Distance walked- miles 10.3 47.1
Gross climb- feet. 1100 12,600
Gross descent- feet. 4000 9,300
Net climb-feet. -2900 3300
Song of the Day- I'm going down by Springsteen
Down, down, down, down
I'm going down, down, down, down
Today we traveled back to Merced Lake from Vogelsang camp, except, on a different trail than yesterday. After leaving Vogelsang camp, we climbed about 600 feet over Vogelsang pass at almost 11,000 feet. After that, it was mostly downhill, much of it through a beautiful wooded trail along Lewis Creek. Along the way, we passed several spectacular mountain lakes. Although it was warm again today, with temperatures in the high 80's, the shade made the hike today quite pleasant. All in all, an excellent day for walking.
We had a terrific breakfast of pancakes, eggs and sausage this morning. The food at both camps has been quite good, particularly considering the limited facilities and high altitude. I ended up sitting next to a guy who has worked for HP for 34 years and lives in Roseville, Ca. Linda and I both worked and lived in Roseville back in the 80's.
When we arrived back at the Merced Lake camp site, we were ready for a shower after two days. The shower was terrific, but unfortunately, I knocked my iPhone on the concrete floor and cracked the glass on the face. Bummer. Last year, I broke the glass on another iPhone, suspiciously also in a hotel bathroom in Australia! Note to self: don't take your iPhone to the bathroom!
When we arrived back in camp, we came across Rod, who had been our roommate the first night we stayed in the Merced Lake. He has been staying at Merced Lake the past three days, taking day hikes out. Tonight, we do not have a 4th person in our camp, so it is just the 3 of us.
As we were sitting down to dinner tonight, a group of 6 or 7 hikers came in. Apparently, one member of their group experienced severe cramping on the trail and was down several miles from the camp. The guy who runs the camp left to help tend to the downed hiker. Funny enough, just two nights ago, this guy who runs the camp had given us a little talk about search and resue missions that they have to do,from time to time.
Tonight was "Thanksgiving dinner" at the camp, with turkey and all the fixings. Once again, an excellent meal.
After dinner, there was a park ranger who gave a little talk about Yosemite. A special guest speaker was the 89 year old Mother of the guy who runs the camp. She talked about how she has been coming to Yosemite since she was a little girl and discussed many of the changes in the park over the last 60 or 70 years! Quite a perspective, and she spoke for almost 45 minutes straight! I believe she spends much of the summer at the camp. While she still gets around reasonably well, she takes a horse up and back to the camps.
Tomorrow we head back down to the valley. Linda and I will then drive back to San Francisco and Corey back to Los Angeles.
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