Hike Now, Work Later: Yosemite- Young Lakes

The Quick and Dirty:
Location - Yosemite National Park, Young Lakes
Distance - 24 miles one way
Terrain Type - flat to gentle slopes, northern Sierra Nevada region
Difficulty - Moderate Strenuous
Best Time - Summer and Fall
Special Conditions - US national park, entrance fee required upon arrival, backpacking permit also required.

Duration- 4 days

Louis and I spent labor day weekend backpacking at Young Lakes at Yosemite National Park with a few friends. We left Friday morning and drove up to Yosemite National Park's Eastern entrance off the Tioga Road into the Tuolumne Meadows. It took approximately 6 hours to drive up to the national park from Southern California. Lodging is $5 a night for backpackers at Tuolumne Meadows backpackers campsite. We planned to meet the rest of our camping party at the campsite on the first day but never found the campground. Instead, we drove all 20 miles east on Tioga Road to Porcupine campground and setup camp there for the night. We did manage to find our friends some time later at the backpacker's campsite and convinced them to move over to the Porcupine campground since it was close to our starting point the next day:) Porcupine was fine for a car camping campground. We were stuck next to some very loud neighbors and did not sleep very well that night, which reminded us why we enjoy backpacking so much more.

This was our plan for the weekend. We were not able to obtain a backpacking permit from Dog Lake so we opted for the longer hike starting at Murphy Creek and ending at Dog Lake on Monday.

First day, at our lunch spot. The weather was about 75, still too cold to swim in the water.

I brought up the topic of us always wearing the same clothes during backpacking trips to Louis. We are considering wearing something different on our next backpacking trip.

We found a campsite 1.5 miles away from the Glen Aulin junction and stay here for the first night.

Really beautiful waterfall next to the High Sierras Glen Aulin campground on our hike the second day. It was a minor detour on our way to Young Lakes

Day two at one of our peaks.

Even the beautiful view could not cheer Edwin up. Ammar is giving Edwin a pep talk about backpacking.

We arrived at Young Lakes and camped at the lower lake. After everyone went into the lake for a dip, we napped and ventured up to the upper lakes. Next time, I think I'd prefer to camp at the upper lakes.

Alpana, Lisa and I discussing where we are going to eat once we leave the next day. Dinner plans at Tasty Garden in Alhambra for the next day was decided shortly after the photo was taken.