Introduction:
What? : My next 5 blogs provide information about my 4 days, 60 miles, backpacking hike in the Hoover and Yosemite Wilderness, Sep. 2022.
My friend and I start our eastern Sierra loop hike from Twin Lake near Bridgeport (highway 395), from there we went up the mountains into Hoover Wilderness in the direction of Yosemite National Park. We hiked on some sections of the PCT and after 3 days we finished our loop hiking back down to our starting point.
Trail Map:
Where? : The Robinson Creek / Barney Lake Trailhead is located at Twin Lake near Bridgeport California (east Sierra highway 395).
Trailhead - Google Map Link
When? : Late Spring, Summer, and early fall.
Early spring can be challenging with snow covered trails.
Late summer, as anywhere in the Sierra, you can have smoke or even closures from fires. There is no problem of water availability along this hike. We hiked here late dray year (2022) and we can find water in many places along the hike.
Due note 1:
You need Hoover wilderness permit for this hike; the permit is also good for the Yosemite NP sections.
https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/inyo/recarea/?recid=21879
https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd904026.pdf
Due note 2:
This is a bear country, so food need to be carried in bear-resistant container.
Due note 3:
Follow wilderness regulations and do not leave trace. Do not camp within 100 feet of any lake shore, stream, or trail. Do not leave toilet papers please pack them out with you (Ziplock plastic bag).
My thoughts:
This was a fun hike I did with a good friend as a company.
When we started this hike there was a lot of smoke covering mountains and valleys and it limit the visibility. During the first day the smoke cleared, and we had afternoon rain, it was raining lightly every day in the afternoon.
We hiked around 17 miles each day with some climbing but overall, this was not a challenging rout compare to past trips in this area.
It is always relaxing to hike in the wilderness and this trip was no different.
We even saw a black bear not so far from us.
Gear List (short):
- Tent + 6 Stakes (I’m using my hiking poles for the tent)
- Sleeping bag
- Air mattress
- Inflated Pillow
- Clothes: Shorts, running-shirt, extra socks and underwear, sweatshirt, down jacket,
- Water filters + 1 Small bottle of water
- Garmin inReach Satellite Communicator
- Garmin Fenix 6 watch
- 90D Camera + 18-400mm Tamron lens + extra battery
- Battery charger with cable for phone, Garmin GPS, flashlight, watch
- Waterproof utility bags for camera and clothes
- Head flashlight
- Matches/lighter
- Paper Maps (+ map in my phone, Garmin inReach and even in my watch)
- Cup + tablespoon (not so much use them)
- Toilet paper in 2 Ziplock bags
- Sunscreen
- Small first aid kit
- Small Pocket knife
- Bear canister for the food
Water:
I always purify the water I’m drinking.
After checking and using many water systems I’m using the following in all my hikes:
- 1x small 750mm plastic bottle
- 2x Katadyn BeFree 1-liter water bottle filter
- 1x Vecto 2L Water Container by Cnoc Outdoors with Sawyer mini filter
As you can see my main filtration is the BeFree 1-liter, I found that the wide opening makes it easy to fill the water, it is relatively lightweight and compact, you can drink from the bottle itself of fill a small 750mm plastic bottle.
The 2L Water Container is mainly for backup and for long hikes with no place to fill up water.
Food:
For the last 2 years my regular diet is carb and sugar free, since then I stop eating Dehydrated Foods and other carb-based hiking food.
Because I’m not using any dry food that need hot water, I usually do not carry with me camping stove, when I’m hiking with partner that bring a propane stove I do drink hot tea or instance coffee.
At my hikes I do eat the following:
· Trail Mix of different Nuts with few dates and dry figs for each day – small Ziplock bag
· Low carb Keto Bars and Protein Bars – 1-2 per day.
· Beef Jerky or Dry Salami
I find it that when I’m doing intense hiking activity, I’m not so hangry and this diet is good for such hikes.
I know this is not a good diet to maintain for long time because it does not provide the needed calories, I’m losing every day but when I’m doing short hikes of few days there is no problem with losing few pounds of body weight.
Prolog:
The air quality in the Sierra mountains was in bad conditions, a huge un-contained wildfire (Mosquito Fire) was burning west of Lake Tahoe and the wind spread the smoke all over the Sierra mountains. There were few much smaller fires in Yosemite Park, and one was even not so far from our hiking area. We monitor this fire for few days, and it looks like that fire was not spreading fast and there was one mountain ridge separation from our trail (PCT).
The weather prediction indicates rain, thunderstorms and potential lightning for 3 out of our 4 hiking days….in short, not the perfect conditions for long hike.
At the morning of the hike we debate if it is good to go, after short discussion we decided to drive and see how it goes.
Trail Map:
All days hiking description are at separate blog posts...see above for links
Additional Pictures:
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