JMT 2007 - Day 02

Distance: 7.6 miles
Elevation gain: 7020′ - 9320′

On our second day we hiked from near the Half Dome junction to Sunrise meadow. Like the first day, most all of Day 2 was uphill, as Sunrise meadow sits above 9,000 ft. Like Day 1, most of Day 2's hike was relatively bland, lacking any stellar views or breath-taking scenery.

In the Yosemite Park there are several "High Sierra Camps," which campsites with tent cabins. The purpose of these camps is to let people hike from one High Sierra Camp to another. The camps have cots and a restaurant that serves breakfast and dinner (food is brought in by mule every other day). They'll even pack a lunch for you.

These camps make it possible for someone to have a multi-day backpacking experience without the backpack!

Reservations in these places are hard to come by, as you can imagine. When we arrived, they were all sold out of tent cabins, but they did have spots open for dinner. The dinner was $24 per person, and we weren't expecting much. However, the food was surprisingly fresh and tasty. There were two kinds of ravioli, salad, and dessert.

We also met two hikers - Chuck and Ken - at dinner who happened to camp near us on Day 1. They had a bear incident last night, having to chase a bear out of camp. They were entertaining and both were intrepid hikers, having hiked many interesting trails both domestically and abroad. Over the next week or so we repeatedly bumped into this duo, and they continued to have bears wandering into their campsites.

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items are from 14 Aug 2007.