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| Backpack | 22.83 Miles |
4,846 AEG |
| | Backpack | 22.83 Miles | 1 Day 3 Hrs 40 Mns | | |
| 4,846 ft AEG | | | | |
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| partners | | In a week backpacking through Yosemite that included summiting Clouds Rest and a full-moon night summit of Half Dome, how could one even imagine that this hike would be the highlight!?
Chalk this up on your list of places to go. 
After the miles racked up on previous days, we were all a little bit tired, and the first four miles was a slow and steady climb, followed by another mile of steeper switchbacks. But once on top, the views opened up to what can truly be described as breathtaking. We all admired in awe before descending the final mile to the main lake.
I found a huge campsite on the far side of the lake, and we settled in for the afternoon. 9L and I explored for 90 minutes over 1.5 miles exploring a little bit down the huge drainage toward the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne River, and then around the second of the 7 Ten Lakes before returning to camp.
Larry revealed that he doesn't know how to start a fire, and Kyle realized that I'm an anal-retentive micromanager. We had brought several beverages with us, so the evening was filled with plenty of laughter. Claire and Liz even composed a song. Something about eskimos. Probably because it was chilly and there was plenty of snow in the surrounding mountains. At least that's my story.
9L finally got the right bear canister lid back, and I found a lost beer. All was right with the world as we all dozed off for the night.
In the morning, 9L, Kyle, and I went for a hike while the girls slept in, and Larry tended to the fire. Two and a half hours, and 4.5 miles later, we returned to camp having visited four more of the 7 Ten Lakes. Each lake is beautiful in a different way, and linked by streams, cascades, waterfalls, and amazing alpine forest scenery. Most lakes have use trails around and between them, but we made a fully off-trail trip between the south lake and 9398. From there, a maintained trail leads back to the main lake.
Back at camp, we packed up and headed back out toward the trailhead. At the crest of the Ten Lakes Pass, three of us dropped our packs and made the side trip down to the first of the Grant Lakes. I continued to the second, which was a great off-trail hike along a continuous 250-foot high cascading stream between the two lakes. Either of these would be worthy backpacking destinations! We saw a couple of marmots and some deer along the way.
An hour and 20 minutes behind the others I put it in overdrive for the 5-miles back to the trailhead, and arrived only a few minutes after them. We packed up and headed to Tuolumne for a bite to eat. There we met 6 guys and a girl from Tempe who had just started the JMT. I was wearing an AZW shirt, and the girl works at Four Peaks. They were HAZ lurkers too. Small world!
By 5pm we were on the road back to Vegas, where Larry had some friends who were kind enough to let us break up the drive and crash on their floor. Gotta love a Vegas hookup! Thanks Larry!
Monday we made the final drive home. I dropped off the rental, having totally exploited the bargain price by dropping 1700 miles on it  .
BTW, a Chrysler Town & Country takes 6 adults and all their gear just fine. Satellite radio, DVD video, 110-volt outlets, 6 lighter ports, and 23+mpg at 80-85mph was pretty nice. Including a couple of $5/gallon fuel fills, it still cost us about half the federal reimbursement rate on mileage. Split six ways, I think we all had the least expensive weeklong trip possible. |
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| I'm not sure what my spirit animal is, but I'm confident it has rabies. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
