Tuolumne Meadows trip report

“I live in the wonderful :) little town of Stockton, California. Yosemite is approximately 150 miles from me. I take hwy 120 to get there. It's a beautiful peaceful drive through Oakdale and La Grange which are full of wonderful pastures of grazing cows,horse ranches and agricultural land. The nice thing about driving by yourself is that no one can here your god aweful voice when your singing Benny and the Jets or some other cool tune from Rock 104.

I've been to Yosemite only three times before but never to Tuolumne Meadows. It's an extra 40 miles past the Big Oak Flat entrance but it was well worth the extra driving. I gave Obi a call to inform him of the rock slide on the east side of the park and gave him the numbers to Cal Trans and the park. I only left a message.

I arrived at the Tuolumne Meadows Visitors Center around 4:30pm to meet Obi and I wasn't sure who else from the llama trip at 5:00. After I was done browsing in the little store of maps and books, I decided to clean out my messy car. I had wrappers of Power Bars and empty celaphane baggies from the nuts that I had eaten on the way, and an empty tall cup of coffee from Starbucks which I stopped off and got in Oakdale. Does anyone else drink "hot" coffee when it's 90 degrees out? Anyway, Starbucks was right next door to the atm I was using to get some cash since I had only about 50 cents in my wallet. Not a good thing when you're starting your travels.

After no sign from Obi or anyone else, I realized that I'm in the wrong meeting place. I looked at the paper I wrote on when talking with Obi a week before. It said, the Tuolumne Meadows "store" which is covered with white canvas. I thought, oh no, I missed them! What a dummy! So I took off over there which was luckily only 1/4 of a mile away. It was 6:00pm by this time and no sign of Obi or anyone else that I could recognize. Lots of other backpackers hanging about though. The store there is great! To my surprise it wasn't too expensive either. Well, I ended up walking around and across the street to a gorgeous meadow with a huge mountain behind it which I think may have been Pot Hole Dome. Took a couple of pics. The sun was starting to go down. I wanted to get a pic of that from that meadow but also didn't want to set up camp in the dark.

I didn't really think of the worse case senario which was to be there alone and not find anyone. I mean, I wasn't totally alone, there were people all around but they were strangers....like I knew the tt'ers I was meeting right? :)

I decided to find out where exactly this backpackers camp was and then get a wilderness pass for the next night somewhere else and hopefully meet up with the rest of the group later or the next morning. So as I'm walking through the camp, I'm getting kind of teary eyed because all the sites were taken and I might have to sleep in the car. I was starting to think this wasn't turning out to be very fun....couldn't find my group....have to sleep in the car...it's getting dark...and none of my family knows exactly where I am. Feeling kind of sorry for myself until....I found the last site! I was soooo happy. I set up my tent to claim my spot very quickly. Put my five bucks in the fake ranger dude box and decided to go get my book from the car. My car was only parked about a 1/4 of a mile away. It was dark by this time, which was around 8:30 or so. As I was walking back to camp wearing my headlamp, a lady gets out of her car and asks, "You wouldn't happen to be hikerchic5 would you?" With a smile on my face, I said, "Yes, I am!" The lady said, "Well, I-am-om, Toni from the tt site". I couldn't believe that she found me in the dark. She said that she drove into the camp as I was walking to my car earlier and knew that was me and continued driving into the camp to find Obi and the rest of the group. When she couldn't find them, they just happen to run into me again.

I got in her car and showed her where to park. She collected all her gear and we went back to camp. While she was setting up her cool hammock tarpy thing, I was boiling some water for my cup of soup. I was starving at this point. It was around 10:15 by the time we relaxed and I was eating dinner.

After discussing where we should hike, we decided on a drive to Glacier Point since neither of us had been there before. We stopped on the way to call Obi but no answer so we left a message. We thought that maybe they were too tired and stayed at Mel's and would be coming in sometime today. While driving, I was thinking how could I take us away from these beautiful meadows we were in? But kept on. We first drove through the valley to look at the massive granite rocks rising above us. Then stopped in the local store for a quick potty break while Toni bought a few souveniers.

The drive to Glacier Point was very nice, mostly shady. Toni was leaning over on my side when it looked like we were going over the edge of the cliff. She didn't like the fact that there weren't any guard rails. Something about "afraid of heights"...even though she just got done climbing Mt. Whitney the highest point in California. :) The nice thing about going to the valley on a Friday is the fact there is less people. It was great! When we got to the top we were both astounded at the awesome views we got. There are a couple of stops along the way which are worth stopping for to get a different view of the mountains.

Again, I was making Toni a little nervous when I stepped towards the edge of one of the cliffs to look down. She has a nice little scope that we looked thru to see Bridelveil Falls which looked very beautiful with the water a tropical blue/green. It was a hot day and saw everyone else with ice creams. We had to join in and get one from the store at the top of the summit. Both of us also bought bottled waters which had a picture of Yosemite in the background which looked 3D. We just thought they were the coolest things!

After a wonderful day in the valley and Glacier Point, we drove back to the meadows. We made it back before complete sundown and got some nice pics. Made more soup. Toni gave me some of her miso soup which was quite tasty. It was lights out at around 9.

The next morning we decided on an early hike in the meadows before we had to leave that day. We headed off to the Dog Lake trail near Lembert Dome. It was a short 1 1/2 miles to the lake with only about an 800 foot elevation gain. Now, forget all that stuff you heard about Yosemite being too overcrowded to enjoy it. We arrived at 10am to one of the most beautiful lakes I've ever seen without a sole in sight. Just before arriving we came upon a wonderful deer grazing near the trail. I took a couple of pics as we tried to get closer without scaring it off. This lake is just your typical gorgeous run of the mill alpine lakes with beautiful redwood trees nestled around it, sparkling clear water, the bluest skies, surrounded by a few huge monsterous mountains. I mean, if you like that kind of stuff. I guess you'd like it. :)

Toni and I then came across the cutest little Belding Ground Squirrel (Picket Pin). We watched him for a long time as he did the same with us. The weather was perfect as was the water. It was perfect for swimming but neither of us brought suits so we just took our boots & socks off and waded in the lake listening to only the sound of a few blue birds in the trees. After a snack, some great conversation, and laying around, and me dancing though the meadow and Toni rolling in it, it was time to go.

We took a different trail back and had to give the right of way to a group of 60 people! We couldn't believe it! They were all oriental and from San Jose. It got me and Toni singing that song...do you know the way to San Jose?...la la la

We gave our hugs and said good bye. Toni is a great person! I had a wonderful time with her. We had a lot in common. If you've never met her before, I would recommend going on a hike with her. She's very layed back, warm, and friendly. Thanks for the great memories Toni! :)

I wasn't ready to leave yet. I ended up staying there until around 3:30 or so. I went to venture on towards the east. I wanted to see the rock slides from this side but I didn't know how far they were really so I decided to stop at another one of those magnificent meadows with the beautiful backdrop of trees, mountains, and those ultra white puffy clouds. But this meadow I found had a creek running through it! So, what did I do? I did what everyone would do. I took my last cold beer, my camera with one last picture left in it, my tape recorder and sat on a huge rock in the middle of the creek in the middle of the meadow and contemplated life while describing my surroundings on tape.

When I finally was able to get a connection on my cel, I had three messages. All from Obi....He said that he wasn't coming......duh! :) (They couldn't make it thru due to the rock slide)

Pics to follow in the near future!”

“Good report, and Yees Toni IS cool!”

“Yeah, OM ROCKS!!”

“Your report makes me almost regret not driving another 12 hours to go 'round the opposite way, and come in from the West, hikerchic... I heard later that at specific times (6 a.m., Noon, and 6 p.m.), the park service was "escorting" people thru the slide area, beginning Saturday morning. That wasn't the word on Thursday and Friday, though. At that point, they had no idea when it would open up, and so, I decided to head home as of late Friday morning.

Glad you and Toni had a great time, TM is a super place to hike around, and she's a blast. I know about them white knuckles of hers, though... For a while there, I thought it might - MIGHT - be ME and my driving. She was hangin' onto the door handles pretty tightly on our way to Mel's! LOLOL”

“Cool report hikerchic5!

Only have driven through Yosemite once. From the west to east. Gorgeous. It was the summer of the big fires, like maybe 97??

Did the drive to Glacier Point, too. I can't remember that being scary! And I'm a bit of a weinie with heights, although I've been working on it (yes, I DID hike to Angel's Landing at Zion N'tl Park, NOT for the faint of heart). I think I-am-Om will get better at that.

And you mentioned one of my fav activities -- cruising around with the radio blaring and the only thing louder being my voice. Mooooooooohahahahaha!!!”

“HC,Thanks for taking over "my responsability" of making sure OM had a good trip (not a hard job). She's a great hiking companion and a great lady.”

“Good report! I know the feeling of not finding the people you're supposed to meet....I'm always getting lost if its not the eastern side.

Obi or anyone else. What are my options for getting to the Valley? Plan was to leave a vehicle in Mammoth and catch the shuttle to Yosemite Valley. With the rock slide, we might not be able to take the shuttle (they called us). What's the next best way to get there? South to Mojave and around, or north (not familiar with the roads up there)? We'll be dropping off food caches before the start on Friday, and I'm working til Wed. Will we be able to start a day late on our permit? Not sure how this will work out now. Aaarrggghhhh!!!!”

“Where are you leaving from? 5 is the fastest.”

“SnowDude is going up early to drop off the food caches at Tuolumne (will probably end up carrying it now) and Red's Meadows. Was planning to meet at Mammoth, then take the shuttle in. I'll check the maps to see which highways are north (not sure if they're faster), or maybe its better for SnowDude to meet me in Mojave and we can carpool from there. Just hate to leave my truck there for a whole month.”

“Hikerchic drinks beer? I think I'm in love!

Nice report, chica!”

“Well, Hikerchik5 and Obi's driving did sort of satisfy my
"do at least one thing a day that scares you" rule.

it wasnt so much the narrow road with no guard rail over the drop of thousands of feet feeling....as much as concern over the drivers gawking at the gorgeous views while driving...heh........ I felt much better out of the car HIKING and gawking in spite of rubber knees in some high and rocky on the "edges" parts of the trails...........I love that adrenaline rush tho.......! and lizs is right, I think this trip has got me "over" a lot of that.

good report hikerchik...werent the falls we saw from Glacier Point Nevada and Vernal?... and hey, I would have "crawled" out to that overhang rock for a picture....:)

Had a lot of fun experiencing "Too- all- of-me" Meadows and other Yosemite parts in your company... and I was so glad to have met you...a great end to one of my coolest vacations.
Pantscandy...(and all)......hikerchik5 is way cool......”

“h.chick....
cool report....i used to live in stockton too....one time, long ago, i had a tuolomne meadows trip planned with some friends of mine who were supposed to be "experienced" backpackers....this was in september....we left stockton and it was about 95 degrees in the shade....hot as anything....we drive up to the meadows and it's getting cooler, cooler....we get there right at sundown...we're all excited-we are going to hike clear down to the valley over the next couple of days....by now it is COLD....i'm putting on my long underwear and bundling up in fleece and down and my friend goes "dude, you're not going to believe this" and i say "what" and he says "i didn't bring a coat!!"
He really didn't....it was so hot in stockton and he was so jazzed about going that somehow he forgot....luckily, i was overly prepared and was able to loan him a down vest and a wool shirt and we were good to go....the other thing that i remember about this particular trip was that we set up camp late that first night, cooked up some ramen or pasta or something and didn't bother cleaning out the pans because it was so late and we were so tired and young and stupid....luckily no bears found us, but a squirrel or marmot or something got into that pan and ate the food residue and then crapped in the pan....that crap froze solid to the sides of the pan and believe me, no amount of scrubbing could ever completely make that pan the same as it was before....

anyway, great report and i envy you for living so close to so many great trailheads....have you hiked much in the emigrant wilderness or the carson-iceberg wilderness yet? both outstanding places for backcountry travel!!”

“The shuttle service called back, and the road is open now.”

“When's the pictures gonna happen?”

“lizs, do you play the steering wheel drums and guitar like I do?

obi, sorry we missed you! I'll be finally meeting you though next Friday! Can't wait for that trip--never been to the Jennie Lakes Wilderness.

naviguesser, I am on had only nice things to say about you. :)

snownymph, I'm glad it opened for you! Have a great trip! Where do you live? You drive quite a ways don't you?

pantscandy, yes, I drink beer And I LOVE pizza and if you ever go on a hike with me, we can share one together! What kind do you drink?

I am om, thanks! Had a terrific time! Glad you made it back safe. Is your site posted after your name? I'll check.

gonzo, you used to live in this godforsak...I mean wonderful town? And you moved away from it? I know about the temperature change up there! The first night I am om and I were cold. We didn't sleep very well. I hope you threw away that pan! I've never hiked in the emigrant or carson-iceberg wilderness but would love to. There are a million places around these areas that I haven't been but plan on going to all of them before my time is up.....hopefully that's a long long ways away. :) Where do you live now?

walkindude, just as soon as I take them to the damn photo shop. I keep forgetting! Should be this weekend sometime, although I'll be in Tahoe doing some kayaking at Kings Beach and maybe check out the Tahoe Rim Trail (is it open yet?)so maybe not till Monday. Then I'll send them on to Phil I guess. So probably next week sometime!”

“Hey Hickerchick,
I play guitar on my steering wheel all the time. I'd prolly have a wreck if I didn't. LOL”

“walkindude, yep. I think you're right! I don't think I could drive if I couldn't! Do you sing lousy like me too?”

“Very cool report. Isn't cool how you can mesh so well with a total stranger and never feel that same connection with people that you deal with on a daily basis. Sounds like a cool trip!”

“Yeah Hikerchick, I gotta turn it up Reeeeeeal loud to drown me out.

Mountainchick
In a way, they're not really total strangers. Out of all the TTers I've met, I never felt like I was meeting a stranger.”

“true wd.......
a lot has to do with Phils photopage and communicating here .......
but it is true, about meshing so well with folks from near and far better than some you deal with on an everyday basis.....maybe it has to do with being outdoors....:)”