Nevada's desert
During late July 2009 two friends and I planned on hiking a portion of the John Muir Trail from Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite National Park to Reds Meadow Campground at the edge of the Ansel Adams Wilderness in the Sierra-Nevada Mountains in southern California. This was the second adventure for this trio as we hiked from Piseco, NY to Lake Placid on the Northville-Placid Trail the previous summer.
The trip required some creative logistics as my friend Dave lives in Rochester, NY and his childhood friend, Jim lives in Austin, TX. The original plan required Dave and I to meet up in Detroit and then fly together to Las Vegas, where we would rent a car and drive to meet Jim in Mammoth Lakes, CA. Jim was already enjoying the area with his girlfriend and for some reason wanted to spend some time with the two of us in the backcountry.
I began my journey by waking up early before sunrise and heading off to Hancock International Airport with a Golite daypack on my back and a giant green cotton Army-style duffel in tow. My gear had to be carefully packed since I would be checking-in the duffel while carrying the daypack as a carry-on. Other than not knowing Northwest Airlines merged with Delta my experience at Hancock was uneventful despite being my first post-9/11 flight (I do not get out much).
After a delay with my flight landing in Detroit I met up with Dave on the plane to Las Vegas. Unfortunately the airline moved my seat so we were no longer sitting together. The only note-worthy part of the flight was seeing glimpses of the Grand Canyon out the window.
After touching down we retrieved our duffle bags and obtained a rental PT Cruiser for our long drive through the Nevada desert west toward California. We took I-95 north through most of the Nevada portion of the over 5-hour drive to Mammoth Lakes.
Along the way we stopped a couple times most notably at an establishment called Nevada Joe’s. Nevada Joe’s was an interesting landmark; it is a saloon, restaurant, convenience store, gas station and, yes, even a brothel. Oh, and the entire building is painted pink.
Mountain-top pine forest
Inside the convenience store they sold a lot of cheesy UFO paraphernalia. I did not know at the time but the area around Nevada Joe’s was somewhat of a UFO tourist attraction with Yucca Mountain supposedly visible from the store.
Before leaving Dave wanted to photograph me coming down the stairs from the entrance of the brothel right in front of a large sign identifying its purpose. I declined just in case it might surface during a future political campaign or some other sensitive situation.
I spent the vast majority of time during our ride through Nevada viewing the desert landscape out the window. After coming from the lush and green of summer in central New York, the arid and tan desert of the southwest stood in stark contrast. Even most of the higher elevation areas appeared to be largely devoid of vegetation. At one point while on top of a mountain ridge though we did drove through a beautiful pine forest.
Californian mountains
Given this was my first visit to this part of the country I felt like a kid in a candy shop with each new plant, animal or land form providing me with another fascinating subject until another one presented itself and distracted me from the previous one.
When we finally arrived in California we drove north via I-395 through a valley with a little more green herbaceous vegetation with a few scattered trees. This did not last long though before we were back into dry conditions once again.
Finally we arrived at Mammoth Lakes and met up with Jim and his girlfriend. After a brief reunion we left the rental car from Las Vegas and took off to run some errands before heading to Yosemite. After running the errands to get gas, groceries, alcohol (for both the stoves and ourselves) and other necessities we set off for Yosemite National Park.
Californian desert
The ride was largely uneventful but when we turned off I-395 at Lee Vining and headed up into the mountains toward the Park entrance we were provided with some awesome views. By this time it was going on 8 PM and the sun was starting to set. The mountain tops were awash with the golden light of the setting sun while the sides of the mountains were now covered in shadows.
Then I caught sight of it. Snow! In July! Scattered about near the mountain tops were patches of white snow. You cannot see this in the Adirondacks in late July. Along with the towering mountain peaks and scattered snow patches there were mountain ponds and vast open meadows strewn with exposed rocks and random conifer trees. This was clearly a whole other world than what I was used to, and it was mine to explore for the next week.
Lighted mountaintop
We rolled on into the Tuolumne Meadows Campground after dark. The campground was set-up much like those in the Adirondacks with a single narrow road which winds through the densely packed campsites. The entire campground was sheltered by towering conifer trees but the lack of much understory between campsites provided little privacy.
Each campsite provided a fire ring, picnic table and metal locker. The metal locker was required for storing all scented material, especially food due to the hungry black bears in the area. I made sure to put anything and everything that remotely had a scent in the locker for the two nights we stayed here.
Sierra-Nevada Meadow
After locating the campsite Dave and I set about pitching our respective shelters. I set up my tarp in a nice grassy area under some conifer trees near the main road.
Jim took off with the car to drive his girlfriend to the airport leaving Dave and I alone until later the following day. After walking out onto Tuolumne Meadows to view the stars we called it a night since it had been a long day of traveling for the both of us. A dull altitude-induced headache started to develop and I thought an early night would cure. Unfortunately this headache was merely some foreshadowing of what was to come.
Tomorrow was scheduled to be a day of acclimating to the altitude, with day hiking to see the sights in the area in the morning and then when Jim returned an auto-tour of Yosemite culminating in a trip down to Yosemite Valley.
