(
click on any photo to enlarge) WOW! Departure day is finally here! Our goal this year is to complete the Tahoe - Yosemite Trail. This trail is roughly 180 miles and connects Tuolomne Meadows in Yosemite National Park to Meeks Bay on the west shore of Lake Tahoe. On Saturday, our friend Brian drove us up and over Tioga Pass to Tuolomne Meadows to obtain our Wilderness Permits. Our plan was to stay in the backpackers campground and leave early on Sunday morning. We got our permits and Brian drove away leaving us with just our packs and 10 days of walking ahead of us. We secured a spot in the backpackers campground and walked to the store to get some snacks for our last evening in civilization. When we returned to our camp we found the campground completely packed with all the John Muir Trail hikers that we starting the next day for a Southbound hike to Whitney. We were the only hikers heading North on the Pacific Crest Trail. I knew that if we were going to see any bears, it would be at this campground. Sure enough as I was walking down to the Lyell Fork to take some photos, I saw a blackie walking in the trees on the edge of the campground. She was just waiting for some lazy camper to leave their ice chest unattended for a split second. The Yosemite bear is the crafty-est, smartest bear you will ever meet. We ate our dinner and put all of our food and smelly items in the bear box and settled into our bags for some sleep.
At about 1:00am we awoke to the all to familiar sound of campers banging on pots or yelling 'BEAR'! Then you hear the bear go from campsite to campsite to see if anyone was dumb enough to leave anything smelly outside of the bear boxes. Inevitably, the bear finds something and the camper freaks out and starts yelling or banging. It doesn't make for a good nights sleep. Luckily tomorrow night we'll be all alone in the back country. 180 miles in 10 days - what a relaxing vacation!
(click on any photo to enlarge) WOW! Departure day is finally here! Our goal this year is to complete the Tahoe - Yosemite Trail. This trail is roughly 180 miles and connects Tuolomne Meadows in Yosemite National Park to Meeks Bay on the west shore of Lake Tahoe. On Saturday, our friend Brian drove us up and over Tioga Pass to Tuolomne Meadows to obtain our Wilderness Permits. Our plan was to stay in the backpackers campground and leave early on Sunday morning. We got our permits and Brian drove away leaving us with just our packs and 10 days of walking ahead of us. We secured a spot in the backpackers campground and walked to the store to get some snacks for our last evening in civilization. When we returned to our camp we found the campground completely packed with all the John Muir Trail hikers that we starting the next day for a Southbound hike to Whitney. We were the only hikers heading North on the Pacific Crest Trail. I knew that if we were going to see any bears, it would be at this campground. Sure enough as I was walking down to the Lyell Fork to take some photos, I saw a blackie walking in the trees on the edge of the campground. She was just waiting for some lazy camper to leave their ice chest unattended for a split second. The Yosemite bear is the crafty-est, smartest bear you will ever meet. We ate our dinner and put all of our food and smelly items in the bear box and settled into our bags for some sleep.
At about 1:00am we awoke to the all to familiar sound of campers banging on pots or yelling 'BEAR'! Then you hear the bear go from campsite to campsite to see if anyone was dumb enough to leave anything smelly outside of the bear boxes. Inevitably, the bear finds something and the camper freaks out and starts yelling or banging. It doesn't make for a good nights sleep. Luckily tomorrow night we'll be all alone in the back country. 180 miles in 10 days - what a relaxing vacation!
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