Yosemite National Park Merced Lake Backpacking Trip Report

Yosemite National Park - Happy Isles to Merced Lake

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Table of Contents

Day 1 - Yosemite Valley to Switchbacks near Echo Valley

Day 2 - Switchbacks near Echo Valley to Merced Lake

Day 3 - Merced Lake to Intersection of High Trail with Clouds Rest Trail

Day 4 - Back to Yosemite Valley (with side trip to Half Dome)

Background

This was a great trip we found in the Sierra North: Backcountry Trips in California's Sierra Nevada book. K and I spent Memorial Day weekend backpacking to Merced Lake via Merced River. I really really recommend this trip to any backpacker looking for great views, the Merced River is truly a sight to behold. Our trip followed the river from Yosemite Valley up to Little Yosemite Valley and on to Merced Lake; we returned via the High Trail along the north rim of Little Yosemite Valley, stopping at Half Dome before returning to Yosemite Valley.

Besides the great views, we also met some very interesting characters along the way, which I'll go into greater detail below. Definitely a trip worth repeating, although I think next time I'd try to stay longer and explore areas further east and north.

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Day 1 - Yosemite Valley to Switchbacks near Echo Valley

Our first day started out pretty sane, we followed the John Muir Trail up to Nevada Falls. Of course getting a bit soaked in the process as it is early season, the waterfalls are still going crazy. After waiting for K to take lots of pictures of the falls from every possible angle, we continued on towards Little Yosemite Valley.

Liberty Cap and Nevada Fall

Liberty Cap and Nevada Fall

Permits for Little Yosemite Valley go quickly, and we didn't get one, so instead we planned to camp in an area 2 miles past Little Yosemite Valley. Somehow missed we this area and entered another "no camping zone". We continued onward hoping to find a nice place to camp, and eventually started along the Merced River, where the views were dramatic.

Of all our trips in 2009, there wasn't another trail as spectacular, watching this heavily flowing river tumbling down the mountain. After following Merced River and crossing several bridges, we started climbing up out of the valley. Soon, we started hearing thunder in the distance. The thunder was quite ominous and we started feeling some drops of rain falling on us. While we were on this switch-backy ascent trying to out run the thunder, we ran into this tent. After another switchback or two, we decided to make camp to avoid getting stuck in some rain and lightning. There was a nice spot on the side of the steep "cliff"(!!) and the thunder0 s sounds in the distance sounded pretty intense at this point. Turns out our "neighbor" was also heading to Merced Lake, he had this carbon fiber bear canister that looked quite spiffy. He was also camping on the switchbacks as the thunder/rain caused him to make camp.

We never really got a lot of heavy rain, just a lot of scary thunder that night. I guess this is what you get for backpacking early season, somewhat crazy weather in May, but getting to enjoy the great gushing Merced river as the snow pack is still melting.

Day 2 - Switchbacks near Echo Valley to Merced Lake

Cynthia and Merced Lake

Merced Lake from Vogelsang Trail

This was our favorite day of the whole trip. Given that we had already hiked quite a bit of the way to Merced Lake, today ended up being just a short hike. We packed up, and started on the trail. Eventually we hit a junction at the top of the valley, and right after that the trail was utterly flooded. In fact, we had no idea which way to go, as there was a turn in this utterly flooded trail. The water was up to my knees almost, and I was holding my boots and freezing to death (almost). Thankfully these two folks appeared out of the blue, coming from the other direction, and pointed us to where we should go, which was some random right turn... After a lot of muddy and water flooded trail hiking, we finally made it to Merced Lake. The lake itself was quite flooded too, as the water level was quite close to the trail (less than 10 ft).

The camp ground itself wasn't that crowded, there was our "neighbor" from the night before, and these two guys in their 20s that looked like they'd just been chilling there the whole day playing cards. Turns out the day before, when we were hearing thunder, it was hailing at the Merced Lake campground, and these guys had pictures to prove it.

Huge Sugar Pine, aka "widow makers"

Since we got to camp so early, we also took a side trip up this trail to Vogelsang. This included jumping over a river where I promptly got soaked. The views were well worth it tho, as Merced Lake was so flooded it was hard to even get a sense of what it looked like when we were at lake level.

The whole day we learned a lot about the folks at the campgrounds, turns out the two guys both worked at REI. Their motto for gear we didn't like was "just return it". Our "neighbor" from the night before was a child psychologist who was also a lightweight backpacker. I was extremely impressed by him, he was backpacking solo, had all the necessities (tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, cooking stuff, ...) and his pack weight was less than 25lbs. He also said he was "sloppy" this trip with his packing, and he usually packs even lighter. After meeting this person, I started seriously researching ultra lightweight gear. We all made a fire that night, and chit chatted a lot. One of the guys from REI turned out to be a naturalist, and he spent the night teaching us about birds and plants.

The guys from REI also spent the night making fun of this guy whose name start with the letter "A". He was planning on doing the John Muir Trail (JMT) in May, and was wasting his food supply by hanging out at Little Yosemite Valley for days (plus other boneheaded things I won't repeat here). It didn't really seem like he was fit for the trip.

Day 3 - Merced Lake to Intersection of High Trail with Clouds Rest Trail

On day three, we ended up taking the High Trail back towards Yosemite Valley. Our destination for the day was this area across a river by the junction with Clouds Rest. The High Trail was not nearly as dramatic as the lower Merced River trail. We still got views of granite peaks, but not of the rushing river that made me feel so small. After a short day of hiking, we ended up at this crowded campsite. I even ended up running into a co-worker who started the same day as I did!!

K and I also ran into the infamous "A", which the REI guys painted a very colorful picture of him the night before. Needless to say, I wasn't exactly impressed with "A" either, he was carrying a lot of food outside his bear canister, which is grounds for getting him thrown out of the park. He was also stating that he was sitting on a lot of food, enough to last him two weeks on the JMT without refueling. Turns out his two weeks of food, was a HUGE bag of oats. Plus an unopened glass bottle of peanuts! He intended to pretty much eat oats, raisins, and peanuts for two weeks. Another hilarious thing about "A" was that he was carrying an ice axe to break through the trail at the higher elevations. He told us that he learned how to use an ice axe from YouTube. At this point, K and I just couldn't stop chuckling at this guy, and we were more worried about all his food/trash smells attracting bears, as our campsite was very close to his.

Luckily the night passed without incident, and K had this *brilliant* idea the night before that he wanted to see the sunrise on Half Dome. So we set the alarm clock for 4am, and went to bed...

Half Dome Sunrise Panorama

Half Dome Sunrise Panorama

Day 4 - Back to Yosemite Valley (with side trip to Half Dome)

Thirsty Squirrel

Crazy Thirsty Squirrel

So at 4am K drags me out of the tent, and on we go to Half Dome; while hiking in the *DARK*. Which I did not appreciate, as my headlamp was apparently not bright enough for me to not freak out while hiking in the dark.

The hike itself wasn't too bad, but we had to hurry as the sun rises quite early at this time of year. About half way up the "rock base" part of Half Dome I ended up scrambling up the wrong rock face, and K had to pull me off of it via my hiking poles. The sunrise itself was spectacular. We were on the cables of Half Dome when the sun rose over the horizon, and we were engulfed in this sea of orange. It's hard to describe, but it felt quite amazing to be on this face of Half Dome and feel all the orange around you. We also met this guy who was 60, and was born in the Yosemite Valley, and has hiked up Half Dome every year on Memorial Day. I wonder if I'll be that cool when I get older.

After enjoying the views, we hiked back to camp; and "A" was still chilling at the campgrounds. We were seriously wondering how this guy was going to even make it over the first pass, since he had already taken 5 days from the Valley to get to this point. After we packed up, we were ready for our hike out. We also ran into this crazy squirrel who didn't seem scared at all by us scary humans.

The hike out wasn't too bad. The most painful part was descending, plus it was a 10+ mile day. The end of the hike was on hard granite, and walking on that for the whole day proved to be quite exhausting.

The End. :)

As a side story - turns out the coworker I ran into did get "A"'s email address. His result: turned around before he made it over the first pass; as he couldn't find the trail with all the ice and snow.

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