Yosemite’s High Sierra camps offer the opportunity to step back in time. Actually, it takes many steps to reach the remote high-country sites.
The camps, established in the 1930s, allow hikers to lighten the backpacking load in exchange for a fee comparable to a very nice hotel room. Here, your accommodation is a semi-permanent tent outfitted with four single beds, a card table, folding chairs, two candles for light and a wood stove for heat.
The waterfall next to the Glen Aulin camp.
Camp staff also prepare excellent meals. The response to this statement usually goes something like, “The food always taste better when you’re tired, dirty and hungry.” But these meals are excellent beyond that measure. Freshly made soups, fresh baked bread and a steak prepared as well as at a fine steakhouse. Really!
And the provisions are packed in along the same trails we hiked to the remote camps — on mules!
The scenery along the Tuolumne River is similar to that found in Yosemite Valley.
That means we did not have to carry food, tents or sleeping bags. And we did not have to sleep on the ground or cook dehydrated food on tiny backpacker stoves. It was just enough to coax my wife, Susan, onto the trail after “retiring” from backpacking 25 years ago when my friend, Mike Reed, scored four elusive beds in the High Sierra Camp lottery. Susan and Cathy Reed we able to carry day packs while Mike and I lugged our full-size packs below capacity. (We would learn weeks after our wonderful August 2012 visit that several of the camps we did not visit and Curry Village in Yosemite Valley experienced exposure to hantavirus with tragic results for a few unfortunate campers).
The tents are not luxurious, but you don't have to carry them and they come with a mattress.
We stayed two nights each at two of the five camps. Many people do the complete circuit, getting up every morning to trudge to another camp. I found our pace a nice alternative to my 50-mile traditional backpack from Mammoth Lakes to Yosemite Valley.
Our first day was a 6.2-mile trek from Tuolumne Meadows, where we left our car near the Tioga Pass Road, to Glen Aulin (beautiful place). Here our tents were set near a picturesque Tuolumne River waterfall. The area is marked by lush forests, huge granite edifices and flowing water — similar to world-famous Yosemite Valley, but without crowds and cars. (Note: several of the High Sierra Camps we did not visit as well as Curry Village in Yosemite Valley experienced exposure to the hantavirus in summer 2012, with some tragic results).
The food, brought in by mules, was really good -- and not just because we were tired and dirty.
A day of hanging out in this peaceful place, walking along the river and taking a bracing and cleansing swim turned to be a perfect respite before the challenging 8.2-mile uphill climb to May Lake. Mike tried his hand at fishing and caught a small trout that he released. Catch a fish big enough and the staff will cook it for you. We even spied some rock climbers high on a remote granite dome.
The water is still at May Lake, which strikingly reflects the granite peaks above. This camp’s motto: “Defining utopia since 1938.” The same chef has been at it for more than a decade. Everything we ate was fresh and delicious. And two 20-something staff members equipped with guitars and harmonicas belted out Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash standards before dinner.
Picturesque May Lake.
Many of our fellow campers were from the Bay Area, but there also was a strong Southern California contingent. In fact, one night everyone around the campfire was from south Orange County. The drive up U.S. 395 to Tuolumne Meadows is an easy one.
If you love nature but not a heavy pack, the High Sierra Camps are definitely and option to consider. But know that you will face price that seems high and limited capacity. The camps are only open from about July 4 through mid-September and there is high demand. So go to XXX, enter the lottery, keep your fingers crossed, and save up some cash.