07-23-2021, 04:35 PM
Day 4 Laurel Lake Hike
4.74 Miles
630’ Up
616’ Down
I was up early. I was packed and ready to go before every one arose, so I spent a goodly portion of the morning watching every struggle to awake. I grabbed all the bear cans from their hiding space and put them near where everyone ate. I did however manage to lose the dime the Younglings used to unlock their bear can. Fortunately it was quickly found or they would have all quickly starved to death. My bear can didn’t a dime to open it. I just had to fight to unscrew it. In case you are unfamiliar, a bear can is where we store our food. The bear can is a hard plastic container that is supposed to impossible for the bear to open. Even so, the bear cans are hidden at night with anything smelly in them far from the campsite. That way if the bears do catch some scent from them, they will be attracted to the cans rather than the tents.
Since I had filled up my three liter water bladder the night before, I was able to top off all my water bottles in the morning. The Younglings however needed to go back to the river to filter and fill up before they could start the hike to Laurel Lake. Mrs. DM was in a similar boat.
So, for a change of pace, DM and I headed off up the trail first while the other four would have to catch up with us. I was pretty sure they would catch up to us in a few minutes.
There was a teensy bit of uphill before the trail leveled off. I was in the lead so naturally I lost the path over the granite. Despite the fact there were plenty of trees with trail markers on them. DM got us back on the trail after a short while and off we went. We climbed over logs across the trail. We battled bugs. We navigated a fern forest. It was all together pleasant.
At one point, I got pretty far ahead of DM. I was all alone in the forest when I heard an odd noise. I stopped. I looked around. Up the hill about 70 yards away was a light brown bear cub checking out a log for grubs. I got a good look at him before I realized that DM might come loudly up the trail and spook him. I turned around and headed back down the trail until I caught sight of him. I put my hands to make him stop and finger to my lips to make him be quiet. I then held my hands to show the approximate size of the bear which was probably 40 or 50 pounds. Later DM told me he thought I had put my wide spread hands up next to my ears to indicate I had seen a moose.
I pointed in the direction of the bear until DM saw it. We stood side by side on the trail watching the bear forage for a couple of minutes. At one point, I swear the bear looked right at us to see what kind of creatures we were. He didn’t seem very concerned by our presence. The question in both of DM and I’s mind was, because it was a cub, where is the mother? Since we didn’t want an angry mama bear charging us, we moved on. We stopped for another watch party a little further down the road to get one last glimpse of the bear. My pictures of the bear did not come out. The bear looks like a brown blob in amongst the trees. It was the only time on the trip I wished I had my zoom lens.
Onward. More hiking. DM and I chatted since we weren’t completely out of breath. There were plenty of wildflowers to photograph. The most prevalent was the California Corn Lilly. At first we saw just a couple, but during this hike there were fields of them. DM also found this giant mushroom, about the size of a small dinner plate that looked just like a hamburger bun complete with sesame seeds.
DM and I finally reached an intersection called the BeeHive. Take the path to the left and you could head down to Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. Take the path to the right and you would head to Laurel Lake. We dropped our packs and waited for the rest of the party. During our wait DM decided now would be a good time for him to do a photo shoot of some staff handgrips for an article he was writing. What could I do but oblige? I was also the model for some lovely photos of me swatting away bugs. It is my Yosemite interpretive dance.
We didn’t have long to wait for the rest of the group. First question out of my mouth was if they had seen the bear. The look of disappointment on their faces on missing another bear sighting warmed my shriveled heart. DM and I had now seen two bears. The rest of the party had seen 0. They asked how far away the bear was which prompted us to do the bit of theater we had done the last time. Well, it was 70 yards away. No, more like 20 yards. You could almost touch the bear he was so close. HE WAS LICKING DM’S PACK!
DM and I were ready to proceed but the Younglings needed a bit more rest. Mrs DM decided she was ready to go on as well. Just up the trail from the fork at the Beehive was another fork. You head to the left, you go right to the Laurel Lake camp site. You take the fork to the left, you go all the way around the lake to the Laurel Lake Camp Site. Laurel Lake wasn’t all that big so going around the lake only added about another mile to the journey. Mrs. DM wanted to go around the lake. DM and I were rested so we said we would go with her.
Not more than a hundred yards up the trail, a giant tree had fallen blocking the path. Mrs. DM tried to find a way around the trail but couldn’t. I don’t she felt like scrambling over the tree either. Plans to walk around the tree were scrapped in favor of heading directly to the Laurel Lake campsite. I was secretly relieved.
The entire trip Mrs. DM was super human. She might start the day slow but she just seemed to gather strength all day long. Sure, the male Youngling might have been ahead of her, but she was at least three decades on him. But she did have one weakness. She hated crossing it. When we got to frog creek, she made her displeasure. Not that the creek was particularly wide or fast flowing, you just had to step on uneven rocks to cross it. And I didn’t blame her one bit. I have always hated rock hopping across creeks. I think I’ve been unsuccessful more than I’ve been successful. It was just nice for my fragile male ego to see a sliver of weakness in Mrs. DM who left me in the dust all week. I know it’s not a competition. Please see the bit about fragile male ego.
Naturally, Frog Creek was in the bottom of a ravine, something about erosion, and there was a bit of a climb after it. But before you knew it, we were at Laurel Lake. The campsite was perfect. The outlet creek was twenty yards to the right and the Laurel Lake was a short walk down the trail. It even had a beach with a giant log to sit on. The most comfortable log I sat on all week.
The sun fought us and we tried to find shade for our tents. I thought I had the perfect shady spot only to find the tent in direct sunlight twenty minutes after I set it up. But the log by the Lake perched in the shade for most of the day. Most of the party ventured into the water. Laurel Lake was quite shallow for a good thirty feet off our small beach. I went in with the camera to photograph some bright blue dragonflies resting on some tall stalks of grass sticking out of the water.
We did the usual things. We filtered and filled up water bottles. We rinsed off our sweaty clothes, leaving them to dry on a rock in the center of camp. I think we only saw one other group pass through the camp. We could see people on the other side of Laurel Lake but other than them, we were all alone.
Mrs DM and I had quite the chat while sitting on the log watching the female Youngling head far into the lake. The cub was torn between going in as well but hating the water. I tried peer pressure on the cub but was informed by Mrs. DM that is not an effective strategy with the cub.
The fundamental backpacking difference between Mrs. DM and I came up. She mentioned she had some backpackers with gear that made it look they were ready for the assault on Everest. I asked if that looked like my backpack which is really new. She mourned the loss of the days when you could just throw some stuff in your pack and head off dressed in nothing but a bikini wearing flipflops. I’m sure I looked horrified at the thought off going off into the wilderness so unprepared. Mrs. DM also brought up the fact she had a bear encounter many years ago when she was out in nothing but a bikini. She was rescued by a group of Boy Scouts who she bumped into during her flight from the bear. Our talk was quite informative. She even mentioned an old girlfriend who I figured had dismissed me from her thoughts but decades ago.
Later on after the dinner, the ground decided it would give us a good shake. DM heard it first. I thought It was something giant flying overhead before I realized the source of the noise. The shaking was another clue. All around us, I could hear pine cones crashing into the ground. The shaking did go on for what seemed a long time. The Younglings were a bit freaked out by the shaking. None of them had been in tremor of this magnitude before.
The problem we immediately faced was not knowing anything more about the quake. If we had been at home, i would have raced to my computer to get the news from Caltech. DM immediately jumped to the worst conclusion and wondered if the dam was gone. And if the dam was gone how did we get home? My thoughts were is this a big quake here in the park or are we just feeling the edge of what could have been a massive quake elsewhere? Fortunately, as we found out later, it was just a biggish quake, 6.0 near the Nevada border.
To escape the insect invasion, everyone headed into their tents. I was fortunate to have a whole colony of flying marauders between the top of my tent and the rain cover. Yes, I mocked the little buggers for not be able to come in and get me. I’d donated enough blood already to their cause on this trip including two nasty ones in my butt crack. I don’t know how they got there. But they were nothing compared to bites the female youngling acquired. Her bites looked giant peas attached to her skin.
I got my kindle out and started to read my book. My Kindle was yet another reason my pack was heavy. I thought I hear something outside my tent and turned to look through the one open flap. Ten feet outside my tent stood a ten point buck investigating the camp. I would have grabbed my camera to take some marvelous pictures of the deer, but my cameras were in my backpack outside the tent. I didn’t want to leave the tent to get the camera because I figured I would scare the deer away. I resigned myself to just watching. DM and everyone else in their tents had a much better show because none of them had their raincovers on their tents. The deer wanted around the camp for a good long while. DM said later if i had the flap open on the other side of the tent, I would have gotten an even closer look at the deer. At one point, the deer approached the Younglings tent. He stopped feet away and looked in at the cub who stared back. DM got a great photo of this memorable event.
After it got dark, I think the deer came back. Or maybe some other creature. Maybe bear. As I was going to sleep, I heard something outside the tent scratching at my backpack. I didn’t know what to do. I hoped it would go away but the scratching persisted. I had to see what was going on out there. I only have this little solar powered lamp as a light source. The button to turn the lamp on are impossible to find. I used the illumination to find the switch. I popped out of the tent, fearing the worst and shined the light towards my pack. There was nothing there. I went back into the tent, probably bringing a few insects in with me.
As I lay there worried about my visitor, I heard the scratching again. I repeated the previous steps of finding the switch on the lamp and popping outside of the tent. Again, I found nothing. I’m sure the other members of the troop thought I was losing my mind. I did this dance two or three times. The only thing I could think that might be attracting anything to my pack were some Backpacker Toilet Paper™ leaves in one of my side pouches. On my final time out of the tent, I took the leaves out of the pouch and through as far from the tent as I could. I also moved my pack to join the other packs in the center of camp.
That solved the problem. I didn’t hear any more scratching. I eventually fell asleep. That was enough excitement for one day.
4.74 Miles
630’ Up
616’ Down
I was up early. I was packed and ready to go before every one arose, so I spent a goodly portion of the morning watching every struggle to awake. I grabbed all the bear cans from their hiding space and put them near where everyone ate. I did however manage to lose the dime the Younglings used to unlock their bear can. Fortunately it was quickly found or they would have all quickly starved to death. My bear can didn’t a dime to open it. I just had to fight to unscrew it. In case you are unfamiliar, a bear can is where we store our food. The bear can is a hard plastic container that is supposed to impossible for the bear to open. Even so, the bear cans are hidden at night with anything smelly in them far from the campsite. That way if the bears do catch some scent from them, they will be attracted to the cans rather than the tents.
Since I had filled up my three liter water bladder the night before, I was able to top off all my water bottles in the morning. The Younglings however needed to go back to the river to filter and fill up before they could start the hike to Laurel Lake. Mrs. DM was in a similar boat.
So, for a change of pace, DM and I headed off up the trail first while the other four would have to catch up with us. I was pretty sure they would catch up to us in a few minutes.
There was a teensy bit of uphill before the trail leveled off. I was in the lead so naturally I lost the path over the granite. Despite the fact there were plenty of trees with trail markers on them. DM got us back on the trail after a short while and off we went. We climbed over logs across the trail. We battled bugs. We navigated a fern forest. It was all together pleasant.
At one point, I got pretty far ahead of DM. I was all alone in the forest when I heard an odd noise. I stopped. I looked around. Up the hill about 70 yards away was a light brown bear cub checking out a log for grubs. I got a good look at him before I realized that DM might come loudly up the trail and spook him. I turned around and headed back down the trail until I caught sight of him. I put my hands to make him stop and finger to my lips to make him be quiet. I then held my hands to show the approximate size of the bear which was probably 40 or 50 pounds. Later DM told me he thought I had put my wide spread hands up next to my ears to indicate I had seen a moose.
I pointed in the direction of the bear until DM saw it. We stood side by side on the trail watching the bear forage for a couple of minutes. At one point, I swear the bear looked right at us to see what kind of creatures we were. He didn’t seem very concerned by our presence. The question in both of DM and I’s mind was, because it was a cub, where is the mother? Since we didn’t want an angry mama bear charging us, we moved on. We stopped for another watch party a little further down the road to get one last glimpse of the bear. My pictures of the bear did not come out. The bear looks like a brown blob in amongst the trees. It was the only time on the trip I wished I had my zoom lens.
Onward. More hiking. DM and I chatted since we weren’t completely out of breath. There were plenty of wildflowers to photograph. The most prevalent was the California Corn Lilly. At first we saw just a couple, but during this hike there were fields of them. DM also found this giant mushroom, about the size of a small dinner plate that looked just like a hamburger bun complete with sesame seeds.
DM and I finally reached an intersection called the BeeHive. Take the path to the left and you could head down to Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. Take the path to the right and you would head to Laurel Lake. We dropped our packs and waited for the rest of the party. During our wait DM decided now would be a good time for him to do a photo shoot of some staff handgrips for an article he was writing. What could I do but oblige? I was also the model for some lovely photos of me swatting away bugs. It is my Yosemite interpretive dance.
We didn’t have long to wait for the rest of the group. First question out of my mouth was if they had seen the bear. The look of disappointment on their faces on missing another bear sighting warmed my shriveled heart. DM and I had now seen two bears. The rest of the party had seen 0. They asked how far away the bear was which prompted us to do the bit of theater we had done the last time. Well, it was 70 yards away. No, more like 20 yards. You could almost touch the bear he was so close. HE WAS LICKING DM’S PACK!
DM and I were ready to proceed but the Younglings needed a bit more rest. Mrs DM decided she was ready to go on as well. Just up the trail from the fork at the Beehive was another fork. You head to the left, you go right to the Laurel Lake camp site. You take the fork to the left, you go all the way around the lake to the Laurel Lake Camp Site. Laurel Lake wasn’t all that big so going around the lake only added about another mile to the journey. Mrs. DM wanted to go around the lake. DM and I were rested so we said we would go with her.
Not more than a hundred yards up the trail, a giant tree had fallen blocking the path. Mrs. DM tried to find a way around the trail but couldn’t. I don’t she felt like scrambling over the tree either. Plans to walk around the tree were scrapped in favor of heading directly to the Laurel Lake campsite. I was secretly relieved.
The entire trip Mrs. DM was super human. She might start the day slow but she just seemed to gather strength all day long. Sure, the male Youngling might have been ahead of her, but she was at least three decades on him. But she did have one weakness. She hated crossing it. When we got to frog creek, she made her displeasure. Not that the creek was particularly wide or fast flowing, you just had to step on uneven rocks to cross it. And I didn’t blame her one bit. I have always hated rock hopping across creeks. I think I’ve been unsuccessful more than I’ve been successful. It was just nice for my fragile male ego to see a sliver of weakness in Mrs. DM who left me in the dust all week. I know it’s not a competition. Please see the bit about fragile male ego.
Naturally, Frog Creek was in the bottom of a ravine, something about erosion, and there was a bit of a climb after it. But before you knew it, we were at Laurel Lake. The campsite was perfect. The outlet creek was twenty yards to the right and the Laurel Lake was a short walk down the trail. It even had a beach with a giant log to sit on. The most comfortable log I sat on all week.
The sun fought us and we tried to find shade for our tents. I thought I had the perfect shady spot only to find the tent in direct sunlight twenty minutes after I set it up. But the log by the Lake perched in the shade for most of the day. Most of the party ventured into the water. Laurel Lake was quite shallow for a good thirty feet off our small beach. I went in with the camera to photograph some bright blue dragonflies resting on some tall stalks of grass sticking out of the water.
We did the usual things. We filtered and filled up water bottles. We rinsed off our sweaty clothes, leaving them to dry on a rock in the center of camp. I think we only saw one other group pass through the camp. We could see people on the other side of Laurel Lake but other than them, we were all alone.
Mrs DM and I had quite the chat while sitting on the log watching the female Youngling head far into the lake. The cub was torn between going in as well but hating the water. I tried peer pressure on the cub but was informed by Mrs. DM that is not an effective strategy with the cub.
The fundamental backpacking difference between Mrs. DM and I came up. She mentioned she had some backpackers with gear that made it look they were ready for the assault on Everest. I asked if that looked like my backpack which is really new. She mourned the loss of the days when you could just throw some stuff in your pack and head off dressed in nothing but a bikini wearing flipflops. I’m sure I looked horrified at the thought off going off into the wilderness so unprepared. Mrs. DM also brought up the fact she had a bear encounter many years ago when she was out in nothing but a bikini. She was rescued by a group of Boy Scouts who she bumped into during her flight from the bear. Our talk was quite informative. She even mentioned an old girlfriend who I figured had dismissed me from her thoughts but decades ago.
Later on after the dinner, the ground decided it would give us a good shake. DM heard it first. I thought It was something giant flying overhead before I realized the source of the noise. The shaking was another clue. All around us, I could hear pine cones crashing into the ground. The shaking did go on for what seemed a long time. The Younglings were a bit freaked out by the shaking. None of them had been in tremor of this magnitude before.
The problem we immediately faced was not knowing anything more about the quake. If we had been at home, i would have raced to my computer to get the news from Caltech. DM immediately jumped to the worst conclusion and wondered if the dam was gone. And if the dam was gone how did we get home? My thoughts were is this a big quake here in the park or are we just feeling the edge of what could have been a massive quake elsewhere? Fortunately, as we found out later, it was just a biggish quake, 6.0 near the Nevada border.
To escape the insect invasion, everyone headed into their tents. I was fortunate to have a whole colony of flying marauders between the top of my tent and the rain cover. Yes, I mocked the little buggers for not be able to come in and get me. I’d donated enough blood already to their cause on this trip including two nasty ones in my butt crack. I don’t know how they got there. But they were nothing compared to bites the female youngling acquired. Her bites looked giant peas attached to her skin.
I got my kindle out and started to read my book. My Kindle was yet another reason my pack was heavy. I thought I hear something outside my tent and turned to look through the one open flap. Ten feet outside my tent stood a ten point buck investigating the camp. I would have grabbed my camera to take some marvelous pictures of the deer, but my cameras were in my backpack outside the tent. I didn’t want to leave the tent to get the camera because I figured I would scare the deer away. I resigned myself to just watching. DM and everyone else in their tents had a much better show because none of them had their raincovers on their tents. The deer wanted around the camp for a good long while. DM said later if i had the flap open on the other side of the tent, I would have gotten an even closer look at the deer. At one point, the deer approached the Younglings tent. He stopped feet away and looked in at the cub who stared back. DM got a great photo of this memorable event.
After it got dark, I think the deer came back. Or maybe some other creature. Maybe bear. As I was going to sleep, I heard something outside the tent scratching at my backpack. I didn’t know what to do. I hoped it would go away but the scratching persisted. I had to see what was going on out there. I only have this little solar powered lamp as a light source. The button to turn the lamp on are impossible to find. I used the illumination to find the switch. I popped out of the tent, fearing the worst and shined the light towards my pack. There was nothing there. I went back into the tent, probably bringing a few insects in with me.
As I lay there worried about my visitor, I heard the scratching again. I repeated the previous steps of finding the switch on the lamp and popping outside of the tent. Again, I found nothing. I’m sure the other members of the troop thought I was losing my mind. I did this dance two or three times. The only thing I could think that might be attracting anything to my pack were some Backpacker Toilet Paper™ leaves in one of my side pouches. On my final time out of the tent, I took the leaves out of the pouch and through as far from the tent as I could. I also moved my pack to join the other packs in the center of camp.
That solved the problem. I didn’t hear any more scratching. I eventually fell asleep. That was enough excitement for one day.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm