Southforkriver.net

2005 Backpacking Trip - Tuolumne Meadows to Yosemite

Introduction

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Photo Album

Map

NG Topo Map

Day 2

Morning at the campsite was wonderful. We had some nice breakfast and broke camp and started our decent into the Merced Lake basin. We saw no one that morning until we hit the ranger station where we talked with one of the rangers for a bit deciding upon our next destination. We worked our way up the 2 miles to Washburn Lake to try some fishing up the river and have lunch. The Merced River was flowing fast and all of the tributary streams along the way were just as full and fast. Dry fly fishing would be difficult along the Merced that day. We made our way up to the mouth of Washburn Lake and made lunch taking a nice break. We broke out the fly rods and tried the outlet of the lake but had no luck. So we headed down the river a bit and I was able to hook into a real nice rainbow. So for the trip so far, we hit brookies up in Fletcher Creek and a rainbow in the Merced today. No goldens this trip, but a brown and cutt would make for a nice mini-slam. After lunch we packed up and made our way down canyon to Echo Creek.

The fish were swarming in the creek and we were tempted to pull out the rods again, but we had decided to head over to Sunrise Creek that night, which meant a long hard pull of the hill to cut over to the Muir Trail. Years ago, as a family, we had come down the Echo Creek trail but this was the first time heading up that way. After a little bit on the Echo Creek trail, we veered off towards the trail to Sunrise and it took us across some nice granite faces and the trail had some pretty spectacular views of the Merced River Canyon and of Half Dome. It was a little dry along the trail, as we were out in the exposed afternoon sun. Soon we headed through some nice forest cover and hit the Muir Trail about 5 in the afternoon. We made it to the Cloud's Rest trail junction and then over to Sunrise Creek, which had some pretty good flows for such a little creek.

We set up camp on a ridge above the creek to stay away from the skeeters and pulled out the fly rods to see if the claims of cutthroat trout along this section of the trail were true. Well sure enough they were, as both Mike and I hit the creek and pulled out many of these fish. They were small, about 4 to 6 inches in size, but that was to be expected due to the size of the creek. It was nice catching some trout that we had not seen before. Three of the five trout species caught so far, and maybe we could find some browns before the end. We headed back to camp and fixed dinner and took it easy until it was time to hit the sack.

It is funny how at home one can stay up to all hours of the night, but out on the trail as soon as dinner is done and the camp put together for the evening, the body heads for the bag and another nights attempt at sleep. I never go to bed at home before sundown, but on the trail that is a different story. Soon the sun was done for the day and the night sky took over. With the darkness of night came the evil hungry critters again. That small babbling creek began making the noises of the critter dance and I was headed for another frightful night. But sleep came, something to do with the miles of hiking put in that day. The critters stayed clear of our camp that night and I was able to sleep most of the evening, only to awaken for the occasional bladder dance. I had my backcountry wits about me during those times so the critters must have sensed this and stayed clear. At mornings break the sun was up and time for a new day. The camp was undisturbed and we were ready for a new day!