rider and take off across a bog. Our route did not include a bog, but a good amount of brush. On the other hand, it could also be a title of a book which I will never write: My Life in Buck Brush. As if this walk today does not have enough titles, I could christen it "The Cranberry Girls".

Rose breaking camp

Got up at 6:30. It is was between 30 to and 35 degrees. It was a cold last night. I kept warm enough until I would roll over. Then I would need to warm up the spot which had been on underneath me. But Sherri had difficulty sleeping last night so I suspect tonight we will have a tent. Apparently we were not the only ones who felt a bit cool as when I grab my clothes, a lizard bolted out from there, wondering why in the world are we waking up when it so cold.

As it turns out today will be a turning point in our JMT adventure. If we can make it at least to Sunrise Creek, near the Clouds Rest trail junction, then we should be in good shape to reach Sunrise Meadows tomorrow. I am hoping to make it beyond that, maybe to the upper part of Sunrise Creek.

We did not get started until 9:20. Since the trail is only about a third of a mile above us with a climbable slope-maybe 300' to go up. The trail would take us about a mile with 500' of climbing. Sounded like a good bet even though there was brush, we could find a path through it. And for awhile this was a good strategy. But with about 50 yards of brush in front of us, we could no longer find a way around and had to go through. The manzanita was not too bad, but the buckbrush came up to about my chest. Poor Rose had it at head level. At one point looking back, I see a sea of green manzanita with Sherri and Rose just floating in it looking like the guys in the Ocean Spray cranberry commercials of a few years ago.

The Cranberry Girls

So the "short cut" cost us about an hour and a half and took a lot of our energy. By the time we break through the brush, it is past 11 and we are only a third of a mile from our camp. In retrospect, this may have been the central event of our trip.

Once we are on the trail, I take my rear position and following both Sherri and Rose. We walk pretty good. But it is hot and we are on an exposed part of the trail. By the time we reach the top of the rise, 600' above our campsite and about 2 1/2 miles travel, we are ready for lunch, even though there is no water, we make due.

Rose with Clouds Rest before her

Sherri and Half Dome

There is something refreshing about trail junctions. Maybe it is because of the signs telling us where we have been or where we are going. More than likely it is also  means a marking of a passage. In this case, we meet the horse trail coming in from the upper part of Illilouette Creek, which is nothing really big. But a little ways further we hit the Panorama Trail. Here we wonder, has Kate and Sonya already been by here? Have we been that long in getting here? On the one hand, with the heat and exposure, we really want them to be past the real hot part. On the other hand, it would be somewhat deflating to know that they just started out this morning and have already passed us. See what I mean about trail junctions marking passages?

Grizzly Peak

Liberty Cap

The good part is because of the openness, we are able to have some really good views. Half Dome does loom in front of us, along with its little sibling, Liberty Cap. Clouds Rest soars majestically along a far ridge and Mt Starr King is at our side. Below us towards Yosemite Valley is Grizzle Peak. I love views like this.

And now that we have lost all of the elevation we climbed up this morning and more, we get to Nevada Falls.  It is time for a pee (not over the Falls) and water break, along with shade from the hot sun. I rest in the shade on the south side of the river while Sherri and Rose go off for their business. Earlier Sherri had talked with some musicians who travel the parks playing their music. I talk a bit more with them-never learn what their names are or where they are from-just enjoying the chit-chat as I sit against my rock.

But the afternoon is progressing and we are not. So off we go. The stretch from Nevada Falls to Little Yosemite Valley starts with a bit of a climb, about 250' as it goes over a shoulder of Liberty Cap. What makes this a particularly wicked trudge is the heat, openness and what you have done just to get to this point. When we come down, I sense that this has just about done us in. So I take off, hoping to get a resting place in Little Yosemite Valley, find Kate and Sonya, and be able to come back and grab a pack. I only succeed on the first task. After wandering around the camp area, I drop my pack and start to go back when Rose and Sherri come up the trail.

We set up camp and I go down to the Merced to draw water. And there I see a couple of blondes-Sonya and Kate. They are flabbergasted to see me and wonder what is going on. I just say that Rose and Sherri are close to their camp and I am drawing water. While we are starting to put together our camp, we discover we are squatters on someone's camp and start to move when they come back. No problem-this is sort of a everybody-loves-everybody-else camp. We end up staying with Kate and Sonya.

As you might have guessed, we are staying the night here rather than trying to make Sunrise Creek, about 1,300' above us. We are beat. After eating and talking for a little while, it is time for bed, or should I say for the bag. And yes Sherri did put up a tent.

Before I end this post, one thing which I have been contemplating is that experience itself does not make you better, but learning from experience does.  So the big question is, what did I learn today?

• First, just because a map shows a direct route does not mean that it is.
• Second, scout out your route. Maybe I could have gone around the area if I had been more alert.
• Third, remember the rule of thumb: a mile of cross country is about the same as three miles of trail.

Trail Lesson:

• Short cuts may not be the shortest or quickest ways-either on the trail or in life.
• Experience itself does not make you better, but learning from experience does

Background
 ²From Tolkein's Lord of the Rings, Chp 4, A Short Cut to Mushrooms

Menu

Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Snacks
Oatmeal and add-ins, such as dried peaches, strawberries, nuts, granola. Tang.	Ritz Crackers, Tortillas, Peanut Butter, Nutella	Mountain House Lasagna	Clif Bar, GORP, Propel, CytoMax, Scrytch, Coffee Candy, Jelly Belly

Extra Photo's

Gary with his full pack

Half Dome

Half Dome

Animals

Mangy coyote

Same coyote, different view