Hiking in Yosemite

Well, almost in Yosemite. Technically we were just outside of Yosemite when we went hiking in the 20 Lakes Basin out of the Saddlebag Lake trailhead just past the eastern entrance to the national park, because inside Yosemite dogs are only allowed on paved trails, and on-leash. No big deal, I had been wanting to visit this area of craggy granite peaks, dwindling glaciers, and beautiful alpine lakes for some time now, and August is a great time of year to do so. And getting to hike with Banjo is worth a little drive.

This past weekend, after I finally got free from work on Friday afternoon, we were off to Yosemite for what is now the 3rd year in a row that a mostly consistent group of us, mostly work friends, has gone up to the land of granite for a camping trip. We camped at Hodgdon Meadows this year, just inside from the San Francisco-facing entrance. Despite the crowds and distance, it was really fun to hang out with our friends, see some amazing stars, have a campfire, and make some yummy camp food. Yosemite in August is definitely not a wilderness experience, but it's nice to have some camping luxuries sometime. For example, you don't normally get steaks for dinner, molten banana-marshmellow-nutella for dessert, and pancakes and bacon for breakfast when you're backpacking (although sometimes you do).

On Saturday, we drove through the park and out the other side, heading for the Saddlebag Lake trailhead and the 20 lakes basin for a day hike among some of the Eastern Sierra's rugged peaks and glacial ponds. We picked up a couple hitchhikers in Tuolumne Meadows who turned out to be boyscout troop leaders heading back to get their cars from where they started. Ever since abandoning Steve in Grand Teton (as was planned), leaving him at the whim of potential ride-offerers to get to the Jackson airport following our Wind River hiking trip, I like to restore my hitchhiker karma whenever I can. If you're curious, you can see a map of our hike, which included some interesting off-trail wandering around the Conness lakes, right at the base of the towering Mount Conness and North Peak, as well as the Conness glacier. I read that the Conness glacier is now about half of its 1994 size. Sigh.

But the seven (eight if you include Banjo, which I would be spousally remiss not to do) of us had a great hike with fantastic scenery for the relatively accessible trail (ie not that long, or not a huge amount of elevation gain). My favorite part was doing some class 3 scrambling as we found our way back down from the Conness Lakes off-trail. I believe Kate's favorite part was either a really loud grasshopper that sounded like a Van de Graaff generator when it jumped, or a lunchtime Snickers bar.

Before leaving on Sunday we went to one of the giant sequoia groves, and then stopped for 2 manhole-sized pizzas on our way back to the Bay Area. We got home just in time for my softball game, and now it's back to the real world. When is our next vacation? Hope we get to go again next year.

I've posted some pictures from our hike here.