Flip-Floppin' the Yosemite Falls Hike

Yosemite is alive and kicking in the Spring, so we did a little road trip. One day, after kayaking the Merced River, we decided to jam up to Yosemite Valley to do a quick evening hike at Yosemite Falls.



Here's a shot of Dave on the Merced - notice that he forgot his drytop. Brrrrr.
I wasn't any better at remembering things, and realized (once at we were at the trailhead) that i had lost my shoes somewhere back at the river. So i had to hike in flip-flops.

I guess Dave felt bad so he hiked in his Tevas. Here's a shot at the top of the falls:

To avoid all the crowds on this classic hike, start in the evening with about 2 1/2 hours of daylight left! You'll pass only a few stragglers - and hopefully you'll elude the captain-safety-know-it-all hiker dressed head to tow in brand new REI techy gear, who cant resist giving you the scolding glance for starting the hike so late. Or maybe it was the flip flops?

The hike is about 7.2 miles round-trip with 2,700 feet elevation gain. Its not too long, but certainly steep. I highly recommend hiking shoes.

Here's a shot looking straight down the upper waterfall:

This is what the National Park says: "One of Yosemite oldest historic trails (built 1873 to 1877), the Yosemite Falls Trail leads to the top of North America’s tallest waterfall 2,425 feet (739 m) above the Valley floor. Do not stray off the marked path, as you will find steep drops adjacent to the trail. Enjoy spectacular views..."

Here's the webcam to check conditions before going.

Backpacking Little Kern to Kern Flat to the Forks

This 26 mile loop made a wonderful 3-day backpack trip in the Golden Trout Wilderness of the Southern Sierra. We hiked from the Jerkey Meadows Creek above Lloyd Meadow Creek to Little Kern River, up and over to Kern Flat, and down the Kern River to the Forks of the Kern.

The graphic above shows the Needles in the middle foreground with the Kern River in the gorge to the right, and the Little Kern Drainage in the middle. The blue line is our backpacking route, with Kern Flat being at the top right. The Forks of the Kern (the put-in for one of the most epic wilderness kayak/rafting runs in the US) is at the lower right of the loop.

Here's the GPX file of the trip.

The first day, we hiked 5 miles up to Jerkey Meadows and down to the Little Kern River. The granite bedrock gorge was filled with wonderful swimming pools and small waterfalls. It also happened to be one of the best fly fishing creeks I've ever been too. I bought a specific Little Kern Fly from Kern River Fly Fishing, and literally caught a beautiful Golden Trout on every cast.

There was no one around, and we set up camp on a secluded pool in comfy pristine sand! Since it was only 5 miles in and a relatively easy hike, we had time to swim, fish, and explore the area.

Because it was late in the season, the water level was low and fairly warm.

There was no need for backpacker food - we ate fresh fish for dinner!

Here's a photo of the Little Kern just below the trailhead.




And another picture taken near our campsite:



On the second day, we hiked up and over a pass on our way to the Kern River. We passed Flat Iron, several meadows and springs, and then made the long descent through the burnt-out Doe Meadow on our way to Kern Flat.



Wildlife tracks were everywhere - there certainly seems to be a healthy supply of bear, coyotes, and deer. The Kern River is absolutely beautiful in this area!



We hiked a little ways south along the river and found a nice campspot near some excellent fishing and swimming holes.



Once again, the fishing was world class with unique Golden-Rainbow hybrids...and they were big!!



We spent most of the 3rd day fishing and hiking all along the river - about a 12.5 mile hike. About 7 miles down, we reached the Forks of the Kern, where the Little Kern meets the North Fork. Here, we passed several day hikers and rafters getting ready for a super low flow 4-day trip down the Kern River to the Johnsondale bridge.



The remaining portion of our trip took us uphill from the Forks, and back to the trailhead. We cant wait to return and explore more of the area. Hiking/climbing down the Little Kern Drainage and kayaking these upper sections of the Kern River are now on our list of things to do!

An Autumn Hike at Rock Creek Lake

This was a great day and a perfect place for a late season hike! Rock Creek Canyon, in the Eastern Sierra north of Bishop, is filled with superb hiking trails. On this particular trip, we hiked out of Mosquito Flat, above Rock Creek Lake, and on into the Little Lakes Valley. There are several other trails near Rock Creek Lake: Hilton Creek/Lakes, Tamarack Bench, Sand Canyon for mountain biking, and numerous backpacking options. We took the Morgan Pass Trail.



One of the the unique features of this area, is that the trailhead is at 10,300 feet! So, immediately you're immersed in the high alpine lake terrain.



After entering the John Muir Wilderness and a hike up the Crankcase Grade, we followed a creek filled with darting brook trout. The trail splits after a steep-but-quick climb; a deviation from the mellow pace. Backpackers often head Mono Pass, but we continued through the Little Lakes Valley.

We came upon Mack Lake, and then upon the ultra scenic Marsh Lake. Unfortunately we didn't have our fishing poles; it looked like some excellent brown trout habitat! I know the Big One is lurking in there.



The hike meandered along Ruby Creek and on up to Heart Lake and Box Lake.
As we were enjoying the beautiful Box Lake, the T-shirt weather started to turn a little chilly as clouds rapidly developed and hovered over the Sierra.




The happy forecast of sunny weather was starting to look a bit off - it was looking like a storm was brewing.

So we had to keep jammin' up to see Long Lake before the weather turned to nasty!



Well, right when we got there it started snowing! So i didn't get any pictures of Long Lake, 'cause we weren't hanging out too long. The trip back went quite a bit faster. With no jackets, wet snow, and a breeze coming off 13,000 peaks, we were motivated to move fast.



I guess it was another lesson learned: always be prepared in the High Sierra - at least have a jacket! Although, i think we've said that a million times before... its just more fun this way!

A Stormy Dry Meadow & Needles Hike

Yesterday we went hiking up above Johnsondale, just as the first snow of the season was brewing in the distance. After months and months of perfect sunshine and blue skies, seeing the ominous clouds was energizing! There is so much to explore in this area ranging from the Western Divide and the upper Kern River.

We started hiking near Elephant Knob and followed Dry Meadow Creek (an epic steep creek kayak run) for a bit. We ended up wandering a trail running perpendicular towards Peppermint Creek miles to the north. The views were awesome...Sentinel Dome, Dome Rock, the Needles and several other geological features were in view.

We took a lunch break on a granite slab that overlooked the Forks of the Kern run and the Kern River Trail, another spectacular hike. We could see all the way from Split Mountain in Wofford Heights and into Golden Trout Wilderness to the north.


The only evidence of humans was an old motorcycle track; otherwise it was just deer prints, bear track, and coyote poo. Rad! We'll have to check out more of the trail, but it could make a good mountain bike ride.

After looping back, we got the urge to go check out The Needles on the Western Divide. The Needles are a group of huge granite spires and domes that lunge out above the Forks of the Kern, and are extremely popular for rock climbing.

The storm seemed far enough away, that there could still be some excellent views. We did see newly snow covered peaks out towards Mt Whitney.

But - of course - the storm intensified right when we got to one of the best viewpoints in the Sierras; the Needles fire lookout. (See the fire tower perched on top of one of the granite knobs in the picture below.)



The wind picked up and it started snowing as the visibility dumped. After climbing all the rickety steps up to the tower, we had about 2 minutes before the ranger closed it down due to lightning.

The only thing was that there was no lightning! It was the deer hunting season opener, and some poor deer bit the dust. It was very obviously a gun shot to everyone up there...except the ranger lady. She was all panicked and argued that there was lighting RIGHT above us! Oh well... we couldnt even see to the bottom of the Needles at this point. It was fun enough just hiking in a storm! Finally some precipitation!

Here's a GPX file of our wanderings.

Hiking Black Mountain North of Mono Lake

One of our favorite hikes is the Black Mountain Peak loop! Our whole family joined in for this one. Starting at the Virginia Lakes in the eastern Sierra, we hiked up the wilderness trail for a few miles and then turned at Green Lake to hike up flank of Black Mountain.

I still cant believe how AWESOME the views are!! From any of the 3 peaks that we climb on this hike, you can see into Yosemite, east towards Bodie ghost town and Mono Lake, down into Lundy Canyon, and on and on.

Here's the loop as seen on Google Earth. The actual hiking varies from shale climbing, to a popular hiking trail, to jumping and skipping down the steep slope of pure shale. Good boots really help on this one!



Its hard to tell, but in the picture above, i'm hiking with my dog on the flat part of the ridge. Just an indicator of how massive this area is. Thats Mono Lake in the background.

After hiking the Black Mountain peak, we descended along this ridge and then climbed up to the top of Mt Olsen.

One of the most fun parts of the hike is the descent back down to the lakes. We traversed around until we could find some of the smaller and looser chutes of shale. Then we just jumped and slid the whole way down! After a full day of hiking, we were back down in less than 10 minutes.


It was super hot at 10,000 feet, so we ended the hike with a refreshing jump in Red Lake!

GPX file of the hike is here.

Backpacking Mt Humphreys in the Eastern Sierra

It just took hearing the forecast of 113 degree heat in the southern sierras, and we promptly planned a 4-day backpack trip in the high Eastern Sierra. We settled on a trip into the Mt Humphreys lake basin, with no real detailed plan. Mt Humphreys is just shy of 14,000 feet and can be accessed by Piute Pass out of the North Lake/Sabrina Lake area west of Bishop. Most of our hiking and camping was above 11,000 feet, yet it was still hot!


From North Lake trailhead, we hiked a scenic 6 miles and 2200 feet in elevation to the pass. After paralleling a lush and shady creek, the trail passed by a series of trout-filled lakes encompassed by the huge jagged peaks typical of the Eastern Sierra.

At Piute Pass, the views opened up dramatically as a giant plain of barren rocks, lakes and distant peaks came into view.

At this point i understood why one of the biggest lakes in the region was called Desolation Lake. This lake was our destination for the night.

After another couple miles of fairly easy hiking we charged cross-country to arrive at this huge lake. There was one serious bummer that we weren't completely prepared for: mosquitoes ! Even though the surroundings had so much barren rock, there was plenty of grassy marshy areas and small ponds for those nasty pests to breed. Our group, consisting of 4 tired hikers and 2 dogs, set up our tents at the back end of the lake with Mt Humphreys towering above.

After a morning swim the next day, we decided to hike up and over past Forsaken Lake to the lager of the Humphreys Lakes. There were almost no mosquitoes, and we found a great tent site nestled in the rocks just above the lake. We called it good and set up camp. We spent the rest of the day, July 4th, fishing, swimming, and hiking.

For our most dramatic viewpoint on the trip, we hiked straight up the steep shale to a ridge on Mt Humphreys. We had planned to hike the peak, but its Mordor-looking towers required some gnarly mountaineering skills. Our destination turned out to be a knife-edge ridge with some of the most dramatic scenery i have yet seen in the Sierras!

These mountains are basically gigantic spires and cliffs that drop straight down to the Owen's Valley floor. Its so steep that my fear of heights quickly kicked in, and i was basically crawling around on hands and feet to maximize all the views. Awesome! After the steep hike up, we jumped and skated down in about 2 minutes!

That evening Charly, our adventure buddy dog, got into a fight with the local scavenging marmot. He actually got his head wedged into some rocks while the marmot gnashed out at his face. He got cut up pretty bad.

The fishing was excellent early the next morning. One of the smaller lower lakes was filled with small but gorgeous Volcano Creek Goldens, while we caught larger Brookies in the Humphreys lakes. We then set out south to Muriel Lake. After finding some awesome camp sites at the outlet, we decided to day hike up to the Goethe Lakes. The storm clouds were building, but unfortunately never materialized above us. We were hoping to get some much-needed rain in the sierra.

Up a Goethe Lake it was fairly windy and stormy, but still the water looked like the purest blue...almost like Crater Lake in Oregon. Was formed from the Goethe Glacier, which still exists up on the flanks of Muriel Peak.

The hiking around the lake is basically giant boulder hopping. There's no trail and no place to camp, which made it seem even more pure and gorgeous!

At first we assumed there's no fish in the lake due to the lack of vegetation. But just when we were about to give up fishing there, a good sized rainbow grabbed the lure. It turned out to be a great day!

And topping it off, was watching a superb sierra sunset from our camp that evening.

The next morning we packed up and hiked the long way back down to the trailhead. During the hike, the thunderclouds were growing fast. About the time we reached our truck, that storm had started the Inyo Complex Fires that raged across the Eastern Sierra for a couple days.
(See my last post on that little adventure.)

Here's a GPX file of our route and a Google Earth shot of the trip: