From June 17 - 23, 2006 my friend John and I went on a backpacking trip in Yosemite National Park to destinations north and south of Tioga Rd.  We were one of the first cars into the park on Saturday morning after Tioga Rd. opened for the year on June 17th and we definitely were the first people to go to the Ranger Station in Tuolomne Meadows for a Wilderness Permit and to my surprise they were not even open and totally unprepared for us (especially since we had a reservation).  I guess the NPS web site statement that "Limited Services are Available" was pretty darn accurate, except we're still trying to figure out what services were available since every place we went was closed.  The gas station, store, post office, ranger station, visitor center, campgrounds, lodges, everything that required a human being so it could function was closed.  I guess you could call a picnic table or an outhouse a service, but that's really stretching the definition of the word.  We finally found a staff person and mildly coerced them into getting a Ranger who could write us a Wilderness Permit just in case we were to get accosted by a Ranger while on our trip (a very unlikely prospect with the NPS being so unprepared for the opening of Tioga Rd.)

Anyway, we had a wonderful trip, beautiful weather and as the pictures on the following pages will attest, fabulous scenery everywhere we turned to look in Yosemite.  Our original plan was to hike the Grand Canyon of the Tuolomne and do some side trips, but the water in Tuolomne Meadows and along the upper part of the route made the trail impassable.  So, rather than annoy the deer happily grazing in the meadow and sinking up to our knees in mud, we altered our plan and decided to hike the North Rim of Yosemite Valley from North Dome across to Eagle Peak.  We started at the Pocupine Creek campground, and after trampling through more patches of snow than we had anticipated (the other lone hiker we met on Day 1 turned back in fear of losing the trail), we hiked for several miles and made base camp about a mile from Indian Canyon Creek, well off the trail in a very secluded area.  

The first series of photos are from the hike along the north rim.  After 3 starry nights and day hikes that stretched the entire route from North Dome to Eagle Peak and the adjacent areas, we made our way back to Tioga Rd, re-supplied and headed north toward Ten Lakes.  The second series of photos is from that part of the trip.  The hike up to Ten Lakes was stymied by 6' snow drifts a few miles in from Tioga Rd, so we again made a base camp for 3 nights and day hiked to numerous places near Yosemite Creek and the surrounding areas.  

To begin our trip we drove down Hwy 395 from Carson City all the way to Hwy 120 and then over Tioga Pass.  Here are a few photos from the drive down.

                Sawtooth Ridge is in the center of the photo.  

Mono Lake as you approach from the north over Conway Summit.

The semi-desert area near Lundy Canyon where we spent the night.

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