But I had an idea. A number of the backcountry roads in the Stanislaus National Forest are still closed due to the amazing amount of snow still on the ground. Those roads are open for hikers, however. And so we left our cabin near Twain Harte and hiked into the Stanislaus National Forest via the Eagle Meadows Road. We only had a few hours to hike in, so we stopped at Niagara Creek and set up camp. It was lovely, and we didn't see a soul.
I even caught a nice rainbow out of the very fast and high creek, and we explored some of the rock formations above the campground after dinner. It was a bit odd, backpacking in a campground, with a picnic table at our disposal, but it was also pretty convenient. And it beat hiking through snow all day (we only had a few stretches of deep now on the road). We also noted that there were any number of potential campsites along the way, and water was not an issue, since there was water, water everywhere thanks to the melting snow.
Now we have plan for those early season hikes. Instead of waiting impatiently for the snow to melt higher up, we can tackle some of these roads early in the year, and still get quality time in the mountains. And we got to hike with our daughter. Nice. And if we'd had time, we could have hiked another 10 miles or so to Relief Reservoir...or 16 to Kennedy Meadows.
Photos are here: https://goo.gl/photos/ZYjTEtHM6ZoNQ8yS9