Feb 2014 – Yosemite in the Rain
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The notion for this trip came up prior to the GGG when a few of us had an open weekend. It seemed like such a fantastic idea to take advantage of a record low snow winter and get out into areas that are usually super crowded summer spots. Sure enough though, in the week leading up the weather turned into actual winter conditions. Forcasts begain with lows in the teens and snow, but warmed up to low 30's and rain. Andrew, Chris, Brian, Justin, Kyle and I departed a rainy bay area Friday after work and pretty much were rained on the entire time.Our route was relatively short… no high mileage macho stuff here. Starting at Happy Isles, hiking up to Little Yosemite Valley for one night, and then back out. It was a great chance to see what truely miserable weather is like, and evaluate what solutions are appropriate for keeping warm. It's easy to be spoiled with summer sierra weather where the wettest you can get is stream crossings, or afternoon storms, but usually bookended by sunshine and ample opportunity to dry out gear. Sustained wet is a foreign concept to us (well, some of us).
The weather actually turned out to be pretty tolerable. It never really dumped on us, and the rain was what I can best describe as a constant drizzle of varying intensity. I think we all agreed that warm and wet isn't too tough while moving, but sure were grateful to get a fire started in the evening. Sitting around in 33 degree rain wouldn't have been much fun.
Thanks to everyone for such an awesome trip. Props to Justin and Kyle for such proficient fire starting skills too…(a saw, an axe, esbit and decidedly non-ul knives were involved!) I learned a lot from just about every part of this one.
The rain sucked a little worse on the first day, so it's light on photos. The way out was more tolerable, and thus better documented… enjoy!
(I'll edit later to add some captions)
… Good times
This trip was awesome. It felt much more like late May than late February given the lack of snow and warm temperatures. It was probably my tenth time to Little Yosemite Valley and I see no reason to stop going back (at least when nobody else is there…). I'm pleasantly surprised at how many awesome photos everyone took because usually when it's wet and cold the cameras get packed away. I expected to be uncomfortable given the mid 30's forecast with several inches of rain, but I was never really all that wet or cold. I definitely learned a few things on this one.
The Merced River.
Brian picked a smarter spot to pitch his shelter than I did.
Half Dome in the clouds.
Nevada Falls.
Liberty Cap & Mount Broderick in the clouds.
The notion for this trip came up prior to the GGG when a few of us had an open weekend. It seemed like such a fantastic idea to take advantage of a record low snow winter and get out into areas that are usually super crowded summer spots. Sure enough though, in the week leading up the weather turned into actual winter conditions. Forcasts begain with lows in the teens and snow, but warmed up to low 30's and rain. Andrew, Chris, Brian, Justin, Kyle and I departed a rainy bay area Friday after work and pretty much were rained on the entire time.
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