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Hiking the Lassics

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Six Rivers National Forest Daniil decided he wanted to see the Lassics, which is a rather long drive, especially with CA 36 closed due to the inherent instability of the mountain side it crosses. He bypassed that using the good county road (only half gravel) past Kneeland and filled up the car to help make it feel a little less wasteful for a single day outing. Evelina (his wife) and Carl also came along. It's a bit of a triumph to get Carl to come out and do something fun because he's usually pursuing the destruction of those invasive plants that pursue the destruction of the local environment instead. It was particularly great to get him on this one since he got to poke around some childhood memories while hiking. His family would come to this area when he was a kid and would climb some peak, which we decided was probably Black Lassic, but he hadn't been back since. Black Lassic interactive map link Meanwhile, I was working with just 2 year old memory when I s...
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Buena Yosemite: Mono Meadow

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Yosemite National Park DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4  |  DAY 5  |  DAY 6  |  DAY 7  |  DAY 8 Pink line for day 8. Click for interactive map One last day, and it would be a short one. The long drive home would follow the walk to the car. Half Dome casts a long shadow in the morning light. Our way back to the trail. I started a little earlier than the others and took some time to try to photograph the little birds that were zipping through the brush. Most the birds were Brewer's sparrows . But I also caught this orange-crowned warbler . An easy rolling terrain to pass through. While navigating the small creek, I noticed a tent around some rocks. Had we gone for the typical type of site with water, we'd have had to share the space! And the view wasn't anywhere near so nice.
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location: MCJR+W3 Yosemite Valley, CA, USA
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Buena Yosemite: Nevada Fall, Illilouette Fall, and Half Dome View

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Yosemite National Park DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4  |  DAY 5  |  DAY 6  |  DAY 7  |  DAY 8 Purple line for day 7. Click for interactive map While we thought we'd met quite enough people on the previous day, we were prepared to meet even more on this day. Still, it is super annoying to have to wait for a bathroom miles into the backcountry where no fewer than 4 are provided side by side. It's on the side of the camp where the day hikers, with their precious permits won in a lottery or their hopes that someone with an extra spot will let them through, slide past and they frequently stopped for it. Half Dome looms over the camp at Little Yosemite Valley, just about to get hit with dawn sun. We headed back to the trail on the opposite side of camp from the stream of day hikers. That trail joined the John Muir Trail soon enough and every few minutes another group came along. The Merced River...
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location: Little Yosemite Valley Campground, John Muir Trail, Lakeshore, CA 93634, USA
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Buena Yosemite: Merced Lake and Little Yosemite Valley

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Yosemite National Park DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4  |  DAY 5  |  DAY 6  |  DAY 7  |  DAY 8 Blue line for day 6. Click for interactive map The location of the Merced Lake Ranger Station is deep in a canyon in a thick forest and it wasn't much less dark and dreary in the morning than it was in the last of the light. I know Daniil would have preferred to go that last little bit to Merced Lake the night before. There's only a few little things we would have missed in the last of the twilight. Following bridges and trails through the flats above Merced Lake, surrounded by tall trees. Then everything opens up as the rocks take over the bottom of the canyon. Merced River pours into Merced Lake. We found the High Sierra Camp in its winterized state, and some of that in a bit of disrepair. Apparently these haven't been open since 2018 although 3 of 5 opened briefly last year. The park service...
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location: Merced Lake, California, USA
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Buena Yosemite: Merced River High Trail

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Yosemite National Park DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4  |  DAY 5  |  DAY 6  |  DAY 7  |  DAY 8 Green line for day 5. Click for interactive map Morning came and we needed another early start because it would be the longest day of the trip. We didn't get it because we were feeling the long day prior, if only a little bit. And anyway, it's all downhill. Morning on the upper unnamed lake by camp. The lower lakes and Triple Divide Peak and neighbor sporting a last piece of snow. We found our way to the trail to start the long day's downhill. The long downhill begins. We soon came to a junction that clearly told a tale that most people turn left. Petr already took much of that trail the prior year, so that was not the plan. We would be following the higher trail instead. While lesser traveled, it was still very clear and had plenty of footprints to tell of recent users. On a thin and well...
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location: 8592JJVJ+C4
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Buena Yosemite: Rutherford Lake and Post Peak Pass

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Yosemite National Park Sierra National Forest DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4  |  DAY 5  |  DAY 6  |  DAY 7  |  DAY 8 Yellow line for day 4. Click for interactive map It was noted that we had started at 8:13AM on each camped day so far and maybe we should try to get along a little bit earlier. So we did. Following the rough, then just faint, trail back to the main trail. We arrived at the junction at 8:13AM, which somehow didn't feel like actually getting started earlier. And then we proceeded up, dallying at every little new thing as two of us are apt to do. A look back at the pond and the somehow better hidden, though much larger, Breeze Lake. The rockfringe willowherb is not actually new. And the Shasta knotweed is new even if it does look a bit like beach knotweed. We arrived at the top of Fernandez Pass, the very edge of Yosemite National Park. I had noted a "Mon 133" marked...
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location: Breeze Lake, California, USA
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Buena Yosemite: Buck Creek GS, Moraine Meadows, and Breeze Lake

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Yosemite National Park DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4  |  DAY 5  |  DAY 6  |  DAY 7  |  DAY 8 Orange line for day 3. Click for interactive map We set off from Royal Arch Lake determined to get a little more miles under our feet than we'd been doing, with some talk of going all the way to Rutherford Lake. There was also some skepticism about committing to Fernandez Pass so late in the day. First, we had to wander a little further downhill before catching a new trail up and over an unnamed pass. Along the way, we encountered the first people since Buena Vista Lake. Getting a start on the day. There's no view going over this pass. /> A mule deer ponders if it is worth running off. Over the top, there were meadows with a few flowers and views.
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location: Royal Arch Lake, California, USA
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Buena Yosemite: Buena Vista Lake and Peak and Royal Arch Lake

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Yosemite National Park DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4  |  DAY 5  |  DAY 6  |  DAY 7  |  DAY 8 Red line for day 2. Click for interactive map Yosemite bears are legendary, so the middle of the night sounds of one roaming up the creek were mildly concerning. It is true that most bear-at-night sounds are actually deer, but deer rarely roll rocks around with each step or two. It went right on past without checking out our camp, rolling rocks off into the distance. With morning, we found our bear cans undisturbed. Breakfast was had and we packed up and got moving. A view across the valley. The dead trees may be from the 2016 Lakes Fire. We saw several lesser used camps along the way, but none with obvious water access. While we were looking forward to checking out Buena Vista Lake, we had the few lesser puddles of the Chilnualna Lakes to check out on the way. There are three, but only the two sm...
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location: HCRM+J3 Wawona, CA, USA
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