TR: Hetch Hetchy to Lake Vernon Out&Back

[dustybottoms21]

TL;DR: Bears, bears, and more bears.

(Pics to follow shortly)

Day 1:
We started at the Hetchy Hetchy TH around 9:30 am. I wish we had hit the trail a bit earlier because it was flipping hot! 2800’ of elevation right out of the block didn’t help. We decided we would either camp at/near Laurel Lake or forge ahead to Lake Vernon if we were feeling up to it. 9 hours and maybe 15 breaks later we arrived at Lake Vernon totally spent. We decided to cross the footbridge on the bottom of the lake and camp on the east/ south east side of the lake. We were in water about waste deep prior to the bridge but never once did we feel unsafe crossing it.

We didn’t do much exploring that night since we were so exhausted. Made dinner, chilled at camp for a few hours, and crashed around 10pm.

Then a bear or multiple bears decided to visit our campsite around 1am and hung out for what felt like a couple hours. None of us slept much after that. 2 out of 3 of us had never seen a bear outside of a zoo before. And I had only seen one once on a trail in the Smokies but it was an encounter that didn’t last more than 3 seconds. I rolled around in bed until 5am and got up to make coffee totally exhausted.

Day 2:
We did some fishing in the morning and decided we would relocate our camp but only a few hundred yards to the east up the mountain a little ways. More breeze and fewer bugs. Plus we got a better view of the lake from this vantage point. We did a few day hikes from here. First we followed the Falls Creek to the south for a few miles. Nothing too exciting. We then wanted to hike around Vernon and follow one of the creeks up the mountain. Once we got behind the lake to the NE side we saw another bear. We took a wider turn around it and kept going on our planned route. About 20 mins later we realized that I had left my buddies fishing rod at our last break spot a few hundred yards behind us and decided to turn back and grab it. As we were climbing this massive boulder we get to the apex of it and JUST on the other side of it was a bear walking towards us, 20’ away at most. We immediately backtracked our steps to give the bear some room. He kept walking towards us. We were loud and big hoping to scare it off...unsuccessfully. He kept walking towards us but taking a wide approach almost as if he was trying to flank us. Once we got the opportunity we created the distance we needed and busted our butts back to camp. Did some more fishing (caught nothing all weekend and never even got a bite) and went to bed around 10pm. Guess what happened around 1am again? Another fricking bear visit. This time was much scarier as my buddy first saw him approaching his hammock (we all hammock camped) and started yelling at him. Then my buddy starts yelling my name but in a way that had me very concerned...I would find out later the bear went around his hammock and came over to mine circling it. I could hear him and would swear that he rubbed up against my hammock/straps a few times. The 3 of us yelled and screamed for the next 10 mins and we think we scared him off. Never heard or saw him again but that didn’t matter...I basically rolled around in bed until 5am with little to no sleep.

Day 3:
We broke down camp around 7am and hit the trail by 8am. The water wading was even safer on this day than it was on day 1. We decided to head towards our TH and then just do a game time decision as to what we would do with our final night once we made it back to HH. A few things we learned on our hike back..
1. Someone we saw on the hike up stayed one night at Vernon and one night at Laurel. Zero bites for them at Vernon but a TON of action at Laurel including an 18” Trout. I saw a pic, this thing was massive!!! Much warmer water too, you could actually swim in it.
2. We also bumped into a few people that completed the loop. Wapama Falls was dangerous but crossable.
3. Someone at Vernon woke up to a bear tearing through his tent in the middle of the night!!! No injuries as he was able to scare it off quickly.
4. The person that told us this story also said they had a black bear get within 3’ of him and was acting extremely bold and stubborn.
5. Upon reaching the TH we spoke with the ranger and he immediately asked us questions regarding the bear activity. He said they have been getting an abnormal amount of complaints regarding the bear/s bold behavior with people. We told him the story about the tent assault but he hadn’t heard that yet.

We completed this hike in about 4.5 hours. We were really cruising as it was mostly downhill and the weather wasn’t nearly as hot this day. We headed to Evergreen Lodge for lunch and some beers. The waitress was a real sweetheart and gave us the code to the pool. We swam, sat in the hot tub, and slammed beers and beach drinks until about 8pm. We never saw this type of day coming but it was really nice getting some R&R after the first few days we had.

We wanted to get to Yosemite Valley but based on what some people were saying about traffic, we didn’t want to risk it. I still can’t believe how busy the park got from a weekday to a weekend. Pure madness. Instead we decided to go to the Hetch Hetchy Backpackers Campground and set up camp. We chose the last site, site 19, which was the best location IMO. Plus it had actual trees for us to set up our hammocks. No bears visited us this night but that didn’t matter as I still didn’t sleep much. The bears had officially broken my spirit from the last few days.

We broke camp early and headed back to our car. Guess what we find when we get to the car? Flipping bear paw prints all over our car. Turns out my buddy left some food in there and we didn’t realize it until the morning. At least he didn’t come to our camp!

All in all, it was a great trip. Hiking all the way to Vernon was very tough but very rewarding once we arrived. I wish we would’ve made it behind the lake and up falls creek like kPeter did. Looked awesome. But the bear had other plans for us. Another regret I have is that we didn’t make it to Yosemite Valley. There’s always next time!

[rlown]

Looking forward to the pictures. I'm guessing no pics of the bear(s).

[dustybottoms21]

Definitely not. During the day hike encounter I remember reaching for my phone to take a pic/selfie and then had the thought of “don’t be that a$$hole that gets killed by wildlife while taking a pic!”

[rlown]

doesn't have to be a selfie. Just a picture of the bear. If it has an ear tag, it helps the rangers. Take the pic and then raise your hands and yell at blackie.

[AlmostThere]

I had a bear encounter in Sequoia NP recently like that - spent half an hour on the phone with a ranger and sent her pics via email. Bears like that are on the verge of death -- we yelled and yelled, stood our ground and threw rocks and sticks around on the ground, and the bear hung out basically until it got bored and left. She said everything we did was exactly what we should do. The bear was young, didn't have an ear tag. It hung out on the periphery of our campsite after walking straight at me, got within ten feet of me before turning and skirting around camp. I wouldn't say I was afraid, but I always gave it an escape route and stood my ground, and told the others with me to do the same. Three of them wouldn't get out of the tents. One of them did, and helped me keep an eye on it while we packed our gear. I was throwing large sticks and have a really bad aim, one flew up into the branches of the tree and dropped right on the bear's head -- he didn't budge an inch and didn't react.

Bears here have never killed anyone because the rangers kill the ones that get too aggressive. They take it really seriously. I suspect that bear you saw will be removed soon. Bears in that area have long been notoriously bad, probably because they are so used to people, and since it's an area where people go when the melt is on, and they are hungry after those long winter naps they have, it's easy to see why. More people + bears = really fearless bears.

[rlown]

Last time I checked in with the rangers at the Tuolumne Wilderness center, we were asked not to throw rocks at bears, because of that boy scout troop that killed a bear with rocks. It was an interesting comment. I'm gonna throw everything I have. Don't touch my stuff!

[c9h13no3]

Yeah, if I see bears, I'm firing my best fastball right at his noggin. I know they also shoot rubber bullets at bears if they hang around people too much. This time of year is particularly bad, with lots of novice (aka, not storing their food right) campers crowding into one spot, and super hungry bears post-hibernation.

[dustybottoms21]

Hopefully you guys are able to access this link.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/4bxoqVWVbA1gPTT28

[rlown]

Link worked. Thanks. Next time, I want a bear photo.

At least the bear didn't find the soft center of a tootsie pop. I know, bad hammock reference.

[bobby49]

Last time I checked in with the rangers at the Tuolumne Wilderness center, we were asked not to throw rocks at bears, because of that boy scout troop that killed a bear with rocks. It was an interesting comment. I'm gonna throw everything I have. Don't touch my stuff!

The incident that killed the bear was a small bear and a big rock. If you have a standard 300-pound adult black bear, a golfball size rock can be hurled to provide some discouragement.