Chilnualna Falls to Buena Vista Lake

Day 1

6:30am Friday departure from San Francisco. Rushing to beat Bay Bridge traffic. An hour and a half in (we made great time), we stopped at the Ripon McDonalds – the only one between Manteca and Modesto with a rating above two stars.

We stopped again at the Chukchansi Crossing Fuel Station & Travel Center, south of Coarsegold.

Then lunch near the Mariposa Grove parking lot. We had planned to eat in the grove, but the grove ended up being a two mile hike in, and we had 4 miles with heavy packs and a 2200 foot climb ahead of us.

Then off to the trailhead to repack and set out.

The lower falls were blasting. Hazy views as we climbed. Not too warm and filtered sunlight, great hiking weather.

This was the only downed tree we hit on day 1 that we couldn’t walk around.

The ranger at the station had warned us to take the north end of the junction on day 2 to avoid a burn scarred 2.5 mile segment full of downed trees.

He had also told us that the forecast had some light rain in store on Sunday, our third day.

Up and up, the granite dome was our goal.

We hit the granite. Great trail quality the whole way. It’s a common day hike.

Day 1 hike done, packs off. We ended up making camp on the other side of the river. Had some time to explore.

Little scramble up the waterfall. The rock was warm from the day’s sun. Cold water in deep, dark round pools. They looked manmade but we figured they were from glacier activity.

Swam across one pool with Grace. She swam back before me and snapped my picture.

Japanese curry for dinner. Good weather into the night.

Day 2

Off and hiking by 9:30 or so. We had just under 9 miles to go and 3200 feet to gain to get to Buena Vista Lake, right around 9000 feet above sea level.

This trail didn’t feel like the Yosemite we knew. It was lush and green and tree covered, like an east coast trail.

We made it to the namesake of our destination – the nice view – just before 3 pm.

From left to right, by our assessment at the time, not guaranteed to be correct:

• Half Dome (the light, prominent one with a subpeak on the right)
• Liberty Cap (faint and low, blocked by the tall pine in the foreground)
• Starr King (the three close peaks descending left to right)
• Clouds Rest (peaking just above the clouds)

And Buena Vista Lake.

The plan was to scramble up to the ridge on day 3 as a day hike, then hike out on day 4.

We leisurely made camp and started a fire. Fires were allowed below 9600 feet, in existing fire rings, started by fire permit holders. The wilderness permit came with a fire permit.

Dinner was spicy miso ramen. Erin was chef.

I knew it wouldn’t look like much, but I had an intense desire to preserve this meal on an Ektachrome slide. This was one of the best meals, and fires, that I’ve ever had in the backcountry.

Camp. We put the tents close so we could link the vestibules into a cozy space for chatting and games.

We had wrapped up dinner by the time the sun was setting.

Nothing to do but trek back out to check on the valley.

Leisurely end to the day. We played a few rounds of President in the shared vestibule and called it a night.

Overnight it rained and hailed hard, for hours. I made this recording at 4:14 am.

It subsided a little later and I managed to get back to sleep.

Day 3

The flat depression we had (foolishly, avoidably) pitched our tents in had flooded with about half an inch of water overnight.

Mercifully our sleeping bags were dry, but our tent bottoms were wet.

Precipitation had let up in the morning, but it picked up again just as we were emerging from our tents. Pea-sized hail.

Once we got an inReach weather forecast – cold and rainy all day – we scuttled the trip. I took this last snap of the lake on our way out, after we’d made coffee under a tarp and broken camp, around 9 am.

The hike out wasn’t pleasant, but it was simple. Our only option was to get out of there. So it was easy to focus.

We were back at the cars by 3:30 pm, just about 6 hours of hard hiking, almost 13 miles out and 5500 feet down, most of it through cold rain and hail. Too cold and wet to stop for lunch – we needed the heat our bodies generated as they moved – so we just took food out of the bear cans and kept going.

By the time we got the falls, the rain had stopped and we were able to change into whatever still-dry clothes we had. The last leg down, warmer and back in familiar territory, was almost pleasant.

Like most Sierra trips, this one ended at a featureless strip mall somewhere in the Central Valley. A parking lot harder to parse than the backcountry trails.

Since I loaded this Ektachrome in a daylight bulk loader, the last frame of the roll got a “first of the roll” burn.

We couldn’t tell if the building in the distance was being built up or torn down.

No traffic, back in San Francisco by 9 pm.