Sunset on Mt. Watkins

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Chris and I woke up at the horrid hour of 4:45am. My parents are watching Arya for the weekend. Everyone kept asking if we were bringing her with us- heck no. I'm not bringing a toddler backpacking in bear country! We met up with Billy and Joy at Peet's coffee in Milpitas, and then continued our drive to Groveland to pick up sandwiches at Subway. We arrived at Yosemite's Big Oak Flat entrance about 9:30am- not bad timing! We had to pick up our permits here by 10am, or they'd be offered up first come, first serve to anyone else. The ranger helping the tourists in front of us in line seemed brusque at first. When it was my turn to review my route and plans with her, I must have passed whatever internal test she had. Perhaps simply having a plan was good enough. Her demeanor was friendly and helpful after that. I can only imagine what morons they have to deal with every day. She reassured us the snow shouldn't be a problem anymore.

After getting our permit, we continued up highway 120 to Tuolumne Meadows. We parked our car at Cathedral trailhead and then sat on some rocks in the meadow to eat our Subway sandwiches. The last legit food for the next few days. We carefully dumped all the garbage from our cars (so bears wouldn't break in), and then drove back down highway 120 towards our starting trailhead, May Lake to Snow Creek. We parked at the turnout across the street from the May Lake trailhead, which turned out to be the wrong spot! We only discovered this after we wasted a half hour trying to find the trail, and then realizing the map must be outdated. A couple of older backpackers saw us trekking up the highway and searching, pulled over and THEY apologized to US for not realizing we were lost and giving us advice! I couldn't believe how nice these guys were. We had managed to find the old trailhead just as they pulled up. They said the NEW trailhead was just around the corner. This is something I'd read about with backpacking etiquette- you always greet another backpacker and ask/offer advice. I love the camaraderie, even among people not in your group.

Finally, we were off from the RIGHT trailhead! It was close to 1pm already. The next couple hours we trekked, nearly completely downward, in the direction of Mt. Watkins. I had wanted to backpack further our first day but I was told it was difficult to find campsites near Olmsted Point (now that I've done this trail, I question that advice.... I think there ARE places). A ranger had suggested Mt. Watkins. Also, it's currently forbidden to camp anywhere near Snow Creek. Apparently there's a smart bear that likes to raid campsites and literally TOSS backpacker's food canisters over the cliffs into the Valley. Talk about vindictive.

We decided to filter water at the creek at our first junction. Only a couple miles to go before setting up camp for the night. We continued for about another half mile down the trail past the junction, and then turned right off trail up Mt. Watkins. I've never backpacked off trail so this was a first. We had run into the same two older backpackers on our way down from the trailhead. They were sitting on a log deciding where to camp for the night. They asked our plans, so we told them. They said the only issue was lack of water on top of Mt. Watkins. I knew this in advance, and we planned to pack as much water up as possible. They had muttered something about using the saddle to climb up the mountain, and at the time, that bit of advice hadn't registered in our brains. So, when we turned right to go up Mt. Watkins...we literally went UP. I busted out my map and compass, figured out the cardinal direction from where we were and periodically just checked the compass to make sure we were headed the right way. I was quite proud of myself. I've never used a compass, like legit used one, and I got us up the mountain with PRECISION. Getting up the mountain was insane, though. The steepness was absolutely killer. Something like an 800ft elevation change in less than a mile. After an hour and a half, Chris and I made it up. We thought Billy and Joy were right behind us. We'd all been making frequent stops and resting as we climbed. The heat, the elevation and steepness with 30+ pound packs were exhausting us. To make matters worse, Joy and Billy had barely slept the night before. Chris and I dropped our packs under a small cluster of trees at the top. In the distance we saw two other backpackers setting up camp. After fifteen minutes, Billy popped out of the woods onto the flat peak, yelling my name. Chris was off exploring. As he approached he told me he needed to leave his pack with me and go back to carry Joy's pack so she could make it up. She'd hit exhaustion, was nauseous and felt like puking. So, I watched our stuff while Chris went with Billy. Another ten minutes or so, and all three of them arrived. Thankfully Joy hadn't passed out.

We had her rest with the packs while we explored the top of the mountain for the best campsite. We neared the other two backpackers, only to realize it was the SAME older backpackers from earlier! They had somehow beat us up the mountain and already set up camp! That's what we get for not heeding their advice about the saddle route. Oops. In the end, we decided the spot where we'd dropped our packs was the best spot. There was tree cover nearby and sand. Yes- sand on the peak. Totally unexpected. We all set up camp on the soft sand. It was too shallow for stakes so we used rocks to weigh our tents down just in case it got windy. I thought for sure it would but the world was absolutely still and quiet on that peak.

We cooked dinner, careful not to use too much water. We'd used up way more of our water than we expected to on our climb up the mountain. It became very apparent that cooking breakfast in the morning wasn't going to happen. I already felt dehydrated as it was. It was close to 7pm by the time we finished eating. I wanted to explore the peak some more. Joy was tired and decided to rest at camp so Chris, Billy and I took off to look around. It was National Hammocking Day, so I was dead set on setting up our hammock to get a good picture. The views from the top of Mt. Watkins were insane. We could see Cloud's Rest, Half Dome, Tenaya Canyon and Yosemite Valley, and all at sunset. It was a bitch to get up the mountain that afternoon, but hell was I glad I did it. The gorgeous scenery from the peak was worth it all! There was a big fire currently going on near Mariposa, and I think the distant smoke added to the beautiful orange-red sunset. Contrary to what the news was reporting, the Valley wasn't very smoky. We could see everything from our perch with only a slight haze. Had I not known there was a fire near Mariposa, I would have just assumed it was the campfires from the Valley campgrounds causing the haze. I took a billion pictures of Half Dome and the Valley. Just as the sun was nearly set, we found two good trees to set up our hammock on. We barely had time to take pictures before the sun was gone below the horizon. Worth it!

After that, we trekked back up to our campsite, which was so much effort that first night. Walking ten feet made my mouth dry and breathe hard. This is what trekking at altitude does to your body. I think we all suffered a little altitude sickness and dehydration that first night. I tried to sleep but my brain kept swirling around thoughts of ice cold grapes, sweet fruit and clear water. Damn was I thirsty! I suddenly appreciated water very much. As we lied in our tent, I asked Chris, "...what do we do if there's lightning?" He shrugged, "We deal with it." We weren't under the trees even though we were near some. We were out in the open under a clear dark sky full of a billion stars. Lucky for us, the sky stayed clear all night. It was maybe upper 70 degrees all afternoon, and not until the sun went down did the temperature drop to 50s. I loved just waking up, looking outside at the sky and admiring the stars. So beautiful.

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