seeking a backpacking group or some pointers

[suman]

Hi,

I have done a few day hikes like halfdome, clouds rest, yosemite point etc.. but never backpacked, in Yosemite or else where. I have done camping and bicycle touring. I really like to backpack Yosemite for a few days between june 26 - july 4 with some experienced company. If you are a group of backpackers that can welcome one more wilderness loving soul, that would be great. Or if you have any pointers where i can find company, that would be helpful as well.

I have already looked at options from rei and others. But i am hoping for a more adventurous experience.

thanks

[AlmostThere]

Go to meetup.com. There are a zillion hiking groups, a lot of them in your area, and they all eventually make their way to Yosemite.

The Fresno, Modesto and Merced areas will likely have groups that head up at least once a month - there's a very large Fresno-Madera group that goes to Yosemite and Sequoia-Kings most of the time, even snowshoeing once in a while. Once the snow melts off more there will probably be an upswing in backpacking outings as well.

[orion]

ask your friends to go, if they can't or won't, go by yourself. by yourself, with some general and sage advice, to somewhere on a map, is invariably a bullseye, from my experience.

but once you know the place, it's hard to find the chance to go alone.

you'll find the important stuff when alone.

[suman]

@AlmostThere Thanks! I signed up for two groups, the fresno-madera group and one in bay area. Looks promising.

@Orion My friends dont seem interested in anything more than a day hike I like the idea of going alone and finding new friends on the way. But at the same time, i am afraid of mountain lions and bears. very much so. Please shower some general and sage advice. Here are some questions i have. They may be stupid, but at least you know where i stand.

Do backpackers end each day at some campsite?

or do they setup camp arbitrarily towards the end of the day's hike?

I like to avoid the situation where i am absolutely alone overnight. is that worrying too much?

[AlmostThere]

I have gone by myself in national parks - you are never alone in a national park unless you intentionally seek to be alone, you have to go off trail by a good bit to be really isolated, backpacking in summer/spring....

The only mountain lion you need to fear is the one you see in front of you. I have seen tracks, but never seen a lion. As a backpacker I suspect you are safer than a biker or runner - things that move fast away from a cat are Acting Like Prey, backpackers look bigger, have a pack covering the back of their neck/head, and don't act like they are running away.

Black bears aren't going to go out of their way to hurt you. The only injuries caused by bears in the central Sierra that I'm aware of were all related to people sleeping with their food. Follow food storage regulations (include trash and hygiene products) and you really don't have a lot of worries.

[orion]

The most dangerous aspect of hiking alone is falling and injuring yourself with no one around. If you stick to trails initially you shouldn't have that problem.

High water, especially in the early season, is also more dangerous than most realize. Seems like someone disappears alone each spring, and I always suspect it was a high water crossing when they should have turned back. Later in the season, the smoothed granite around creeks and rivers can be as slippery as ice if the bottom of your boot gets wet. This can be fatal, especially near the tops of waterfalls.

The most dangerous animal, in my opinion, is the rattlesnake. Even then, it is a matter of looking where you are going and not stepping on one. They are not aggressive, but they are poisonous. I haven't seen one higher than 7400'.

Bears are generally harmless. If you see one on the trail, give it a respectful distance. If one is coming towards you that doesn't see you, then holler - it will change course. If one is rummaging your campsite for food, curse like a sailor right out of the gate and it will run off. (Valley bears excepted, they're incorrigible.)

Unless you are a little person, I wouldn't worry about mountain lions. They prefer the remotest regions and deer.

As for being alone, it's not for everyone. It can be both exhilarating and terrifying if you are inclined, more to the terror if you are not. Initially, every sound you hear might wake you up at night, but after a while only the pertinent ones do.

Ideally, you plan your hike to end with water at hand and a view, but there are some more esoteric ways of looking at it.

[bill-e-g]

Pretty much we killed off the last bear you need to worry about in 1922.

I'd worry more about some psycho 2 legged animal.

Rattlers... hmmmph... There's a reason you never hear PCT hikers
hiking thru the desert getting bit or anyone else really.

Don't worry. Just go. That thing going bump in the night... it's you.

[AlmostThere]

There's a reason the folks who get bit by rattlers are generally 20 and male... if you leave 'em alone they don't bite you.

Pretty much everything else is the same way.... habituated bears just want your food, so store it right. Coons are cousins of the bears, same thing.

Even grizzlies (where they still exist in the lower 48, not in California) will generally not bother you much.

Statistically the creatures you should really worry about are domesticated dogs and people. And bees - if you are allergic.

[orion]

20, male, drunk, and bit on the hand...

i've grabbed one by the rattle myself, and another by the cheeks, but i warn't dumb about it

[suman]

Thanks everyone for your advice. I got most of the gear and wilderness permit. Preparation is underway. Since its my first trip, i am still strongly inclined to end every day at a camp where there are at least few other people.

I am starting at Bridalveil campground trail head and planning to hike towards glacier point and then to little yosemite valley (second night). So what would be a good place to camp the first night? Glacier point is about 7 miles. Can i camp near there? Am i likely to find other campers there?

My plan is to camp in little yosemite valley on second and third nights and do some hiking loops during the day, like sunrise lakes and merced lake. I am assuming little yosemite valley will have a lot of overnight campers, especially since all the permits are gone. Is this a good plan?

Regarding wilderness permits, is it an honor based system or is there some kind of enforcement?

many thanks for your encouragement!

[AlmostThere]

Bridalveil Campground Trailhead? So you are going ... on the road? You might want to look at a map.

You can't camp at Glacier Point. You are likely to find a ranger telling you to leave. If you are hiking the Pohono trail (the one to Glacier Point by the most direct route) the only legal camp spots are around Bridalveil Creek and again in the Ilillouette drainage off the trail. Since you are starting on a trailhead across the road and heading in a different direction - ie toward Ostrander, Alder Creek, Chilnualna, etc. - you can probably camp a couple miles out that way.

Little Yosemite Valley is a zoo. The bears will be bad and you are confined to a small area in the middle of the valley. Hiking a couple miles toward Merced Lake and finding a campsite near Moraine Dome would give you more peace.

Wilderness permits are enforced pretty well in Yosemite - a friend was escorted out of the wilderness by a ranger patrolling Red Peak Pass when it was discovered he had no permit. So take the bear can, put everything they tell you to inside, keep it locked when you leave it out of arm's length of you, and start on the day your permit says you can start, from the trailhead it says you can start at - and you will be fine.

[bill-e-g]

McGurk is heading to Pohono / north.
Ostrander/Little Bear is heading to Ostrander / south (go figure).
Maybe got the wrong permit?

When are you going?

I'd recommend you go to the Valley Wilderness Center and
have a nice long chat with a ranger down there.
Tell him/her what you're up to. Where you're going.
They will give you an idea of what to expect on your journey.
Snow and fast running streams and creeks are a real danger
right now.

Be safe
Have fun

[suman]

@AlmostThere: Thanks. yes i am going and pretty excited about it! good to know the permits are enforced. I was planning on taking the pohono trail from Bridalveil trailhead to glacier point. But if camping is not possible there, i favor hiking to glacier point on the last day of my drip into the valley.

I am totally open to ideas here(please). I am happy to have gotten the permit, but my route plan is not finalized yet.

I favored LYV for the second night for three reasons. 1) no permit to camp there first night 2) there will be other humans nearby. keeps me sane. 3) I am allowed to setup base camp there making it easy for day hikes to merced lake, echo valley, sunrise lakes etc.. But if there are better options, i am open to consider.

I got permit for 4 nights starting at Bridalveil trailhead and ending in happy isles. I've day hiked to halfdome and cloudsrest last year so, dont have to do that again. Given this situation i am happy to hear your ideas. Still no luck on finding company, so i prefer a reasonably popular route so there is a good chance to find camping buddies.

[AlmostThere]

I'm sorry, you seem to be confused.

There is no real four day route to Happy Isles from the trailhead you have selected. That's not on the Pohono Trail. The trailhead in the campground is on the wrong side of the road.

[suman]

Ok. i am back to the drawing board. The permit i got starts on 6/26 @ Bridalveil Campground and ends on Happy Isles -> LYV on 6/30. I got the Tom Harrison map and my original plan is as follows:

day 1: Bridalveil campground to GP or somewhere half way to LYV.
day 2: to LYV
day 3: base camp @LYV and day hike
day 4: same as day 3
day 5: LYV to happy isles

@AlmostThere: i see a unnamed trail on the map from bridalveil campground that connects to pohono trail in about 3-3.5 miles

You know my dates now and i am open to other ideas. All permits starting from happy isles are gone for those dates. I plan to arrive by AM on 6/26. How hard is it to get the first come first server permits for the trail heads that are full, like happy isles?

Since this is my first ever backpacking trip, i dont want to choose a route thats totally out of the way. I remember your comment about "you are never alone", but i am speaking relatively herel. I really appreciate your replies.