My Next Sojourn

There are a number of blog posts coming up that would do much better if it had some photos. I’ve got some, but now that I’ve fleshed out the posts, I recognize that I need more. Also, I’ll need some more information I hope to get from the Research Library. Those are some of the agenda items of my next sojourn to Yosemite. Again, I’ll be camping (alone). This time, ah ha, I’ll be bringing an air mattress upon which I will rest my weary bones, having learned last time that 67 year old bones and 50 million year old granite don’t play well together.

I may attempt some minor hike, with a comparatively full pack, just to see how I might fair in a backpack trip, strength-wise. I mentioned in one the posts that I would need to do a backpack for one of my Wish List hikes (see Cathedral Lakes Wish…). On my last excursion to Yosemite I leaned that camping on the ground unaided is not likely to be too successful. So, now I know I need an air mattress, which I have acquired. So maybe I could wad it up, stuff it and a few other things in a backpack and do, say, Mirror Lake. That could be a learning experience. Anyway, I haven’t done that hike since 2002 and it was closed for a few years because of a rock slide, but it was opened back up in 2014. But, it’s also dry by this time of the year….hmmmm.

Maybe I should just go for it and try Cathedral Lakes. No. I’m not going all the way to Cathedral Lakes on a backpack, alone. First of all, when I’m eaten by a bear, I want company. Secondly, I haven’t been on an “in-the-woods” camp-out since 1960. Things have changed since then (not the least of which is me). I don’t know, logistically, what I should bring. I picked up some few freeze dried meals last week to see what they were like and cooked a bacon and egg breakfast in the house. That was okay. But it means I’ll need one of those tiny hand size cooking burners that fit onto a propane canister for sure (there is no way I’m going to cart a camp stove up that hill) and maybe some utensils. So there’s some weight. I know from the 4-Mile Trail hike I’m going to need at least 6 bottles of water (or can I expect to find water on the way?). Some of this logistical stuff I can figure out in the relative safety of Crane Flats. Plus that will, probably, let me know what else I forgot. Better finding out there than half way up a mountain side without a paddle.

I don’t have to go all the way to the lakes (If I do, then great), but if I got just to the ridge where my wife and I failed to reach those few years ago, that would be progress…not to mention, revealing. Hmmmmm.

I also plan to visit the Yosemite Research Library to see what they have to offer and, maybe, get over to the Archives. Also, I want to re-visit the Yosemite Cemetery. I have three blog posts as “works in progress” and a fourth in the wings. All of which are waiting for some historical details and photos which I hope to secure during this trip.

Finally, I’m looking forward to seeing the Yosemite Theatre presentation of Lee Stetson doing John Muir.