by ODS » Mon Sep 30, 2019 1:16 pm
UPDATE:
Stayed at Boothe. Great lake and a nice campsite on the south west shore. Several other hikers on the trail that day, but they all went to the HSC backpacker's site so we had Boothe to ourselves night one. After our day hike on day two we returned to our site to find a group of 3 that set up camp about 30 yards from us. That was a bit disappointing, especially because there was no one else at the lake and they could have chosen anywhere else, but I knew that was part of the trade off of staying in this area.
Day 3 we went x-country from Emeric to Echo Lake. That was a grueling day, but both climbs were rewarded with amazing views. The climb out of Emeric revealed the entire Cathedral Range, what a great spot to enjoy the view and take a nice lunch break. Getting off that pass and down to Echo Creek was a bit more of a slog than I expected, just route finding and some knicks and cuts from minor bushwacks and a few slips on some slick, muddy rocks. Then picking our way through some of the rock outcrops and getting up onto the ridge south of the Matthes Crest really zapped our reserves. The view was again spectacular at the top of the climb, but by then it was after 4PM and with about 1.5 miles left we pushed on and got to Echo Lake with enough time for a quick dip in the lake to clean up and then get our selves settled and gather some firewood and hunker in for the colder night coming.
We moved our trip up by 3 days so we could fit it in before the winter storm that hit both Saturday morning and Saturday night. We came out via the Cathedral Lakes climbers trail, and then I hitched back to my car at the TM permit office, doubled back to get my buddies and we were off. One nice plus, the TM grill was open for a burger. With our first plan being to exit on Tues Oct 1st, I never thought it'd be open, but moving up the trip and exiting on Saturday meant we got a well deserved meal and my favorite right after coming out of the back country, some cold sierra mist. We made our way to Mammoth to clean up and spend the night before driving back on Sunday. We learned while in Mammoth Saturday night that Tioga closed at 4PM that day due to the coming snow.
Super stoked that my group was able to mobilize and get in before the storm, was worried we were going to have to cancel but in the end we made it and had another great trip in Yosemite!