Lori’s First Backpack Trip. The Alder River trail in Yosemite National Park is an easy hiking trail that is mainly in wooded areas without many views.  It is a great trail for a first time backpacker.

Backpackers: Carl Fisher and Lori Fisher

Sunday June 18, 2000 (miles 5) – What better way to spend Fathers Day than to be hiking at Yosemite National Park in California. The adventure started from the ranger station at Wowona.  The plan is to hike the Alder River trail.  We encountered a rattlesnake along the trail – well actually Lori almost sat on it.  We took our first break at 2:30 in the afternoon (much too late) overlooking a large waterfall that was not on the map.  The next two miles were all uphill and our butts were whipped and Lori was considering never backpacking again!  In hindsight, we didn’t eat enough snacks and were not properly hydrated.  Our goal for the day was Deer Camp but we were so tired that we found a flat spot (well sort of flat) and made camp in an unauthorized spot.  After eating our dehydrated Mountain House meal we headed up the trail to find water.  Well, as luck would have it…. Deer Camp was only about 100 yards up the trail with nice flat tent spots and fire rings.  We stayed where we had set up camp!

Monday June 19, 2000 (miles 6) – We started hiking at 9:00 AM after sleeping in.  The first half of the day was spent hiking uphill and then after lunch it was all basically downhill to Chilmulna Falls where we camped for the night.  We did 6 miles but it was not too tough.  We headed for the waterfalls where we relaxed, cleaned up and had a romantic (no candlelight but fading sunlight) dinner of re-hydrated Mountain House lasagna.

Tuesday June 20, 2000 (miles 5.6) – We broke camp and didn’t eat breakfast (not our usual practice).  We hiked to a spot overlooking the falls and ate under a bright sun and clear skies.  The 5.6 mile trek to the Wawona Ranger station was all downhill.  We made good time and got down before lunch.  We then got into our rental car, headed to the Mariposa Grove of Sequoia trees and went on a guided ranger hike to the Grizzly Giant Sequoia.  The tree is about 2800 years old and is one monster of a tree.  Afterwards we drove to Yosemite Valley where we had a much needed shower ($2 each) and a nice dinner at Yosemite Lodge (much too expensive).  We stayed in the Crane Flat campground where we listened to a ranger talking about the problems caused by introducing brown trout into the lakes and streams.

Wednesday June 21, 2000 (miles 4.6) – Early in the day we headed for Curry Village in the Valley where we purchased one way shuttle tickets to Glacier Point.  After the hour and a half bus ride we were greeted with stunning views of the Half Dome, other peaks, and a nice overlook of Yosemite Valley (where we had just come from).  We decided to head down using the Four Mile trail (actually 4.6 miles) instead of the longer, more scenic Panorama Trail.  The entire way down the trail we had excellent views of Yosemite Falls, which we walked to after reaching the valley floor.  Between Monday and Tuesday we did 10 miles – ALL downhill which left our calves screaming at us.