TR: Hetch Hetchy to Laurel Lake April 29 - May 1 2022

[TxAggie]

I’m a first-time Sierra/west coast hiker who joined HighSierraTopix a few months ago in preparation for my first trip in the Sierra/Yosemite region. I’d like to start by thanking those who provided some excellent guidance and feedback while planning my trip. Specifically thank you to Wandering Daisy, wildhiker, c9h13no3, and kpeter.

With the lower than normal snowfall in Desolation Wilderness, I was originally planning to head to Lake Aloha for a visit of the popular lake destination, but with the sudden mid-April snowfall that hit the region I decided to change plans. On the suggestion of others, I started planning a trip for Hetch Hetchy instead, which turned out to be an amazing trip.

Friday April 29
My daughter had one morning class at college and we ended up leaving Davis just before noon. With a lunch break and traffic, plus weaving the long road to the Hetch Hetchy gate, we arrived and picked up our permit around 3:00. We had a permit for Saturday for Beehive Meadows hoping for Lake Vernon with Laurel Lake as a backup. The Ranger was very helpful and let me know if we decided on Laurel, the southern trail would require a waist-deep water crossing, while the northern route had two logs to provide a dry crossing. This proved to be great information. He said we still had time to reach Wampana Falls and back before dark, but we would likely meet up with a new Ranger who was ushering day hikers out of the valley before the gates were locked at 5:00. Told me to let him know we were staying at the backpacker campground as it was his first day on the job at the park.

We parked at the overnight lot and headed down to the dam to make our way to the falls, meeting up with the new Ranger making his sweep just as we exited the tunnel. By now it was right around 4 and he said we had plenty of time and to enjoy ourselves. It took us right at an hour to make our way, pausing often for photos and to observe the plants and animals, even catching a hummingbird sitting on a branch just off the trail.
Just before 5 we rounded the corner to the falls, and providence must have been in our favor because we were blessed with a stunning rainbow lighting just off the falls and over the reservoir. We were the only ones on the trail at the time, and I don’t think we could have timed our arrival at that moment had we tried.

After soaking in the view for a few minutes, we retraced our steps back the path and to the parking lot to gather our gear to stay the night at the backpacker campground. Both of us decided to use hammocks for this trip, and unfortunately most of the campsites did not have suitable trees for hanging, but we finally found one that worked and provided the spots we needed. Thankfully it was a calm and rainless night in the mid 40’s, because pitching our tarps over our hammocks would have been very difficult. After a small meal, we turned in a little early.

Saturday April 30
I woke early and walked back to the car to finalize some gear adjustments while my daughter continued to sleep comfortably in her hammock. After she woke up and a small breakfast with hot chocolate, we gathered our gear, spied a young buck walking along the campsites, a final shakedown at the car, then headed off down the road to the dam. We set off right around 9, a little later than expected and the day lot was already quickly filling. On the way to the turn for Beehive Meadows we met up with a couple we met the previous evening and chatted a bit as we made the initial climb, with us eventually breaking ahead as they stopped for photos. On the way up we encountered more wildlife, including a newt.
Once we hit the Miguel/Beehive Meadows split, we continued our way up the trail with Lake Vernon as our goal. Here is where I have to show a little humility: I didn’t properly account for the elevation gain from the split to Beehive Meadows, and the next several miles taxed us both.
There is a small pond on the left of the trail about 1.5 miles before Beehive that we stopped at for lunch around 12:20. The pond allowed us our first contact with snow banks still on the high peaks after the recent snowstorm. By then, the extra elevation had taken a lot of energy out of both of us and we discussed camping at Laurel Lake as a backup, saving us the additional 2 miles to Lake Vernon. We decided to hold off our decision until the turn for Laurel Lake and pressed on to Beehive Meadow, along the way encountering more snow drifts. Thankfully they were all pretty consolidated and weren’t terribly deep or wide, just enough to add to the experience and not enough to make it difficult. Once at the meadow, we reviewed the map again and discussed the drop into the valley holding Lake Vernon and hiking out in the morning, versus the relatively flat hike into and out of Laurel Lake and decided Laurel to be our best option.

As we crossed beehive meadow, I realized that “meadow” translates to “Spring marsh” as we waded In and out of ankle deep water until we were clear of the meadow. Arriving at the split for the north/south LaurenLake trails, I remembered the Ranger’s advice and we took the north trail to Frog Creek. Sure enough, there were two trees spanning the creek making a relatively easy crossing.
And here is where I made a poor decision. After the creek crossing, I lost the trail in the thistle bushes. I was using Gaia for tracking and had both the Outdoors and National Geographic maps loaded on my phone, and it showed us being right between the two trails. I had heard NG was the most reliable, so I turned us in that direction. BIG mistake. The NG trail took us on a lower path near the east side of the lake and into a marsh that stretched for about 1/4 of a mile. We eventually made it thru linking back up with the Outdoor marked trail, but not before our socks and shoes became thoroughly soaked. Eventually we made it to the north side of the lake where we found two other groups already set up for the day, but found a nice spot to hang our hammocks for the night. We did a little exploring along the shoreline and had dinner just as the winds picked up. I was a little worried about the cold, the reports had predicted mid 30’s for the night and while the quilts I had were up to the task, I’m still a dad and my daughter hadn’t experienced near freezing temps in a hammock before (or even in a tent for that matter). Fortunately, the wind died down and remained calm throughout the night.

Sunday May 1
My thermometer read 37 when I got up at 7 with a minimum of 14 overnight. It was cold, but not that cold, I think it’s time for a new battery.
Another breakfast of fig bars and hot chocolate, hammocks and gear packed, and we were on the trail back down to Hetch Hetchy by 8:20. This time, after referring to the imagery and Outdoors trail route, we saw a fairly clear route thru the thistle bushes so we made a point to stay on that route to get back to Beehive Meadow. With the exception of a few fire blowdowns, this route was clear until we hit a small stretch of thistle where I lost the trail the day before. (Side note: this is the second time I’ve encountered the Outdoor map on Gaia to actually be the most accurate. The previous time was in a brush-filled overlook in the Dolly Sods Wilderness. I’m planning on using it for the foreseeable future as my primary route source.) Another pass over the logs across Frog Creek and remembering to stay on the high side of Beehive Meadows to keep our feet relatively dry, and we were on our way for a quick hike back into the valley. The previous day’s struggle of a climb turned into a pleasant descent. Still no large animals, but plenty of squirrels, a few chipmunks, and the occasional lizard to help pass the time on the way down.
We returned to the parking lot in just over four hours, tired, sore, and a strong sense of accomplishment and wonder from our trip. I don’t think either of us were disappointed that we didn’t make it to Lake Vernon, our primary goal of hiking in Yosemite had been met.

So ends my first adventure into the Sierra as I’m on the plane back to the Mid-Atlantic. Thank you to all who helped and for those who share your experiences throughout this forum.

(I tried to add photos, but couldn't figure it out from my iPad. I'll add some once I figure that out)

[wildhiker]

Glad to hear that you had a good first-time experience backpacking in the Sierra!

[oddtiger]

Glad to hear you and your daughter enjoyed your first trip. I probably said Hi on my way up on 30th morning when you helped your daughter adjust the pole use. I am biased here but father-daughter trip is the best!

Gaia Topo map works for me in most trips and occasionally I switched to USFS or USGS Topo. For planning, I use Caltopo and it seems its app also works pretty well, but any tool that you gets used to would be the best.

I think pictures can be uploaded as attachments and placed inline in the full editor, or from an external link with the img tags.

[Wandering Daisy]

I put photos in as attachments. You have to keep them at 2mb or less. I use photo shop to reduce the size. The attachment also has a caption box. Once the photos are put in the attachments, you then place them "in line"-- set the cursor at the part of the report you want the photo placed, and then click "place in line". You may have to play with it a bit to get it down. Once you do, it is pretty easy to use. If you do not place photos "in-line" they will be automatically placed in the opposite order.