Saturday morning I took off to fish the Merced River from Happy Isles up to Vernal Fall. Unfortunately, the snow on the rocks made it difficult to move along the river, as the rocks were very slippery. I did not want to wade, as the water seemed like it may be a tad too cold.
Crossing Illilouette Creek was very difficult, and I almost fell in a few times. In some places, the river was partially frozen over.
I fished from Happy Isles up to about 500 feet from the bridge. Not a single strike or even a sign of a fish. I finally bailed out of the river and climbed up to the stock trail. I decided to climb to the top of Vernal, and even stopped once to fish the river between the bridge and the fall, but still nothing. I climbed the snowy steps of the Mist Trail, and thought I would try to fish the Emerald Pool (by this time, not really expecting to catch anything). But, it was also frozen over:
I was certainly the only person with a fishing pole that day, and sure got a lot of questions from the day hikers.
Anyway, the weather cleared up as the weekend progressed, and Monday was absolutely gorgeous. Overall, we had a great time doing the normal camping things. On Sunday night we made a fabulous meal of New York steaks and garlic bread cooked on my little Weber, baked potatoes cooked in the coals of the campfire, a garden salad, and soup. Absolutely wonderful!
We had a great time. Nights were a little cold, however (like 17 degrees)!
