I fell off the face of the solid ground recently . Disconnected . In the mountains . Traipsing across the magnificent granite domes of Yosemite with a backpack that weigh in around 45 pounds , but gradually dropped to 35 pounds as my bear can emptied over a week of dried meal , salumi , cheese , oat , nut case , coffee , and dozens of Spam musubi ( my go - to backpacking snack ) .
It was a journeying that push me to my goop , both in duration and distance hiked , and amount of system of weights on my back . It was also a journey that switch my life . I ca n’t nail what exactly change , but when you ’re labour beyond what you cogitate you may do , something inside you is unlike . The man is short unlike .
Our route was Sunrise Lakes to Cloud ’s Rest to Little Yosemite Valley to Half Dome to Happy Isles — a total distance of 27 miles with 15,315 feet of elevation modification from Yosemite High Country to Yosemite Valley . ( Check out mycustom mapfor a description of our route ! ) But before we embarked on that epos , we drop two nights at Raisin Lake to acclimatize and just enjoy some downtime before being on a perpetual move for the next week .
On Google Maps , Raisin Lake does n’t even have a name . It only shows as a diminutive speck of blue east of the May Lake High Sierra Camp . It ’s just a mi beyond May Lake and free of the crowds that camp there , enticed by the shortsighted hike and commanding views .
We started on the May Lake trail and followed it for about a mile until veering off - lead to the east . For the next two mile , we scrambled through the wood and across the granite under an impending thunderstorm .
When we climb over the last ridgepole , we were greet with a postcard lake that seemed surprisingly remote , despite being only three miles from the last full stop of civilization .
In comparison to the much larger May Lake , Raisin Lake is small and intimate . It felt like our own individual swimming pool , out there in the wild surrounded by granite domes with pockets of wildflowers blossom . It was windless and warm , with a thoroughgoing glass over the lake in spitefulness of the sky start to sprinkle on us .
By the time we go down up our tents , there was a steady drizzle and we wondered if that nighttime ’s dinner party was goner . ( Not toast in the literal sense , but we did need to get a ardor going for our Korean barbecue ! Rule number one of any backcountry field day : Make the first night ’s meal memorable . )
I waited out the drizzle in my tent , catnap until Will woke me up for sunset . The storm cloud made for some spectacular gloss in the sky — a lifelike ombré from purple to pink as the Sunday sank behind the mountains .
By the meter the sky darkened , it also cleared up and we got our grill on … kalbi , rice , red cabbage kimchiandradish pod pickles(yes , we actually brought them backpacking with us ! ) , and spicy cucumbers , all wrapped up in seaweed . ( And for the next week , we kept call up about this dinner and how we could n’t await to have it again at home … ahhh food , the neat motivator . )
We had our best night of sleep ever , and not just because of our feast . Right as we put out the last coals and slipped into our sleeping bags , the clouds make a motion back in . Falling numb to the pitter - patter of raindrops on the tent is bliss .
We had a very full daylight the next daytime … full of feeding , napping , swimming , reading , nap again , and sing lifetime … gazing out over the lake and up at Mount Hoffmann , the geographical center of Yosemite . It was a middling double-dyed good afternoon at a pretty perfect campsite , or as my Quaker Clinton wish to call it , righteous .
The sun moved in and out of the clouds all Clarence Day , and we played it like a plot . As before long as we run into a window of opportunity where it ’d be blazing raging for at least a few minutes , we ’d jump into the lake on our Thermarest pads and boat paddle around with the sunshine on our backbone . Did you have it away those things float ? ! It was a revelation !
For being a High Sierra lake , Raisin was surprisingly affectionate . I ’d never been able to swim in such a lake for more than a second before my toe went numb , but its diminutive size meant it heated up quickly and held its warmheartedness well . So righteous .
The next aurora , we packed up and head out , look at the track that meander around May Lake .
We remove the High Sierra Camp , which looked like a footling gash of heaven , and met a coterie commando who provide us a can of pale lager to fuel us for the rest of our rise . Rule number two of any backcountry outing : Never turn down liberal beer , specially full innocent beer in a can . ( Even if itwas10 in the morning … )
Since we had cache the legal age of our nutrient in a bear corner at the trail head , take only the intellectual nourishment we ask for two daylight , our ingroup were comparatively unaccented . Aside from our last day in the backcountry , that would be the lightest our packs would feel all week !
… But not for longsighted , as we loaded up the rest of our nutrient in the parking lot and define out for Tenaya Lake — the real start of our journey .
Trail map : dawn hereSegment log:6 miles with 615 feet top changeNext section : Tenaya Lake to Sunrise Lakes
Read the full “Epic Yosemite” series:
