Yosemite Valley's North Rim, May 2006, Part 1

Yosemite Valley's North Rim, May 2006, Part 1

May 20 thru 22, 2006

Trip details:
From Gin Flat to The East flank of El Cap: 10.82 miles, with an elevation gain/loss of 2540/2240 feet.

It took me 11 hours total, but this was my first trip of the season, there was deep snow, hazardous water crossings and I had only been snowboarding all winter.

The retreat from The East flank to the big Meadow overlook was 8 miles, with an elevation gain/loss of 1132/4137 feet.
It took 8 hours in snow, sleet and rain.

At the time of this trip, Ribbon Meadow was a running swamp and most creek crossing were serious, but passable by deadfall. Above 7000 ft., everything was covered in snow.

I set out from Gin Flat Saturday morning, about ten. The sun shone warmly and aside from the snow cover at the beginning of the road, it looking like the relaxing backpacking trip I was hoping for to kick off the 2006 summer.

My intent was to hike the North Rim trail from Gin Flat heading east along the north rim of Yosemite Valley and exit via the Snow Creek trail. I was in no hurry, especially because I was expecting a storm to keep me bunkered in my tent for a day. I had four days to make may across the rim, with a couple of early exits, if I needed them. My only concern was having to break in a last minute purchase, the Vaude Accept backpack from the Yosemite Mountain Shop.

The road to Gin Flat was in fine condition, but it was still a road, not what I

was looking for, but the quickest, easiest way to my first night's destination, the summit of El Capitan. Tamarack Flat had some patchy snow and the creek was running high, covering the footpath across it, so after a quick search, I found a log to speed a dry crossing.
The road took me past some high country meadows and small challenges with the high running creeks. Deadfall always seemed to be available for the price of a bit of bush whacking. A couple of odd rock formations, chickadees and sunshine were my passive companions as I made my way down the abandoned road to the beginning of the North Rim Trail.

Finally, I was able to leave the road and head up a trail. Pine needles and earth softened my footfall and the trees hemmed in my path as the trail began to ascend. While the trail from Gin Flat to cascade creek dropped in elevation from roughly 7000 feet to 6000 feet, the trail from Cascade creek to the summit of El Capitan would gain 2300 feet.

I certainly felt the elevation gain, but as this was my first backpacking trip of the season, I didn't push myself. I pretty much took it easy. The snowfield that I trudged through on the way up to Ribbon meadow began to tire me out, so I broke out the iPod and fired up Dane Cook. So, Dane Cook is insane and I'm cackling my way up this barren snowfield, staggering a bit from laughing so hard, when I bump into this guy. The conversation goes

something like this:

Me: "Howdy, blah blah blah."
Legolas: "Hi, blah blah blah, I'm taking photos of bears and was heading to stay the night on El Cap, but lost the trail 'cause it's covered in snow"
Me: "Yeah, well, I'm heading to El Cap also, you're welcome to come with me, I'm pretty sure we'll find the way, after all I've got my GPS."
Legolas: "OK."

Please note at this time that his real name is not "Legolas." We actually introduced ourselves, but I forgot his name. Whatever.

At any rate, me and the elvish kid trudge our way (well, I trudged, he just walked) up to the top of the snow field when we delightedly made our way into Ribbon Meadow, which was a quagmire of snowmelt and marsh. The mushy-watery-snowy meadow wasn't too bad thanks to my Gore-Tex boots, but still was unpleasant. I'm getting a bit tired at this point (roughly nine miles in) but I'm still trying to get to El Cap to camp for the night, so I push on.

The marsh turns back to broken forest and then we head into dense forest as the creek grows louder. The snow has become deep, about four foot, in the forest and I walk on top most of the time. It's only bad when I break through... getting up requires a good effort.

The creek is impassable, so we fill up on water (also took the opportunity to fill one of my boots up with water) and search upstream for deadfall to cross on. We spot several trees fallen across the swollen and more-than-enthusiastic-to-kill-us-in-its-freezing-water-before-we-sail-headlong-over-a-cliff creek, before we find one that we feel comfortable with. Actually,

we find a pair. One that Legolas prefers and one that I feel more of a bond with. We both cross without incident and continue our trek through the deepening snow.

I should point out that I have a great little topographic mapping program, TOPO! that seems really nice. I only started playing with it in preparation for this trip. This would have been my first trip using the GPS and these kick ass maps that I printed out... if I had actually brought the one I needed. So, when I say it's a great computer program, I mean that it LOOKS like a great topographic mapping computer program.

Sooo, I'm really smart, and have only the nearly-useless-for-this-kind-of-trek park map and no-dice-in-the-forest GPS and we cross the creek and we thinks to ourselves, "we've come a little ways from the creek, El Cap should be thataways!" We turn south and head uphill again onto what we are now convinced is just above El Cap and we make our way through the forest, with no sign whatsoever of a trail. We head south for about a quarter mile and by this time I am getting very tired. Only the thought of camping on the granite summit of El Cap is keeping me going. We come to a clearing and there it is!! The summit of El Cap!! Only a quarter mile across the El Cap Gully. Crap.

I'm exhausted. It's my first trip of the season. I'm supposed to be chilling my way across the Valley's north rim. But, I am a big fan of adventure and I grunt my way back up the hillside so we can cross the gully and finally Camp On The Summit Of El Cap. Arrgg!

We know we don't have far to go. After all, It's RIGHT THERE! Through the forest once again, the light is fading and we hike into a clearing. From here we have a grand view...of...where the hell are we??

I see Sentinel falls, Sentinel dome, uh, Sentinel Rock and look-The Three Bothers just to our left (east). We missed El Cap? I take a GPS reading, now that we are in the open, and find that we have over-shot our mark and are on the EAST flank of El Cap and thanks to a forested ridge between it and us, we can't even see El Cap.

The largest chunk of stone in North American and we can't find it.

It all seems so obvious now. But, if one looks closely at the map that I didn't have at the time, there is elevation blocking our view of El Cap's summit.
So, I'm done, it's 8:30PM, I can't see El Cap, much less how to get there and I'm tired and hungry. I tell Legolas that I'm camping here and he's welcome to join me. He agrees and I set my tent and assemble dinner.

I heat up some...whatever and as I'm casually munching I notice that Legolas is wearing sneakers.
Huh, thats strange. Then I notice that he's wearing cords.
I eat some more.
Gears slowly turn in my head.
The ensuing conversation goes something like this:
Me: Saaay...you're wearing sneakers.
Legolas: Yeah.
Me: You're wearing cords too.

Legolas: Yeah.
Me: Aren't your feet cold and wet?
Legolas: Yeah.
Me: Ummm, do you have any rain gear?
Legolas: Yeah, I got this jacket.
Me: Yeah... do you have a tent or bivy sack?
Legolas: Nope.
Me: So, you have this blue rain jacket and white down sleeping bag?
Legolas: Yeah.
Me: Right. Do you know there a storm coming in tomorrow?
Legolas: What?

(to be continued on Part 2)

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