TR: Tamarack Creek -> North Rim -> Lukens Lake
Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2011 10:45 am
We did a 3.5 days, entering from Tamaract Creek TH on Tioga Road, going over casacade creek bridge, then following the North Rim to El Capitan, Eagle Peak, Upper Yosemite Falls, then turning morth along Yosemite Creek trail, back to Tioga Road, to Lukens Lake, and back to Tioga Road again. Hitchhacking back to Tamarack Creek TH.
Our original plan was from Lukens Lake, continue to the northeast to White Wolf and follow the middle fork of Toulumne Riove to Aspan Valley and back to our starting TH. But about half mile before Lukens Lake, All the White Wolf areas were still covered in about 4 feet of snow. So we had to cut our loop short.
From Tamarack Creek TH, the trail was good and dry most of the time, some patches of snow and muddy and wet trail sections, but not too bad. We saw at least a 2 large groups of youth corp crew working on the trails there. Casacade Creek was big fast white foaming.
Camping on the top near Ribbon Meadow was dry, comfy.
Snow covered most of the woods in Ribbon Meadow. There was now trail. We basically followed a small creek, using both YNP map (Trail Illustrated map #206) and Garmin GPS to get through the area. The El Capitan trail in Garmin topo map is not the same as the one in YNP map. We learned it hard way since we were trying to get to the Garmin map trail first and had to cross the creek a few times. The YNP map has the trail alone only the north side of the small creek. This took about two hours of our time from the west side of Ribbon Meadow to the top of El Capitan. But, we were not experienced trail navigators. Also, later we found out there were winter trail red metal flag on the trees in this part. We could use that to guide us. However, they are sparse and we also saw a few downed trees with that red flag.
There are many downed trees on the trail. Some places the trails are flooded. Making progress slower. However, most part on North rim are snow free. We didn't try to push to Eagle peak since our time did not permit.
Along Yosemite Creek going north, the creek was high in the evening, about 1 -2 feet lower in the morning. The trails were good most of the time. At Bluejay creek crossing, the water is just below keen level, fast moving water. I felt I really need a pair of good boots to make it cross.
At Yosemite Creek crossing, there was a big broken log than you can pass through. But the water under the log was deep and fast. One guy about 6'2" did fall down the log and said the water was at his chest level. Since 3 ladies in out group was at the short end of 5', we decided to not use the log, but cross the water at the trail. It was fast. The water was about 5" above my keens. My friend pulled a downed tree cross the creek before two large rocks. So I can use the tree as hand rail. But, it's still scary. I can hardly plant my hiking poles on the bottom firmly. Water was cold. We did these two creek crossings in the morning before 9:30 am. Along this trail, route finding is not a problem. Paches of snow, but you cal alwasy see the trail.
After cross Tioga Road, We saw a warning sign at Lukens TH about the snow covering and lost backpackers in general White Wolf Area. Then after about 0.4 miles Before Lukens Lake, the trail disapeared under 4 -5 feet of snow. Sow We only traveled near Lukens Lake as far as we were able to find a dry camp site, just near the line of purple colored no camping zone. Then we decided not going further to White Wolf area. The raod to White Wolf was still closed at the intersection of Tioga Road.
Our original plan was from Lukens Lake, continue to the northeast to White Wolf and follow the middle fork of Toulumne Riove to Aspan Valley and back to our starting TH. But about half mile before Lukens Lake, All the White Wolf areas were still covered in about 4 feet of snow. So we had to cut our loop short.
From Tamarack Creek TH, the trail was good and dry most of the time, some patches of snow and muddy and wet trail sections, but not too bad. We saw at least a 2 large groups of youth corp crew working on the trails there. Casacade Creek was big fast white foaming.
Camping on the top near Ribbon Meadow was dry, comfy.
Snow covered most of the woods in Ribbon Meadow. There was now trail. We basically followed a small creek, using both YNP map (Trail Illustrated map #206) and Garmin GPS to get through the area. The El Capitan trail in Garmin topo map is not the same as the one in YNP map. We learned it hard way since we were trying to get to the Garmin map trail first and had to cross the creek a few times. The YNP map has the trail alone only the north side of the small creek. This took about two hours of our time from the west side of Ribbon Meadow to the top of El Capitan. But, we were not experienced trail navigators. Also, later we found out there were winter trail red metal flag on the trees in this part. We could use that to guide us. However, they are sparse and we also saw a few downed trees with that red flag.
There are many downed trees on the trail. Some places the trails are flooded. Making progress slower. However, most part on North rim are snow free. We didn't try to push to Eagle peak since our time did not permit.
Along Yosemite Creek going north, the creek was high in the evening, about 1 -2 feet lower in the morning. The trails were good most of the time. At Bluejay creek crossing, the water is just below keen level, fast moving water. I felt I really need a pair of good boots to make it cross.
At Yosemite Creek crossing, there was a big broken log than you can pass through. But the water under the log was deep and fast. One guy about 6'2" did fall down the log and said the water was at his chest level. Since 3 ladies in out group was at the short end of 5', we decided to not use the log, but cross the water at the trail. It was fast. The water was about 5" above my keens. My friend pulled a downed tree cross the creek before two large rocks. So I can use the tree as hand rail. But, it's still scary. I can hardly plant my hiking poles on the bottom firmly. Water was cold. We did these two creek crossings in the morning before 9:30 am. Along this trail, route finding is not a problem. Paches of snow, but you cal alwasy see the trail.
After cross Tioga Road, We saw a warning sign at Lukens TH about the snow covering and lost backpackers in general White Wolf Area. Then after about 0.4 miles Before Lukens Lake, the trail disapeared under 4 -5 feet of snow. Sow We only traveled near Lukens Lake as far as we were able to find a dry camp site, just near the line of purple colored no camping zone. Then we decided not going further to White Wolf area. The raod to White Wolf was still closed at the intersection of Tioga Road.