Backpacking 2-3 Days in mid-April

[balzaccom]

I am going to put in a couple of other suggestions:

How about Chilnualna Falls? If this weather holds up for another week, it should be no problem to get to the top there...and then there is a lovely valley to explore. As per a post in another topic, we made it nearly to the top ten days ago, and had a terrific time doing it.

The other option might well be Snow Creek Falls out of the Valley. A steep climb to start, but once you get up on top you can go up North Dome or just wander around towards the Tioga Road.

Both have the advantage of a quick exit if the weather turns ugly, and some nice scenery on the way up.

I do agree with Bill G about Tenaya Canyon. Stunning place, but not for newbies---especially not in springtime. Save that one for fall when the creek is down and you have a plan B!

[Humancarpentry]

How is the weather there right now? Any precipitation? I've had difficulty finding a weather forecast or data that is actually in Yosemite Valley and not from some station 50 miles South of there.

[bill-e-g]

You will hit alot of snow above around 5000 ft. elevation.
April 3rd is only a week away.
I was planning to go up to LYV that weekend. I may change plans if
the snow is sticking on Half Dome / the west side of it...

If you want to get to Glacier Pt. you will have to go from Badger Pass and
snowshoe. No way 4 Mile gonna be open.

You'll want to check out the web cams. They will really show you
how much snow is sticking.

For weather just go to weather and intellicast. Type in Yosemite National Park.
Those are the 2 I use.

If you have not been to Hetch Hetchy now is a good time to go.
You can get to Rancheria Falls without much issue.

btw... up Snow Creek to North Dome is a long haul.. and you WILL hit
alot of snow cause you go around Indian Rock and Basket and North...
I'd save that for later ... (it's near 8k elevation)
If you want to go to North Dome I'd try up Yosemite Falls and then east.
There's more sun exposure and it doesn't go up as high as from Snow Ck.


Ok, now I'm wondering if heybooboo is gonna see my questions about
Chilnualna Creek above the fall.

[Humancarpentry]

Cool, thanks for all the info. I didn't know Little Yosemite Valley was "open" now...
Is snowshoeing to Glacier Pt. a decent day hike from Badger Pass? Sounds like fun.

I didn't know there were webcams. That's pretty awesome. You wouldn't have a link for those, would you?

My girlfriend was thinking about Hetch Hetchy and Rancheria. I haven't been up there, actually. Anywhere you would suggest setting up a base camp around there?

Thanks again for great reply.

[bill-e-g]

Google is your friend... but here it is:

http://yosemite.org/vryos/

(hope it works)

For Rancheria... the place to camp is below the cascade... it is before
the actual sign for the campsite...

you climb up and up from Tiltill Ck. bridge. ... eventually it will
level off... head to south and look down... you'll see the cascade
and Racheria Creek. Head down there and find a nice spot.
Please... leave no trace...

[Wickett]

How is the weather there right now? Any precipitation? I've had difficulty finding a weather forecast or data that is actually in Yosemite Valley and not from some station 50 miles South of there.

I use weather.com and search Yosemite NATL park, CA. It gives you the valley weather.

http://www.weather.com/outlook/recreati ... _typeahead

[Heybooboo]

Bill-e-g,
I don't remember crossing any water when we did Wawona dome but that was 18 years ago. If there would have been hazardous water I would have wussed out. I'm a big sissy when it comes to gutsy stuff like that. My motto is make it home safely and try again another day with better equipment or a better plan.

[Humancarpentry]

Thanks everyone for the great info. I think right now we are going to camp the first night in Yosemite valley. The next day I was thinking about taking the John Muir Trail out of the valley to the Panorama trail, and then taking that North up to Glacier point, probably as a day hike. We'll bring snowshoes. Maybe check out Little Yosemite Valley on the way back.

Next, I was thinking of getting the car out of the valley and driving up to Hetch Hetchy and then taking Bill-e-g's suggestion and taking the trail around the north side of the reservoir over to Rancheria Falls to spend a night or two out there.

And we will be as backpacking ninja and leave not a trace.

Comments? Suggestions?

Oh, and thanks for the link to the webcams and forecast. The long range forecast is looking great. Oh, and do we need backcountry permit reservations before April 15th? I heard that you didn't.

[bill-e-g]

Whoa...

Dayhike to Glacier Pt. now? Hmm... that's pretty aggressive...
4 Mile trail is closed up there so you have to come back the same way.
Um... well, I guess you can always just turn around at any time...
(it's 9 miles one-way the way you'll have to go to GP now)

I'll be there next weekend so if you see some dork in a orange shirt,
Granite Gear backpack and a Green Bay Packers hat... that's my
sorry butt...
(at least that's my plan at the moment for nxt wkend)

It's self-reg right now but for HH you have to get the permit at the
entrance station at Mather.

[Humancarpentry]

Hmmmm. 9 miles IS a long way when you are snow-shoeing it... Maybe we'll overnight somewhere around there.

You'll easily recognize my girlfriend and I as the couple with tons of REI gear constantly holding a map and gesturing wildly at random landmarks.

We are both getting pretty excited for the trip.

[Humancarpentry]

Thanks to everyone that gave good advice. My girlfriend and I had an awesome backpacking trip a couple weeks ago taking the trail Mist (ICE) Trail up from Happy Isles to Little Yosemite Valley. We spent the night there and the next day took day packs, climbing gear and snow shoes with us up to Half Dome. We got to the base of the cables pretty quick with the snow shoes helping our ascent greatly. (I had a new pair of MSR lighting Ascents that are awesome). We left our snowshoes at the base and then just clipped into the cables with carabiners and webbing attached to our harnesses.

The view from the top was amazing. I have posted some pictures on my Picasa album on google. if anyone is interested. Just go for the Yosemite pictures. Let me know if the link doesn't work.

http://picasaweb.google.com/humancarpentry

[bill-e-g]

Sorry!

BUT!!!

... um....

THAT IS FRIGGIN AWESOME!

Thanks for Sharing!!

I think I sorta think i mighta promised the wife I wouldn't go up
with the cables down... but... um...
If something would have happened and you slipped and started
falling what sorta protection, if any, did you have?
By "clip in" what exactly does that mean? (no real climbing exp. for me)
I know you mentioned carabiners and webbing... can you just
give me a little more info or pictures or links to what exactly you
used and any other useful info.
Thanks!

[Humancarpentry]

I count myself lucky to have a very adventurous girlfriend. She'll usually say, "I don't know if this is safe..." but then she'll just do it anyway. We were wearing rock climbing harnesses. You can take a strong metal clip called a carabiner that will go around the cable and attach yourself to it so that if you slipped and fell, you would be attached to the cable. The worst that could happen is you would slide down the rock a ways, but you can't fall off when clipped in as the cables are quite securely bolted to the rock.

I still haven't put up the pics from the rest of the trip when we went over to Hetch Hetchy and then snowshoeing in Desolation Wilderness.

[cornbread]

I used a climbing harness, Prusik loop and two carabiners when I did Half Dome with the cables up. I'm glad I did. Some people are very careless with how they go up and down...just bumping into others and being reckless. I have a wife and two kids to get home to so why not make sure that I will.

[Humancarpentry]

As far as the climbing gear goes, the best thing you could do is go to your local REI and take an intro to rock climbing course. They are usually very knowledgeable and nice people. The courses are a lot of fun and very reasonably priced. They would give you enough instruction to be able to safely put on a harness and rig up a simple sling and carabiner to clip into a cable.