Unfortunately from the time we started to drink out of the bottle until we reached the Merced Lake Ranger Station there was no easily accessible water. I never thought much about the trail and didn’t realize it was particularly nasty until later in the fall when markskor and a couple others whined
about the horrible cobblestone trail. Of course I was carrying a really light pack and for the remainder of the trip you couldn’t see Kathy’s feet for all the duct tape she had wrapped around them. I guess, too, I was enthralled with the views of the Clark Range and the basin that holds a special lake.On arrival at Merced lake we met our new cabin mates, another couple from Oregon that we had actually met at Vogelsang. They were in their mid 70s and delightful cabin mates. The showers were operational but were a mere trickle but warm water never felt quite so good. Dinner was great, again. And again after 12 miles of hiking I did not sleep particularly well. The camp was actually over booked but it didn’t seem so except at dinner.
I spent the next day fishing Merced Lake instead of Washburn as I had planned because I decided I needed a break before the 14 mile day even if it was all downhill. Fishing the e. and w. shoreline I found it was too shallow to effectively use a z-ray so I changed to a fly and bubble and began to bring in feisty 11” browns. All in all a lazy day.
The next morning we stuffed ourselves in preparation for our hike to the valley. The hike to the valley was mostly pleasant (except for the tp along the trail between little Yosemite and Nevada Fall) and the trails not crowded until we reached the top of Nevada Fall. The people here were speaking many languages and clearly most were not experienced hikers. I had never hiked this section of the John Muir trail before and was surprised by the hanging rock gardens as we treaded down the blasted out trail with hundreds of companions. At Happy Isles we bought frozen juice bars while waiting for the shuttle. The padded seats of the shuttle were the height of luxury for us. The car was fine and I surprised Kathy with a night in the Awahnee. For some reason we lucked out and were upgraded to a balcony room. Was it strange! Walking into that place all dirty and smelly. And after carrying our packs for over 30 miles and then as we were carrying our bags in to watch young people driving up in cars that cost more than our house hand a 20 bill to the attendant and have the attendant carry the bags for them. Not really my kind of people
I had made reservations for dinner at 7 but we were early and hungry. So we went down to the bar, ordered the same beer we ordered at Tuolumne Meadows Lodge and it was $3 more. Jeez it was like ordering a beer at a major league baseball game! We walked the grounds and sipped our beers trying to stay clear of the sometimes overwhelming smell of perfume and cologne. When seated for dinner our waiter tried to impress us with a syrupy accent. Kathy had a good piece of prime rib and I had lamb prepared in a way that I forgot I did not like so dinner was kind of a dud for me. The bed was comfortable though.
During the entire trip we were expecting a call that our younger daughter had had her baby. Even had arranged to have the news forwarded to the High Sierra camps. Since that had not happened we decided to return to Bend up the east side so that if we got the call we could more easily divert to Boise. So up early we left without breakfast but stopped at Tioga Pass resort and ate around 9:30. We learned from the waitress that the resort is up for sale and the owner did not maintain his e-mail account and that was the reason why my inquiries about reservations were not answered earlier in the summer (things actually worked out better staying at Tuolume Meadows). Another stop at Walker Burger for my last coffee shake of the year and we continued north, stopping at Lakeview, Oregon for the night. I only mention this for one reason. We had a better dinner with better wine at a little dinner house for less than a third of what we paid at the Awahnee.
To answer your questions: Will we do the HSC thing again. Yes. It is nice having really big meals with real food. We really enjoyed the people, too. Will probably plan an early season trip to Glen Aulin sometime early in the season on a trip to view Waterwheel Falls. Remember it is also possible to arrange to have meals without staying at the HSC, too.
Will we stay at the Awahnee again? Probably not. It is a beautiful building, But way to pretentious for common folk like Kathy and I. We are likely to hit a Sunday brunch, which we have done several times in the past, again in the future But over night, once is enough.
Lesson learned. For $5 a lb you can have food or gear packed from Tuolumne Meadows to Vogelsang. For $10 a lb you can have food or gear packed from the Valley to Merced Lake. I see both of those as options for backcountry resupply and see a three week trip in my future and a complete Yosemite slam—brookie, Cutthroat, Rainbow, Brown, and Golden in one trip!
Happy Trails and happy trip planning (It is that time of the year)!
Mike
