Southforkriver.net

Lyell Fork Overnight - Sue & Allyn - July 2007

Introduction

Day 1

Day 2

Photo Album

Map

NG Topo Map

Day 2

The next morning we surveyed the site and found no evidence of critters and the bear vault was not touched. We slept in until the sun hit the tent since we had no hurry to get back or anywhere else to go. We had a nice breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon (freeze dried variety) and tortillas. My brother had got a lot of condiments for a trip we were going to take earlier so the taco sauce on the eggs was a nice touch. We packed up and headed back around 10:30 stopping at the river to take some pictures. The trip back was easier than the day before, somewhat due to the adjustment to the altitude and also having had a chance to break in out legs a bit on the day before. The first day is always tough.

A cold front was moving in and although the skies were clear it was windy and you could notice the drop in temperature from the day before. Heading back we had the wind in our backs and some gusts almost blew us around. It must have been a little tough for the hikers coming up the canyon the other way. We stopped at the Lyell Fork bridges and had lunch but since I forgot my wind screen and it was real windy, tortillas and tuna fish was the lunch for the day. We headed back up the hill towards the trailhead and made it back to the car around 2:30, shaving about an hour or so off of the time spent the day before heading out. Our first stop was at the Tuolumne Meadows store to hit the snack bar for some soft serve ice cream. That has become a ritual for Sue and I after our day hikes and it sure tasted good.

The weather held up nice for us out on the trail. No rain and not too many mosquitos. The first day the biting flies were out, but with the wind on the second day they weren't a problem. The water was low but since it is a main tributary there was plenty of water to use and fish in. Since it has such high traffic on this trail, I decided to filter the water rather than just drink it straight out of the river.