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| Vogelsang Merced River Loop Yosemite, CA | |
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| | Vogelsang Merced River Loop Yosemite, CA | | | |
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Vogelsang Merced River Loop Yosemite, CA
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| Backpack | 64.00 Miles |
10,000 AEG |
| | Backpack | 64.00 Miles | 5 Days | | |
| 10,000 ft AEG | | | | |
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| partners | | We hiked the Merced River in 2021 and were blown away by this amazing canyon and decided to return and approach from the north. I looked over the map and came up with a plan for a five day trip and we went for it. I scored the permit roughly two weeks before the trip and everything else came together and we were on our way! We would drive to Bishop, CA and spent a night in a hotel. We then drove into Yosemite and secured our permit and started the hike.
Our hike started from the lot a bit east of the Tioga Pass Wilderness Center. We started with hikers doing the JMT & PCT. They are easy to identify by their grizzled appearance. We encountered a ranger, who checked our permit, at the junction with Vogelsang. We had a nice conversation and he recommended we camp at Lewis Creek on our first night. We would continue on and passed the Vogelsang HSC camp and then went over the pass. We dropped down to Lewis Creek and headed down canyon and hoped to find a campsite. The few sites we found were poor and we had to push to the trail junction where we found a good site on the other side of the creek. We got camp set up just in time as it started raining. I took a nap and the rain lasted about an hour. We then built a fire and settled in for the evening.
We had an aggressive itinerary for day two and hit the trail around 9am. It was a slow and long grind as we traversed the ridge about the Merced River. We had epic views of the canyon below and were excited to get down there the next day. We encountered several waterfalls and cascades along the way and had to cross Lyell Creek. It appeared we had to get our feet wet but we found a dry crossing a bit up canyon. The mosquitoes were awful through here so we didn’t linger for long. We had a huge climb and systematically worked our way up. We took a break at the top and then continued. The rest of the miles ticked by and we eventually dropped to the Merced and selected a campsite right by the water. We settled in for another night.
We left camp on day three around mid morning and took our time hiking down canyon. We’re basically hiking down the Merced River Valley as it drops 2,000ft. The going is relatively easy as we enjoyed numerous waterfalls and cascades. After a few minutes we came to the large basin which drops a thousand feet and has creeks coming in from both sides. We took a variety of pics and thoroughly enjoyed this area as we descended. We would continue down canyon and the clouds darkened and a storm approached. We got lucky and arrived at Washburn Lake which has a rock overhand on the NW side. We decided to take a break there and this worked perfectly as a moderate rain feel. We waited it out and eventually started hiking as the storm cleared. We ultimately set up camp near the Merced Ranger Station. From there we took a short day hike down canyon and passed the High Sierra Camp which was vacant. I headed back early while Chumley and Ryan went further. I got lucky on my return and saw a bear as it scampered off. I tried taking a pic but it didn’t come out. The others returned and we settled in for the night with another campfire.
On day four, we started the big climb back to the Vogelsang area. We had a hardy climb along Fletcher Creek. It was a lot of work but we took numerous breaks at the waterfalls and cascades. This was a great section and would be worth spending more time. We had an agenda and continued to the meadow just NE of Emeric Lake. We set up camp in the trees & then day hiked the general area. We would settle in for our last night.
Day five was pretty straightforward. We broke camp and had a modest climb to Tuolumne Pass. We connected back onto our original trail and it was easy going as we descended back to the car at Tioga Pass. We would load up and then headed back to Phoenix with a quick lunch stop in Bishop. This was a hell of a trip and I’m planning another big loop for summer 2023. Yosemite never gets old and it’s easy to find solitude on these multiday backpacking trips. |
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