Most Sierra Club backpackers organize into a group of six to ten, carry their backpacks to some Yosemite National Park lake that could be six or eight miles from the highway, and spend a holiday weekend enjoying the flowers, trees, and mountain scenery. The typical group has plenty of time for good camp-style cooking, a swim in the lake, and wandering around the meadow for photography.
But after a half-dozen such trips in a summer, some experienced backpackers can get a little bored. Sometimes we feel the need to break loose from the shackles of heavy backpacks, group coordination, and the thought of the highway not too many miles away. Occasionally, a small but hardy group of backpackers makes the commitment and accepts the ultra-lightweight challenge.
The Challenge: Travel on foot 20 to 30 miles per day, covering the Cathedral and Clark Ranges of Yosemite National Park with 3000- to 5000-feet of elevation gain per day. Spend the Labor Day weekend backpacking with the lightest possible pack-weight to make this distance. A couple of durable backpackers from the Loma Prieta Sierra Singles proved this possible.
Packing with only the most basic essentials for the three-day event, each backpack was outfitted with a total weight of only 14 to 18 pounds. Each hiker carried sufficient food -- simple and easy to digest -- cook gear, a sleeping bag, a mattress, shelter, and clothing to allow for the maximum Yosemite trail scenery to be visited on a single trip. One small camera was added.
Starting from Yosemite's Tuolumne Meadows, the small group quickly traveled southbound past Vogelsang Pass, Lewis Creek, and the High Trail, leaving the south boundary of the park at Post Peak Pass before sundown. The first day was a "killer" of 29 miles and posed the biggest objective. The 11,000-foot-high Post Peak Pass had to be crossed and a legal campsite on the other side reached for us to stay on our timetable.
From the start, light snacks were eaten about every half-hour. When appetites failed after 20 miles, Gatorade took over and fueled the rest of the day's hike.
After crossing Post Peak Pass, the party of walking wounded, barely putting one foot in front of the other in pitch dark on a rocky trail, used flashlights to find a campsite at 9,000 feet. A pool of rainwater was the only water there. It was a little tougher than we'd hoped for. But after that, the trip fell into place.
The second day saw Fernandez, Merced, and Red Peak Passes. Crossing the Clark Range on the rocky trail at 11,200 feet took strong lungs and even stronger ankles. That was the "short" day, at about 21 miles.
The third day began early, but it took a little time to get the ice out of the water jug. After passing the cascades of the Upper Merced River, the Fletcher Creek Trail was the shortest way back, allowing the return to Tuolumne Meadows in about 23 miles for a mid-afternoon finish.
Trip totals: 73 miles in three very long days, over 12,500 feet of elevation gain, zero blisters, and never any sense that we risked injury. Since we spent our time only hiking, cooking, and sleeping, we felt no aches or pains until afterward.
Although this rugged version of backpacking is certainly not for everyone, and certainly it isn't the easiest way to enjoy backpacking, sometimes you just have to face up to the challenge and go for broke!
What you can do: Try it.