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Backpacking in Yosemite
updated: Jul 27, 2011, 7:28 AM

By Brian Lovelace

I thought I'd share with you some photos I took on a backpacking trip to Yosemite this past weekend! My groups itinerary was to pack out of the White Wolf backpackers camp, go into the Grand Canyon of the Tuolomne River and loop back up through the Ten Lakes Basin. We backpacked around 30 miles before we started reaching some skeptical terrain. That's right; snow. As we ascended out of Glen Aulin High Sierra Camp on our third day, we reached a junction that headed off to Tenaya Lake; so far our trip had been an absolute blast, except for the mosquitoes, of course. As we hiked on past the junction to the next junction around a half mile away, snow started appearing more and more on the ground. We were only at 8700 feet though! How could this be? Well, after an incredibly long and late winter season, Yosemite is still providing fun, with twelve foot snow drifts, even at slightly lower elevations such as what we were at. After arriving to the second junction, trying to find the trail was difficult, so we decided that we'd turn around and head back down to Tenaya Lake. But we didn't let the snow stop us from having fun! We spent an hour at the snowed out junction taking pictures, sliding up and down snow drifts and even having a small snowball fight. All in late July! It was an absolutely incredible experience, and I hope that our little weekend story will inspire some of you to go out and do your own Yosemite/Sierra Nevada exploring this summer!

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Comments in order of when they were received | (reverse order)

COMMENT 197066	2011-07-27 07:34 AM
Wow, crazy how big Waterwheel Falls is raging for this time of year. That's a beautiful area, sounds like a great walk-about, I'm jealous.
COMMENT 197091	2011-07-27 08:09 AM
LOVE Yosemite! I'm jealous too! Tenaya's one of our favorite spots. I've been caught in snow up there, backpacking, in June. Surprised to see it's still there in July!
COMMENT 197093	2011-07-27 08:11 AM
Great photos! (The one of the guy running in the snow could be in a clothing catalog!) :)
COMMENT 197098	2011-07-27 08:14 AM
Awesome! I was just up in Yosemite and then Tahoe, and it is a magical year indeed with all the water. And yes, the mosquitoes are as plentiful as I have seen them... :(
COMMENT 197110	2011-07-27 08:33 AM
Absolutely stunning pictures. Thank you so much.
COMMENT 197113	2011-07-27 08:39 AM
Beautiful areas you were in, as I sit here in my lttle hole in wall office I was taken back to all of the early August (less mosquitoes) days I spent at all of these spots. We used to start out at Tenaya Lake and head up to Sunrise lakes, Vogelsang, Lyell Canyon up to the top or we could go down into Glen Aulin, Waterwheel falls... I think I'm gonna go be sick now. Enough dreaming. Thanks for the trip and pics.
STACE	2011-07-27 08:45 AM
Beautiful photos, beautiful place. Thank you for sharing!
COMMENT 197149	2011-07-27 09:20 AM
Nice work from a guy who graduated from DP just 2 years go!
COMMENT 197167	2011-07-27 09:42 AM
Beautiful pictures! Thank you for posting. I need a vacation.
COMMENT 197221P	2011-07-27 11:01 AM
Beautiful photos, you are very talented!
SEEDLADY	2011-07-27 11:23 AM
wow! the ROAR must have been incredible! Your pictures almost capture the sound--thank you!
POWDRELL	2011-07-27 11:39 AM
Beautiful photos. Thanks for sharing them with us.
AQUAHOLIC	2011-07-27 12:39 PM
Gorgeous shots! Heading out for a road trip up the 395 and Eastern side of the Sierras...can't wait to get out there and see it for myself! Thanks for sharing your great images.
AUNTIE S.	2011-07-27 01:04 PM
Beauitiful photos. They remind me of many backpacking trips to Glen Aulin, Waterwheel, etc. One July we packed up across Franklin Pass in Mineral King (about 12,000 ft.) and traversed big snowfields all the way down the other side. Ah, those were the days!
COMMENT 197377	2011-07-27 04:20 PM
Beautiful pictures! Thank you for posting. Wish I was there !
TWO ABBYS	2011-07-27 08:02 PM
lovely photos of a lovely place, thank you!
COMMENT 197476P	2011-07-28 07:48 AM
Fantastic photos of fantastic place!
COMMENT 197502	2011-07-28 08:41 AM
You take great pictures. I hope you'll post more on Edhat.
COMMENT 197579	2011-07-28 10:31 AM
So great to see my former student, Brian, who I had in 7th grade! Outstanding work, Brian! Love it! It just doesn't seem like it has been long that long since you were in 7th grade!

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