Backpacking at Yosemite

Backpacking for 3 Days at high altitude in Yosemite National Park is no walk in the park. First, you have to carry more than 30 lbs. Second, hiking at high altitude is hard, even without the extra weight. Finally, with the leave-no-trace policy at Yosemite, simple things like going to the bathroom becomes very inconvenient. Leave-no-trace means packing out everything that you take in. This includes, unfortunately, used toilet tissue, among other items.

Not knowing the extent of the challenges, I decided to take a guided backpacking trip through Yosemite National Park. Many years ago, I had visited the Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite and fell in love. Walking along the little traveled Lyell Canyon near Tuolumne meadows made me feel the presence of God. I vowed that I would come back, except this time I wanted to escape into the backcountry.

Lyell Canyon

I took a nap here. Lyell Canyon

A few years later, I went on my first "backpacking" trip through the Zion Narrows. To say that this trip was an adventure would be an understatement: The normally ankle deep water at the Zion narrows one walks through was easily over our heads in sections. We were forced to use our backpacks as flotation devices. Also, having lugged the wrong type of stove fuel, we were forced to eat our packaged ramen raw. By the end of the trip, my partner and I were so banged up that we both received black toenails. Given my unconventional backpacking experience at Zion, I decided I needed to go back to square one to learn the basics of backpacking.

So, I decided to book a trip through REI Adventures. As a long-time REI member, I knew that REI was one of the most conventional organizations around. So I was surprised when I found out that our REI backpacking trip, which was guided by Karen from Sierra Spirit, was a bit of a spiritual retreat. I slowly began to realize this as we all sat down for our first dinner at the Tuolumne Meadows campground. Our guide, Karen asked us to go around the circle to introduce ourselves and to describe the extent of our backpacking experience. But just when I thought we were done, the questioning continued. Karen, our lead guide, asked us: Why did we decide to join the high-country Yosemite backpacking trip? What did we seek to gain from our experience? What is our biggest fear about the trip? This was when I realized that this wasn't going to be a normal backpacking trip.

I did enjoy the responses from my group mates, however. Several of my fellow hikers expressed their desire to seek a spiritual connection with nature. Some people said they wanted to strike a project off their bucket list. Many people stated their greatest fear was encountering bears. More than one person along with myself expressed their concern over the lack of toilets.

We spent the night in our tents for the first time looking forward to the next day's full day of backpacking.

Driving around the Yosemite Valley Floor

My backpack contents

To be continued...