Little Yosemite Valley and Merced Lake

I officially fell in love with Yosemite this past weekend.  Up until now, most of my work has been in the valley.  Approximately 95% of all visitors to Yosemite visit only the valley.  When the park averages 4 million visitors, that means busy and crowded.  My last project was focused on determining visitor density in the valley on trails, beaches along the rivr, and at scenic overlooks.  The major components of that project finished and I am moving on to Wilderness Encounters.  This means I get to spend time, in Wilderness (capitol 'W').  To kick everything off, I headed up to Little Yosemite Valley and Merced Lake.  It was a four day, three night backpacking trip and about 30 miles round trip.

I started early on Saturday morning, heading up the John Muir Trail.  I got to a point in the trail where the trees opened, and I got a glimpse of Nevada Falls.

I hope this works.

There is a bridge that goes over the river, a few feet from where the water flies over the falls.  Powerful!

A pieced together view looking down canyon from Nevada Falls.

In order to get supplies to the Little Yosemite Valley (LYV) ranger station and to the High Sierra Camps, mule pack trains are used.  It's something to see when you're on the trail and one of these trains comes past you.

Coming into the LYV Ranger Station.  It was quite a nice set up.  There are three 'haz-mat' tents (white). One belongs to the law enforcement ranger who stays at the LYV to check permits of Half Dome climbers and back country permits for campers in the backpackers camp.  

The kitchen.  Talk about luxury.  There's a fridge that run on propane, a stove, and a large and very random assortment of cookware.  There are also a lot of bear boxes for food storage.

Fire pit.  Every other night or so, a fire is lit and the trash can is filled with water to be boiled and used for dishes.

The dish washing table.

Tree man.

Gnome.

Saturday afternoon, Sean and I headed out to collect wilderness encounter data.  Sean is one of the interns working in my branch.  He'd hiked in on Tuesday.  The section we were collecting data from ran from the backpackers camp at LYV to the Upper Bunnell Cascade.  Below is Lower Bunnell Cascade.

We didn't make it to the upper cascade because a storm came up and we headed back to camp so as not to get struck by lightening.  It was a damp evening.

Sunday morning, we packed and headed for the Merced Lake Ranger Station (MLRS).  It was a perfect morning.  Here's a section of the trail that takes you out of Lost Valley into Echo Valley.  Can you imagine building that?

About 10:30, it started to sprinkle and by 11:30 we were in a full down-pour with lightening flashing overhead and thunder rolling all around us.  It was pretty intense for about a half hour.  Where I sheltered (but still got plenty wet, but didn't get struck by lightening!) I watched as the water created waterfalls on the sheer granite wall on the opposite side of the canyon.  It was something to see.

The storm passed, and we pressed on.  The reason I was going up was to download our trail counters and to take down the trail cameras.  Here's the set-up at one of our locations.  Counter is at the left and camera on the right.

My attempt at nature photography.

I was thrilled beyond all reason to reach the Merced Lake High Sierra Camp.  The guy at the desk in the mess hall let us help our selves to the warm beverages that are provided for guests only, even though we weren't guests.  I had my lunch, dried out, and sipped the best hot chocolate I've ever had.  It hit the spot and was exactly what I needed.

After another mile, we hit the MLRS.  I was glad to be done.  The ranger was there and we had a nice chat with him.  Sean and I dropped our packs and went to collect data and pull a camera that was about a mile and a half further up the trail from the ranger station.  There was a trail crew staying at the station that night, two sawyers and their mule packer.  They invited us to share dinner.  It was tasty, the company was enjoyable, and the cribbage game full of competitive banter.  We bunked in the ranger station that night.

Monday dawned clear and sunny and I was grateful for the clear skies.  When the rain started Sunday, I put my camera in a drier and therefore less accessible place in my pack.  I got some photos of the lake on the way back to LYV.  Stunning!!  

I could sit and stare at this for hours.

The Merced River.

 

I came around a switchback and this is what greeted me.  Looking east, the Merced River flowing down the center.

Sean and I got back to LYV, dropped our packs, and I downloaded the camera data.  We had a restful afternoon and played two rousing games of cribbage with two other rangers that were staying at LYV.  Both Sean and I hiked out Tuesday and were picked up by a co-worker and driven back to the office.

Like I said in the beginning, I have fallen in love with Yosemite.