I grew up in suburban St. Louis, MO, where the pavement is hot and the parks are small. My wilderness was the wooded area between our deadend street and the next. On weekends, my parents would take us to the larger parks, some of which had once been limestone quarries and were full of man-made caverns and littered with easy bouldering spots for a small kid. I didn’t realize it at the time, but Dad was subtly training me to love the feel of rock under my fingers, trees over my head, and earth under my feet rather than a sidewalk. You clever man.
Part 3: Young Lakes via Dog Lake Trail
Our first excursion was to spend two nights at Young Lakes via the Dog Lake Trail, a moderate 6.7 mile hike with pine forests, granite slabs, and sweeping meadows rimmed with spectacular views of the Cathedral Range. Most of our first day was spent driving in from San Francisco, picking up our permits and bear canister, so we spent the night in the backpacker’s campground at Tuolumne Meadows and started off bright and early the next day. The trailhead is at the foot of Lembert Dome, a short walk across the road from the campground and the perfect place to leave the car and stow extra food in the bear lockers.
We were out of breath pretty quickly as we climbed the first few switchbacks. Tuolumne Meadows sits at 8,600 feet and our hike would take us up to 9,900 feet so I wasn’t surprised we found the beginning of the hike a challenge! But even our Appalachian lungs were able to keep up, and soon we got our first gorgeous meadow view at Delaney Creek. The creek was high enough that we traded our boots for Chacos and enjoyed splashing around in the cold water for a few minutes while we took in the view.
After Delaney Creek, the trail heads back uphill until you reach the highest point of the hike, the meadow at Dingley Creek. I want to say that with reverence… this meadow may have been my favorite place in the whole trip. It’s breathtaking. Everywhere you look, wildflowers and white chunks of granite break through a sea of green, and on the horizon is the Cathedral Range. I just stood there and searched for words, trying to look everywhere at once! It was pure magic.
But a late afternoon storm was brewing so we raced it all the way to the lowest of the three Young Lakes and had to quickly set up to stay dry. It was tremendously rewarding to drop onto the tent floor and watch the rain patter on the lake below us! After the rain, however, we realized we were not alone. Massive swarms of mosquitoes greeted us as we unzipped the tent to explore our new home. Though we did battle with them for the rest of the trip, it wasn’t as bad as some accounts I’ve read of Yosemite’s famous mosquito population. We shooed them off as best we could with ample bug spray and some extra clothing layers and enjoyed a fabulous evening on the shore.
My only regret with this trip was not taking the time to go to the upper lakes. Instead, we scrambled on the rocky slope of Ragged Peak that borders the lower lake in search of a way to the top. After several hours and a near slip, we agreed we didn’t have the skill to continue safely and made our way to the back to the bottom where we were greeted by a French couple who had been nervously watching our progress. Clearly, coming back down had been a good decision!
We broke camp and decided to get away from the bugs for the night, so we set out but were stopped by rain at the meadow at Dingley Creek and took shelter on the packed ground under a stand of pines. Rather than finish the trail in darkness, we stayed for the night and were treated to a glorious morning in the alpine meadow. Since we only had about 5 miles left in the hike, we took our time and enjoyed our breakfast by the stream.
I will definitely go back to explore the upper lakes someday, perhaps using them as a basecamp to do longer day hikes such as Mount Conness and Roosevelt Lake. If you’ve made this trip, please leave comments adding your tips and suggestions!
The Migrant Fox 