Trip report from Beehive Meadows -> Rancheria Falls at Hetch Hetchy in Yosemite.

Prologue

T-3 days till departure

Avery cooks green curry and begins dehydrating it to bring on the trail for dinner. She also roasts and dehydrates carrots, shallots, and red bell peppers.

Due to the pandemic, Yosemite instituted a policy mandating all backcountry trip leaders to attend a virtual meeting with a ranger before they could receive their permits. Avery attended this meeting and learned that the group would not be allowed to use their ursac as they intended. They would have to acquire actual bear cans to camp in Yosemite.

As a frontline worker, Maya gets a COVID test, which comes back negative.

T-2 days till departure

Team Facetime huddle. It is determined that we would need two large bear cans for 5 days, 4 nights of backpacking. 

Avery and Morgan go to Sports Basement to rent a bear can. Incredulous, the rental station guy said they had no bear cans for sale or drop in rental days before the 4th of July weekend. He checked the other Sports Basement stores and found one left in the Presidio location.

Meanwhile in the kitchen, Avery’s curry has STILL NOT DRIED… In addition, she makes chicken and potatoes with lemon, garlic, onion, and herbs in the pressure cooker. Then she dehydrates the chicken and the ground beef that Morgan cooked. On a whim, she also boiled and then dehydrated some frozen peas.

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T-1 day till departure

Aaron snags last bear can at REI on his second attempt. Maya successfully rents a bear can from the Presidio Sports Basement. Bear cans acquired!

Meanwhile in the kitchen, the curry is finally “dry”. It ended up being a bit oily. After blotting out as much oil as possible, Avery bagged this up for the trip.

Day of departure

Team learns Maya actually has 2 large bear cans, team has 3.5 total bear cans available

Day 1: Lake Laurel

Avery and Morgan picked Aaron and Maya up in Los Altos. After sorting gear, their bags weighed as follows:

• Maya 25 lbs
• Aaron 27 lbs
• Avery 29 lbs
• Morgan 38 lbs!!!!!

They drove off towards Yosemite not knowing if Gavin Newsom would shut down the state before they could get into the park.

On arrival at Yosemite, they made their way to Hetch Hetchy, which was down a long and windy road off of the main highway. During the ride, they listened to the Fishing Playlist as requested by Maya on behalf of Aaron and Avery. They were relieved when the guard accepted their permit and let them into the park!

The beginning of the hike started at the dam. Then it became a tunnel before casually following the reservoir shoreline for a mile. Then the pain started. 1.8 miles of switchbacks. It was hot. They were tired. Avery and Morgan lagged with their heavy packs and rested in every patch of shade.

Finally, they caught up to Aaron and Maya and they all took a break. Then it was Aaron’s turn to be tired. First his neck hurt, then his legs, and then his lungs. He speculated his mental would be next, but it never came to fruition. Maya trotted ahead like an energizer bunny while Aaron, Avery, and Morgan took turns being the caboose.

They passed through countless kinds of biomes, all blooming with purple, pink, white, yellow, and red flowers. Finally they made it to Beehive Meadows where they turned to go to Laurel Lake. Avery has read that this lake was good for fishing. One last strenuous uphill and they dropped down to the lake. They set up camp in an excellent campsite with plenty of daylight to spare.

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Delighted, everyone immediately kicked their shoes off and sat down on the logs and rocks that made up the campsite. Avery and Morgan, starving, cooked 1st dinner. They broke out their luxury items- whiskey, dried meat, and two blocks of cheese. Morgan had a chili Mac mountain house and Avery had potatoes with ground beef and cheese.

Maya and Aaron went swimming in the lake. When they got back Avery and Morgan had already eaten and filtered water. Aaron and Maya started making their dinner- pasta with add ins from Morgan’s luxury item stash.

Avery and Morgan went fishing. They tried around the lake between the inlet and outlet, but caught nothing but sticks. They came back and told Aaron the bad news. Aaron decided he would toss his lure in a few times just near the campsite. 5 casts later, they heard a shout and ran to find Aaron holding a big trout!! Maya showed off her surgical skills by cleaning the fish for the first time. Avery and Maya cooked the fish while Morgan, jealous, went to the spot Aaron caught the fish to try to catch one.

20 min later, Morgan had a beautiful rainbow that he strung up to save for breakfast. Everyone enjoyed eating Aaron’s trout for 2nd dinner, although they had trouble cooking it on the propane backpacking stove.

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Mosquitoes began to come in hard and heavy. The crew quickly cleaned up and secured all the food into the bear cans. Then they jumped in their tents for a good nights’ sleep.

Day 2: Vernon Lake

After a night filled with stars and one particularly bold deer, the group awoke to a new day of adventure and endless possibilities. With their destination set towards Vernon lake, there were still many questions to be answered. Would they encounter a bear? Could Morgan continue to carry the burden of all the luxury items? Would Avery finally catch a fish?

The day started with the aroma of breakfast trout filling the campsite as Morgan cooked the trout he had caught the night prior. Inspired by the success of last nights’ fishing, Avery and Morgan set out to catch a trout on the fly rod. Already content with having caught the biggest trout so far Aaron was content to stay behind and begin to pack up with Maya. 

Maya, being the responsible one, volunteered to go filter water for the group only to find upon returning that Aaron had fallen back asleep. However, that sleep was soon broken as Avery and Morgan returned arguing about who was responsible for the fly fishing fiasco. Fortunately cooler heads prevailed and the group was able to reset spiritually and mentally with some morning yoga on the rocks. With that the group was all set to begin their journey East towards Lake Vernon.

The group’s trek began with a nice loop around Laurel Lake. Upon exiting the lake, they encountered a Jurassic Park like meadow with thick vegetation surrounding the trail. As they moved further on they would discover all sorts of beautiful flowers and interesting flora. Soon the meadow opened up into an uphill slog up a ridge. The trek was hot and dusty, but worth the effort as it opened up to a beautiful vista at the top. As soon as the group popped over the ridge, they were greeted with a stone lined path opening up to a sea of granite.

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However, the beauty of the granite quickly faded as the terrain proved tiring to trek over. With one more ridge to clear, the group pressed on following the adage “No Stop Till Top”.

Upon clearing the ridge, the group was finally greeted with a view of their destination, Vernon Lake, a beautiful alpine lake nestled between massive slabs of granite. They quickly descended upon the lake, but noticed some strange signs along the way. Avery found a misplaced log lying in the middle of the trail with claw marks on the sides that looked suspiciously like a scratching post…

The group came upon a lovely little campsite with a nice view of the lake and perfect rocks for morning yoga. Lunch was eaten and then Maya and Aaron set off for a swim and some fishing while Avery and Morgan took a cat nap. Upon waking up, they saw how much they were missing out and instantly set off to join in the festivities.

The pressure was on! Would Avery finally catch a fish? Not content to just fish off the bank, Avery decided to take the fight out to where the fish were and waded out deep into the water to get where the action was. Aaron had spotted trout jumping 15 yards out from shore. Her bravitude was rewarded as she snagged a beautiful rainbow and hauled it all the way back to shore. Not to be outdone, Morgan also ventured out into the lake and also snagged himself a trout.

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Now Maya was the only one without a fish, she too waded out to join Avery and Morgan in the middle of the lake, but unfortunately her dress had tuna pictures on it- offending the trout.

As the saying goes, “No trout, No clout” and thus Maya had to carry back all the water to camp.

For dinner, the group feasted on the trout that were filetéd by morgan. They used the luxury ghee to pan fry the trout which ended up with a delicious crispy skin. Maya, Avery, and Aaron mixed it into their chili Mac potatoes while Morgan rehydrated the Thai curry. He said he would eat it again! Avery was tickled with this big compliment.

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After dinner, two rangers stopped by to check the group’s backcountry permit and give some bear advice. Looking at all the food baggies the group had spread out on the rocks while cooking dinner, they suggested the group to “treat your bear box like a refrigerator”. According to the rangers, Yosemite took all the troublesome bears from the valley and released them into Hetch Hetchy. Bears had been spotted around Lake Vernon just the day before.

While grilling the group about their backpacking plans, the rangers suggested a day hike to the water concourse above Lake Vernon. They said to follow the use trail which is not maintained so we should expect to lose the trail frequently and need to climb over downed logs.

After the rangers left, the group dutifully packed all their food into the bear cans and hid them in a thicket of trees. Maya and Aaron hung out in their tent while Aaron worked on the trip report.

At around 8, the sun started going down and Morgan got itchy for a little catch and release. The trout were jumping everywhere! Morgan caught two trout almost instantly on his trigger spoon from Cal Kellogg. Avery, new to the fly rod, was consistently casting into bushes. Frustrated, she cut off the leader that Morgan had gotten tangled earlier that morning. Needing to find a better spot with more casting room, Morgan and Avery scouted out what would become “The Fishing Rock”.

This location was much better! Avery started actually getting her flashback pheasant tail out into the water. Suddenly, she saw the end of her floating line dive under the water. Fish ON! It was a big rainbow trout! 

Meanwhile back at camp, Maya heard victory fishing screams and thought there must be a bear. Not wanting to see the bear alone, she recruited Aaron to check it out. 

Wanting to get in on the fly fishing action, Morgan rigged his spinning rod with a water bobber and a bead head pheasant tail from Avery. He could do no wrong and landed another two trout in quick succession. Avery also caught another smaller trout.

Aaron and Maya arrived with Aaron’s fishing pole. Morgan and Avery were all about the flies and suggested they get in on the action. Darkness was falling and Aaron couldn’t get the bobber stop on his line. The bugs started getting fiercer and they called it a night. 

Day 3: The Honey Hole

Once again, the morning started with the aroma of breakfast trout. Continuing to stay hot, Morgan had caught this one on his very first cast!

After breakfast, the crew set out to fulfill the mission of the day: catch Maya her first trout. Returning to the hot spot from the night before, the group cast their lines out into the water. Morgan got off to a hot start, quickly reeling one in after just a couple minutes. This was shortly followed by both Aaron and Avery bagging trout of their own. Unfortunately for Maya, the curse of the tuna dress proved to be too much to overcome as she was unable to get a bite. However, she didn’t come away empty handed as she was able to snag a stick – or as Aaron and Avery like to call it – a “Tree Pounder”. While it wasn’t a fish, it was definitely progress and furthered the group’s resolve to get Maya a trout. 

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Around 10, the crew decided it was time for a break and regrouped back at camp. From there they decided to head out on the day trip suggested by the rangers the night before. Before heading out, they had to make sure everybody was in ship shape and ready to roll out. The wear and tear of the two previous days of hiking were starting to show as Aaron had noticed that his backpack had started to tear away the skin on his hip bones (OUCH). Luckily, the group had two members trained in wilderness first aid. Dr. Maya and scrub tech Avery performed the surgery and Aaron was all patched up good as new. 

After another session of rock yoga led by Maya, the group was all limbered up and ready to set out on their day trip. The first part of their hike proved to be uneventful as they followed a short trail to a small cabin used by the rangers. The real adventure started once the trail ended. After a short investigation around the cabin, the crew discovered a faint path surrounded by tall grass. Pressing on, the group kept moving as the path faded away into a grove of trees. They were now officially off the trail and into unexplored territory. Navigating through the thick branches and over the downed logs, they pushed further ahead until they finally popped out at a creeks edge. At first the creek seemed to be nothing special. However, as the group got closer and they could see the fish swimming in the clear water, it dawned on them what they had discovered. They had found a honey hole.

The honey hole was a pool in a section of the creek that was about 10 feet deep. Through the crystal clear water, the crew could see there were dozens of fish weaving in and out of the downed logs in the middle of the pool and boy were there some big ones. There was no time to waste! If Maya was going to catch her first trout, this was the place to do it. Set up with Old Faithful, Maya cast her line out and began working the honey hole. As she reeled in she could see the interest of all the fish as they followed behind in the lure’s wake. Encouraged by this, she cast out again determined to snag one. Tension was in the air as the group could see trout after trout swim up and investigate the lure only to swim away again in a mocking game of “Will They? Won’t They?”. Maya was almost through reeling in her cast when suddenly, a brave trout darted out of the pack and smacked Old Faithful. Fish on! Dragging her flopping prize up onto the bank, Maya posed for the victory photos. It was official. Maya had trout clout.

Shortly after Maya’s first trout, Morgan continued his streak by pulling in a giant that looked to be over 16 inches. Given that they had only brought two rods with them for the day trip, Aaron and Avery decided to further explore upstream while Morgan and Maya continued to fish. Their journey up creek proved uneventful as the creek looked to be more of the same. They returned to the honey hole to find that in the short time they had been gone Maya had bagged her second, third and fourth fish. Morgan had hooked another big one, but it had broken the line and was now taunting him by swimming around freely with his trusty gold spinner dangling out of its mouth. 

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The group decided to press on and venture to a creek running parallel to the one they were at. To get there, they would have to cover about a mile over cross country terrain. At first, the terrain was pretty easy going resembling the granite slabs they had crossed over before. As they pressed on though, the terrain became more and more inhospitable, transforming into a dense thicket with heavy brush and rife with mosquitoes. While both Aaron and Maya were wearing pants, Avery and Morgan had opted to go with shorts and their legs paid the price. In the end, the new territory proved to be too inhospitable and the group opted to turn back and return to the honey hole. 

On their way back from the thicket of insects and misery, they spotted a beautiful alpine meadow. Thinking their luck had turned, the crew decided to go frolic through it a la The Sound of Music. This thinking was quickly rectified as they realized the meadow was actually a marsh resulting in wet shoes for the adventurers. Ultimately the side quest to find the second creek proved unsuccessful but “Nothing ventured, nothing gained” and spirits were fairly high as they returned to the honey hole. 

After returning to the honey hole, Maya and Aaron decided to head back to camp early while Morgan and Avery chose to stay and go after Morgan’s white whale, the fish that had taken his spinner. This too would be ultimately unsuccessful and lead to both Avery and Morgan falling into the creek. 

Back at the camp, other groups of hikers for the Fourth of July weekend began streaming in. What was once the group’s private lake was now being overrun with invaders. One new group even took over Fishing Rock! The serene peaceful solitude was now replaced with the yelling and banging of pots by other backpackers. However, all this noise turned out to be warranted as one of the groups had spotted a bear in the area. The noise drifted along the lake like a wave as the bear entered and exited each camp in succession. 

Given all the newcomers, the group decided to get an early start for the next day. After dinner they began packing and went to go collect water to filter so they would be ready to roll out the next morning. With that they secured their bear canisters and headed off to sleep. 

Day 4: The Race to Rancheria Falls

Fully recharged after their rest day, the group exited their tents around 6:30 and got ready to move out. While drying out the tents on Yoga/Cooking rock, they heard suspicious rustling. It was a bear! Down by the lake, a golden colored black bear slunk through the trees. It was gone before they could take a picture and it was determined that the group should continue business as usual. 

All packed up, the group returned the campsite to its original pristine state (even picking up and packing out Morgan’s spilled Chicken and Biscuits). They left the campsite at 7:30AM. As they passed other camps still in the process of packing up, they congratulated themselves on their early start and felt smug that they would be getting first pick of the campsites at Rancheria Falls.  

Backtracking to the trailhead, they arrived at the lower water concourse from Lake Vernon. It was beautiful and kind of reminded Aaron of the water slide park in Arizona. Not wanting to rip his pants or end up miles downstream, he chose to not ride the slide. After topping off water, they were faced with a set of switchbacks up an intimidatingly big granite mountain.

As they approached the first switchback, they encountered a couple who spent the night on the south side of the lake. She said that they had heard bears growling all night. The couple let the group go ahead and gave them the quest to “Tell the Man in Orange that Shay says Hi”. The man in orange (who was her father), was at least halfway up the mountain already. 

Aaron and Maya completed the quest first and waited at the top of the mountain for Avery and Morgan. After figuring out that her pole strap was broken and could not be fixed due to a lost piece, Avery also caught up with the Man in Orange. Avery and Morgan delivered the message as well and chatted briefly about how the fishing had been at the lake (GREAT). 

The group reunited at the top of the mountain. They were rewarded with views of Lake Vernon, nestled in it’s granite valley. With no time to waste, they blazed up and across the ridge. The group was really getting into a rhythm with their fresh legs. This was interrupted when Morgan’s fishing pole fell off his backpack. Avery picked it up and Morgan sat down to reattach it. While they were snacking and attaching the pole, a solo hiker came up from behind and passed them. Not wanting to lose the race to Rancheria Falls to a solo hiker, the group quickly put their packs back on and hurried after him. 

Not two minutes later, the solo hiker began clapping his poles together and yelling. It was another bear! The solo hiker said that it had crossed over the trail right in front of him and climbed up the hill. The bear was dark brown and ran away when it saw the fearsome MMAAAYYYYY (MayaMorganAaronAveryAYYYYY) group. 

The group continued down a series of switchbacks to a peaceful clearing where they stopped to take a snack break. Shortly after the clearing, they came across another beautiful meadow. Like the one before, this one also proved to be marshy with both Avery and Maya slipping into mud puddles. After the meadows and some additional switch backs, the group had finally made it to their destination, Rancheria Falls. 

Rancheria falls was a series of waterfalls and beautiful blue-green pools. There were a lot of people hanging out on day trips or arriving for a 1 night backpacking trip. After a perilous crossing where they had to hop from one boulder to another over a rushing stream, they arrived at a gorgeous pool. 

Avery and Aaron took their shoes off and dipped their toes in the water. Morgan busted out his fishing rod (with the last segment missing – “to shorten it”) and reeled in tiny trout after tiny trout. Maya went swimming and indulged in a photo shoot complete with rock yoga poses and a Little Mermaid-esque pose. 

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It was a perfect afternoon. Aaron decided to help the group top off their water with some icy cold waterfall water and navigated the rock hop to bring back the water filter from their packs. He filled up the dirty water back almost instantly in the falls. Unfortunately, the water was not icy cold like they were expecting. Since the water from the fall wasn’t that cold, Avery decided to fill up the next water bag closer to where they were sitting. As she turned to bring the bag back to Aaron, her foot slipped on the slippery rocks and she fell with both feet into the pool, spraining her already-sprained-from-last-week-ankle again. 

Morgan and Aaron hauled Avery out of the water by her armpits. Then Aaron went back to the packs over the boulder crossing to get the med kit. On the way, he too slipped into the water and got one boot completely soaked. Avery and Aaron both put their shoes out to dry in the sun for half an hour while Morgan made lunch (mashed potatoes loaded with dried veggies and beef crumbles – delish). 

Although the pools at Rancheria were beautiful, the group decided to switch up their plans and continue on all the way back to Hetch Hetchy, effectively doubling their intended mileage. With plenty of daylight left, they believed they could push on towards the end which would allow them to leave early the next morning. No longer was it a competition against others in a race for the best campsite. It had now become a test of fortitude of whether they could push on towards  the finish. Once they left Rancheria, there would be no turning back or stopping until they reached the end.  

The hike back to the Hetch Hetchy backpackers camp was hot. Temperatures were estimated to be around 90 deg at the reservoir. To distract from the heat, they played Dark Secrets 2, a guessing game where you have to try to figure out the details of an unlikely scenario given just one simple sentence. Aaron and Maya were able to guess most of the secrets, including the vampire one, but most of the scenarios were deemed “stupid”. Aaron decided that he would make up his own scenario. Avery guessed it on the first try. Brother-sister synergy!  

Although Eagle Scout Aaron had reviewed the topo and told the group that this last 6.3 mile section would be “mostly downhill”, it turned out to be rolling hills and switchbacks all the way back. The switchback sections were punctuated with some impressive stretches of vertical granite, a big waterfall, wooden bridges, and stretches of heavy mosquito activity.

The group was beginning to suffer. First Morgan ran out of water. Avery let him have a liter of her water. Then, Avery ran out of water. Finally, Aaron and Avery both ran out of fresh feet. Would they make it back?

The uphill sections became increasingly slow. Morgan offered to carry Avery’s bag for the last mile. Aaron accepted the bag carry offer! Morgan did not carry Aaron’s bag. The group conversation turns to the topic of if any of them had ever had a breakdown on the trail. 

The end in sight, the trail starts doing switchbacks again. Maya grew paranoid that they were starting the path to Laurel Lake again and had missed the turn off. Fortunately, the group came back to the sign post pointing the way to Lake Laurel and took the appropriate path back to the car.

Avery and Aaron were both moaning. Their hiking poles dragged on the ground. But the end was in sight. They crossed the cave and the dam, but it turned out there was more! Avery was very slow on this last section on the road up to the backpackers campground. The group scrounged enough money to pay for the campsite and Morgan retrieved the water jug that Maya left in the car (Thanks to Maya’s parents- we were really thirsty!).

Morgan drank half the gallon of water on the spot and the group used the rest for cooking. Everyone had delicious mashed potatoes. Aaron and Morgan drove the car to fill up all the water containers. Avery and Maya pitched the tents. When the boys came back, Maya led the group in a round of tent yoga. This was very appreciated after a long day of hiking. Tired and content, they drifted off to sleep under the stars.

Day 5: The Journey Home

The group woke up bright and early the next morning, all ready to start the trip home. Given that all they had to do was pack and load the car, they had plenty of time to reflect on the trip and everything they had learned. 

Lessons Learned:

Beef crumbles = delicious. The up front work to prep and dehydrate paid off big later with tasty meals.

Persistence pays off. Keep casting and eventually you’ll catch a fish even if you have to wade out to get them. Also tuna dresses offend trout. 

Venture off the beaten path. When you blaze your own trail sometimes it will lead to swarms of mosquitoes, but sometimes it will lead to honey holes with giant trout. You’ll never know unless you try.

Stop and smell the flowers. Take the rest day and enjoy the destination. Swim in the lake. 

Sometimes the most satisfaction comes from the challenges we set for ourselves. Reaching deep and powering through twice the expected mileage of the day ended up feeling like much more of an accomplishment than being the first to reach Rancheria. 

With that, MMAAYYYYYY wrapped up a successful backpacking trip and waved goodbye to Hetch Hetchy as they set off back to the real world.

End totals

Trout caught

Maya	4
Avery	7
Aaron	4
Morgan	too many to count

Blisters

Maya	5
Avery	0
Aaron	2
Morgan	1

Mosquito bites

Maya	10
Avery	23
Aaron	4
Morgan	too many to count

Burns (sun, roof of mouth, etc)

Maya	2
Avery	1.5 – not sure if sunburn or giant mosquito bite
Aaron	7
Morgan	0

General injuries

Maya	1 – scratch
Avery	2 – leg abrasions + sprained ankle
Aaron	2 – surgically (with tape) repaired hips
Morgan	0

Falls into water

Maya	2
Avery	3
Aaron	1
Morgan	too many to count

Sneezes (of the Ha Ka Choo variety)

Avery

too many to count