October 15, 2024
Last weekend was my birthday and I was able to get a last-minute backcountry pass for the Pohono Trail (starting at Glacier Point). Since this was a solo trip, I was able to take just a tarp for my shelter, so my pack was relatively light (only 17lb not counting food and water). Not ultralight, but less than ½ the weight of my family backpacking trip load, and small enough that I could take my smallest pack (Arcteryx Brize 32).
Look at the view of Half Dome from Glacier Point, it’s amazing! I can’t emphasize how impressive the views from Glacier Point are. Only downside is that the crowds are intense. Luckily enough I got there early enough to get a good parking spot, eat some lunch, and get hiking.
I didn’t have a particular spot in mind, but there was a stream powering Silver Strand Falls, so my tentative goal was to get there (about 9 miles or so from the trailhead) so I’d have a nice water source for putting out my fire. I wasn’t sure how many of the streams I was going to cross would have water, so I when I reached Bridalveil Creek, I filtered 2L of water for my bottles, filled up my water filter, and filled up the water bag for my bidet.
Speaking of bidet, I can’t emphasize enough how nice taking a backcountry bidet on a trips like this is. We always pack out our used TP (gross) but it’s better than leaving it ½ buried and blowing around the trail (even grosser). The bidet means we never stand a chance of running out of TP, don’t need to cary the gross stuff out, and it leaves you feeling even cleaner than when you started.
When I finally got to the creek above Silver Strand Falls… it was dry. Luckily I still had plenty of water for the night, so I backtracked to Crocker Point to setup camp.
Look at the gorgeous site.
New on this trip, instead of carrying a ground-sheet to set my sleeping pad on, I brought a ⅛” foam mat. It weighs almost nothing and I kept is strapped to the outside of my pack to use as a sit-pad for lunch, snacks, water filtering, etc. Not only is it more useful than a ground-sheet, but it felt like it offered more protection to my pricy and somewhat fragile inflatable sleeping pad.
Not a bad view for dinner.
The week before this trip I made a double-batch of dehydrated spaghetti. The recipe was blindingly simple: boil 2lb lean ground beef and rinse with hot water to remove as much fat as you can. Break 2lb spaghetti in a big bowl until all the pieces are about 3″ or less (this makes it easier to pack and easier to fit into your pot). Cook the spaghetti until it’s way past al dente, combine it with the meat and 2 jars of sauce. Mix well, and dehydrate at 135 overnight.
One key tip for meals like this is to add additional fat back into the meal when it’s time to eat. This time I used 10g of olive oil, which worked fine, but it was enough oil that I could taste it in the sauce. If I were to do it again, I’d replace the oil with clarified butter. I think it’d have a better taste to go with the meal.
Anyway, for cooking, I just add the spaghetti to the pot, cover in water, bring to a roiling boil, then turn off the burner and let it soak for 10 minutes. Perfection.
After dinner, I was able to chill on Crocker Point and watch the sun set over the valley. Eventually it got dark enough that I could see all the headlamps of the climbers on El Cap.
Look at all of those people! I counted 22 individual headlamps just on El Cap. I can’t believe that many people are just chilling up there on that massive 3000 foot face.
As is customary, here’s a night shot of the view from my sleeping bag. I took this after waking up in the middle of the night. The moon was down at this point and the stars were beautiful.
Funny enough, I tried to capture the same shot with my proper camera (not my iPhone) and it didn’t turn out as well. The 30s exposure is long enough that the stars move a bit, making them all a bit blurry. The iPhone is smart enough to combine the different exposures into one without letting the star-trails ruin the photo.
Breakfast in bed. Actually just coffee in bed. The last few trips I’ve been making coffee while breaking down camp. Take a poop before I start hiking, and get a few miles into the day before stopping for breakfast. Not that it really mattered on this particular trip since I was in no rush to get back to the car, but it’s good way to break down camp quickly without spending forever doodling around camp making breakfast and cleaning up.
It obviously works, I passed a ton of campsites at Crocker Point, all partially through breakfast. Including one group that left their campsite unattended to go check out the view. Their breakfast dishes and ½ eaten oatmeal were all over the place and their bear canisters were left open. The only wildlife I saw on this trip one tiny mouse, so they probably had no issues leaving all that food out, but man… that’s how you get bears. Do better people!
Speaking of Crocker Point, it’s a gorgeous view with big flat areas for a tent, but that shit was crowded! There were five groups there when I passed in the morning, and I passed some hikers a few hours later that had camped there too. I’m not sure the comfy campsites are worth camping right next to that many people. No fire rings at Crocker Point, but lots of visible signs of old fires (someone said that rangers had destroyed all the fire-rings up there to prevent people from having campfires). Not a great place to have a fire, there’s no water to put it out anywhere nearby.
I stopped at Bridalveil Creek one last time to eat breakfast and filter a bit more water. I sat there for maybe 30 minutes and didn’t see a single other hiker. Nice!
BTW, we got a new bear can recently. bareboxer.com I like it! It’s small, relatively light, not super expensive. I was not sure how well I’d like the relatively complicated lock that requires a tool to open. It comes with a “key” but you can use any thin metal device to open it. To be honest, when our usual bear cans get cold, they are a pain in the ass to open. That plastic gets stiff, your fingers are cold. It’s not the worst thing in the world, but it does kinda suck. The Bare Boxer has none of those problems. Plus, if you can pack light, it’s probably got enough space for a 2-day solo trip.
Here’s one last shot of El Cap:
All in all a great trip! If I were to do it again, I’d start from one of the trailheads further to the west. Glacier point is beautiful and all, but having to hike from Glacier Point to Sentinel Dome past Taft point means you’re spending the first 4 miles of your hike dodging day hikers. I’d rather skip the views AND skip straight to the “wilderness” experience.
I think what I’ll do next time is park at the Wawona Tunnel, hitchhike up to the Sentinel Dome trailhead, then just hike all the way down the hill to my car. Probably not anything I can convince the girls to do, but fine for a solo hiker.
For those that are into it, here is my LighterPack for this trip. I could have saved 1lb by leaving my puffy jacket and gloves behind, I didn’t need either… but it was probably good insurance to take them anyway since I didn’t know how cold it would be.