TR: 20070830 - CA, Tenaya Canyon in Yosemite and San Fran
A little long, but mostly on topic... ;)
Photos: http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailsh...61/t_=38054161
I was supposed to head out to California again for work; so I also planned on adding on some play time. This time, we got tickets for my girlfriend, Jen, to join me too. After we booked the tickets for Jen, then it looked like my work was cancelled. Then it was back on. Then off again. Decided I wasn't going to worry about it, and we would just cancel Jen's flight if we needed to. Turned out it went back on again, so I headed out to California on Monday 8/27 and worked for the week. Jen flew in on Thursday 8/30; and we headed out towards Yosemite after I got out of work on Friday 8/31. Fortunately, I was able to get out early, so we were able to line up the details of the trip and beat some of the traffic; although we spent a fair amount of time in jams.
Friday 8/31:
On the way into the park, we noticed how dry the conditions were. Bridalveil falls was just a trickle, and Yosemite Falls was completely dry! I had never seen Yosemite Falls completely dry before. Wow. The Merced water level was way down too. I was initially worried we'd have too much water in Tenaya Canyon - that it would be too tough, or too cold, for Jen. Now I was wondering if we would have any water at all! Went and got the permit, talked to the Rangers, and they had no idea about Tenaya; but said that many other water sources were dry right now. We decided to take a little extra water with us for the trip; and if we didn't run into water, we would just have to make it out with the water we had. Would be a rough time, but we could make it.
We left the car at the Yosemite Village backpacker lot, packed up, and caught the 5pm bus from the visitor center to the Sunrise trailhead. We were planning to do a three day, two night trip down Tenaya Canyon if there was enough water to filter. If there wasn't water, we would do the full canyon the following day. Tenaya Canyon is normally done in a long day (as I did it last year) but it's a great canyon to spend some time in. It's not travelled all that much, so I figured we would have it mostly to ourselves on this Labor Day weekend. The weather was also supposed to be in the 90's and sunny the entire weekend, so it was likely a perfect time to do the canyon as it (usually) has nice cool pools and running water. Tenaya Canyon info: http://www.dankat.com/swhikes/tenaya.htm
We started hiking on the Sunrise trail around 7pm. When we crossed over Tenaya Creek, there was some water; which was a good sign. We passed the warning sign around 7:30pm, and reached the glacial bowl around 7:45pm when the sun was starting to set. There was a pool of water with a trickle of flowing water, just like last year in the pothole just before the bowl. A very good sign. We likely wouldn't need the extra water we brought; so we used it to make dinner that night. We found a flat(ter) spot on the glacially polished granite down near the bottom of the bowl, and just put our Thermarests and Sleeping bags down on the rock. It was a little chilly, since we were now around 8000 ft; but there was only a little wind and no bugs. The view of the stars in the sky was amazing. You could easily see the Milky Way and the stars were brilliant! We watched the night sky for a while and saw several shooting stars and satellites.
Saturday 9/1:
Since we now were pretty sure the canyon would have water, we weren't in any hurry. We woke up with the sun around 6:30am, but lazily made breakfast and took in the wonderful scenery around us. Definitely different than many of my trips; a nice change. We packed up camp, and started hiking around 10am. As I suspected, the water trickle continued all the way down to the Pywiack Cascades; and some of the larger pools had a bunch of fish in them. When we were near the Pywiack, there is a section with a downclimb, a steep traverse (or swim) and then another downclimb to get to the cascades. Jen waited up on a rock, and I made my way down to the Pywiack Cascades. I wanted to scout it to see how doable it would be to head down by the cascades. It was definitely too steep to downclimb; and I didn't see any evidence of previous rappels right next to the cascades. Looks like you might be able to piece together some raps from trees and small bushes farther off left LDC. Next time. Climbed back up to Jen and we did the climb up to the Lone Boulder. Took a pretty direct route; Jen did well. We reached the Lone Boulder around 12:15pm.
Unlike last year, we would do the correct downclimb this year. We crossed the line of bushes, which was a lot more dense than I remember (really it's more dense down lower.) Then headed down the first gully. It's much easier and has way less exposure than the second gully, but it's still not a trivial downclimb. I definitely wouldn't want to take a total beginner here, and some would feel safer with a rappel. I worked with Jen and she made it down without a rope, again she did well. We made it down to a wonderful pool around 2:30pm.
We had lunch, and took a dip in the beautiful emerald pool. There was a great rock to jump off; which Jen was reluctant to do. It was too bad the cascade had one shelf in it. Otherwise, it would be a wild waterslide ride down! We started moving again around 4:30pm; a nice relaxing break.
The water soon went underground. Wild how you can have moving water and wonderful pools, and then completely dry. I remembered this from last year though, and wasn't worried. If we hit the rappel without running into more water, then we would re-evaluate and head back to refill water at the emerald pool; but I pretty much knew that wasn't going to be necessary. Soon we ran across more pools in the Lost Valley. Beautiful area. Debated about camping here, but it was still too early; I knew we could get farther into the canyon and there was more spectacular scenery ahead. The trick was finding a good spot to stop where we would have water, but would be an ecologically friendly enough spot to camp (i.e. flat rock or non-fragile vegetation) and still have a good spot to use the bathroom. (Deep soils with non-fragile vegetation.) Should have brought the blue bags; would have made it much less of an issue. Next time.
Quarter Domes comes into full view when nearing the drop into the Inner Gorge. Awesome sight. Looks like they would be a wild climb. We arrived at the Inner Gorge around 5:30pm. I first took Jen up to the initial ledge where I showed her all of the initials and dates of previous descents, and we both signed the trail register. We then headed to the rappel point. At the rappel point, there were a couple of packs stashed under a ledge. Not a good sign. I called out; no reply. Had Jen sit tight, and I scouted around while calling out; no signs and no replies. Checked the trail register, and didn't see any entries from the past couple of days with at least two people. Not a good sign.
Went back to the drop and looked inside the packs. They were definitely not experienced backpackers. A huge heavy synthetic square sleeping bag tied with twine, full set of metal silverware, large salt and pepper shakers, several pairs of jeans, and more. Found some names on a note and jotted the info down. My guess (and hope) was that three people backpacked in expecting to find an easy shortcut down to the valley. When they got here, and saw the need for a rope; they consolidated gear into one pack and tried to get back out. (Not an easy task, as I did an escape on my first attempt at Tenaya because I didn't bring a long enough rope with me; before Chris's beta...) The only thing that didn't make sense to me is they left food and a water container; maybe they had too much. Regardless, we'd bring it up to the rangers when we exited the canyon.
We rapped down into the inner gorge, and made our way to the Le Conte Boulder downclimb/swim or rap/wade. We opted for the rappel as it was now around 7:30pm and starting to cool down. The sunlight was long gone from the canyon too. The wade was still up to just below the chest; with fairly chilly water. Not far below, we found a good option for a camp spot. While Jen changed into dry and warm clothes, I went downcanyon to scout for a better spot. Didn't find anything as good as above, so headed back up.
We again just used our thermarests and sleeping bags on a mostly flat and mostly level rock. Made a Lipton Meal which we added a tuna packet and shared for a dinner. We stayed up watching the sky again. Since we were so successful at seeing shooting stars and satellites the night before, we decided that we would try to see at least one of each before heading to bed each night. It was a little more difficult at first, as we were now in a canyon so we could only see a fraction of the sky. Before long we saw four satellites and seven shooting stars though. A nice way to end a relaxing day.
Sunday 9/2:
We again woke up with the sun around 6:30am, and made breakfast; ramen. We enjoyed the views a bit, packed up camp, and started moving around 9am. This section has some wonderful scenery with fun downclimbs and beautiful waterfalls and pools. There is one skirt around that is a little bushwhack, but nothing too challenging. There is a section where the water disappears again. It also has a really cool spot where two rocks pinch together to make a psuedo tunnel. We made it near the second rappel around 9:30am; the water was back. Jen had a break, and I went to scout the possibility of doing the 70 foot waterfall that Chris bypasses. I found a downclimb to the bottom of it, scouted the drop; and climbed back up. Also checked out the rappel from the top in the watercourse. It was a really cool fluted section that you would get wet doing. Looked fun. Someone had done it before; as there was webbing around a choke. Cool!
Went back and talked to Jen; she opted to stay dry so I added another thing to the "next time" list and we went to the second rappel. At the second rappel, I scouted around and found a downclimb to the bottom of that one too. A little sketchy though; so I returned to the top. We set the rappel, and I took Jen's pack too. When I started to rappel, her Nalgene fell out of her pack pocket, dropped the entire 70 feet and smashed on the rocks below. Crap. I guess I know what it takes to break a Nalgene now. We still had five liters of water containers between us anyway; so it wasn't really necessary, but it was still a preventable incident and could have been worse if someone was down below. I finished the rappel, and picked up the pieces as Jen made her way down. It was now around 11:00am.
The canyon had more idyllic pools and fun downclimbs. We got to the downclimb/rap with the pothole and beautiful deep emerald pool around 11:30am. I set the rope for Jen, and downclimbed to midway to spot her. She rapped past me, so I pulled the ropes and downclimbed the rest of the way. This pool was just too nice. We talked about the possibility of just lounging around for another night. We were going to hike out today and do another hike in the park; but we had yet to see anyone this entire weekend. (Very cool considering it was Labor Day weekend in Yosemite!) We would likely have to fight for a camp spot if we hiked out (if we stayed in a established one; rather than backcountry.) We decided to continue our super leisurely pace, and stay another night in the canyon.
Thus, we stopped at this wonderful pool for lunch, swimming, and some fun jumps. While we were lounging there, three other groups did come up and pass us by. Each of them left early this morning, and were doing the normal long day trip. We asked two of them about the packs at the drop, and they confirmed they were still there when they passed by. Definitely not a good sign. I asked them to pass the word on to the rangers and/or SAR when they exited; so they knew about the packs, the details, and that they had been there for at least two days. The third group was pushing daylight, so we gave them some of our water to speed their progress; so they didn't have to take time to filter.
We packed up around 3:30pm, and continued down the canyon. Just near the end of the canyon, we found another decent camp spot with all the necessary requirements. Not a large rock, but a relatively flat one again. Long drop on this one if you rolled off. I again scouted farther downcanyon, but didn't find any other good rock options. There were some options outside of the canyon, but I liked sleeping on the rocks. Zero impact there, and less critters in the canyon (or so I thought.) We made dinner again, our last meal; which was originally our emergency food since we were planning on hiking out today. No worries though, we still had snack type food for breakfast and lunch. No real serious obstacles past here, mainly just distance.
We watched the bats flying around as the night closed in. Did the now routine sky watching and saw the required satellites and shooting stars before going to bed. I woke up around 2am, and realized something was crawling on my lap. Something pretty big; about the size of a small cat/groundhog. I flinched quickly, and felt it bound off me into the night. Still don't know what it could have been. About the size of a groundhog, but nocturnal; and good with rocks/climbing as it bound off me, and then off about a 5 food drop from the rock we were on. Too low in elevation and too fast for a Marmot; too low and too big for a Pika. Seemed too big for a rat. Small fox? Racoon was my best guess, but I hadn't seen many of those around the park. Didn't sleep as soundly for the rest of the night.
Monday 9/3:
Woke up again at first light around 6:30am. Funny how you can do that on vacation and not feel tired. Still relaxed a bit, made some warm tea and had a granola bar for breakfast. Packed up and started moving around 9am again. From the canyon exit, there is a lot of dry rocky riverbed walking, where the river goes underground again. There are some forested sections; not really too bad of bushwhacking though. The bugs weren't too bad either, which was nice. There are still some rock scrambling sections, some steep descents, and other forest trails. Came across some large pinecones. Great views of Quarter Domes and Watkins Pinnacles. Came across another great campspot around 10:30am.
Debated on spending our last night here too. I could hike out and get more food; and hike back in. Decided that it was still too early, and that we would hike out and show Jen some more of the park. Made it to the Mirror Lake bridge around 11:15am, and back to the car just before 1pm. Dropped our stuff off, and headed back into the Village.
Talked to the rangers and the SAR team, and they hadn't heard about the packs. The other groups must have gotten out too late to tell them. Gave SAR the details that I knew. They hadn't gotten any reports of overdue hikers; so hopefully they made it out okay.
Jen and I continued to look around the Village a little, and then drove around the valley to see some of the sights. Yosemite Falls, Lost Arrow, Half Dome, Ahwahnee, Bridalveil, El Cap, etc. Seeing the Ahwahnee again was neat. The last time I was in there was a LONG time ago during a winter snowshoe/camping trip. Came in to warm up by the fire and enjoy a cup of hot chocolate. Brought back fond memories. The park was still a little busy and I'll bet many people had already headed home since it was Monday afternoon; so I'm glad we stayed the extra day in the canyon. Hard to beat only seeing 9 people total the entire Labor Day weekend in Yosemite (until we got out to the main valley of course.)
We then drove up towards Tuolomne, and saw more spots on the way (it was Jen's first time to Yosemite.) Several falls, lookouts, etc. We stopped at Olmstead point, and made dinner. Could see a lot of our route that we just did. Continued on to Tenaya Lake, and watched as the sun was starting to set. We then headed over towards Elizabeth lake, and found a good spot to break off trail for a bit to make camp; setup the tent tonight. Watched the sky again, and got some sleep.
Tuesday 9/4:
Woke up with the sun again, packed up, and hiked back out to our car. Started driving around 8:30am. Headed out of the park and back towards San Francisco. Nice to drive back on Tuesday; good traffic. Stopped for lunch in Oakdale, and drove to San Francisco. Went to the Marin Headlands headquarters to get our permit for tonight, and then headed to the beach. Walked down and enjoyed the beach for a bit, and then went to some of the overlooks that I knew of. Saw some wonderful views of San Francisco, the bay, Alcatraz, the Golden Gate bridge, and some WWII batteries/bunkers. Made dinner at one of the batteries, and enjoyed a Lipton meal with Tuna, the views, and a bottle of wine. Headed to Bicentennial campground and set up camp. Drove over to an Overlook by Battery Mendell to watch the sunset. Stopped to help a biker with a flat on the way. Watched the sunset and pelicans soaring, and then back to camp.
Wednesday 9/5:
Woke up to a bunch of quail near the tent. Watched them for a bit, then had breakfast. Packed up camp, and then drove Jen over towards the Hostel. While she was taking a shower, I repacked all the gear in preparation for the flight home. We still had a couple of hours to spare, so we took a drive up the coast on PCH. Would be a blast with a motorcycle. Wonderfully curvy and scenic road. Headed back to the airport and flew home.
Overall, it was a great and relaxing trip. Nice to spend a bunch of time in Tenaya, with perfect conditions for it too. A very different experience than my normal trips; I think I prefer the more aggressive trips. Will have to think more about why. It was hard for me at times to spend that much time in one place. Maybe it's just because I'm used to covering more ground and/or more challenges. I'm sure part of it is wanting to use the small amount of vacation time to it's fullest, having been there before played a part too I'm sure. Not at all saying that I didn't enjoy it though; it was definitely fun and a nice change of pace.
Hope you enjoy the pics!
A.J.
Photos: http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailsh...61/t_=38054161
