As I’ve been posting for the last 5 or so months, my Dad, cousin and I planned a trip to Yosemite in the beginning of September.  We’ve since returned and it was incredibly awesome…and now it’s time to do some blogging about it starting, naturally, with our preparation.  YNP is a pretty different place from the Appalachian Trail, so we had to do some research and planning to make sure we didn’t make any nasty mistakes.

Things I Brought

• 

  Pack, Poles, Boots

  Backpack, Boots, and Trekking Poles
  A backpack and boots are obviously required.  I found trekking poles super useful, especially on Half Dome, but I know there are plenty of people who don’t like using them.  My pack specifically is a Kelty Tornado 4000, my boots are Vasque, and the poles are REI brand Peak UL (can I get a wut-wut for scratch-and-dent sales?).

• Water Bottles + Water Bladder
  One thing I know about myself is that I tend to suck down a lot of water.  My father and cousin only brought 1 water bottle in addition to their bladder, but to be safe I always pack an extra; I tend to feel that the extra weight is worth not being dehydrated.  You may also note that the left water bottle has orange stripes on it- that’s actually duct tape.  A tip my dad picked up was to keep a few feet of emergency duct tape around by putting it on your water bottle.  Cool, eh?
• Water Purification
  Don’t forget that along with a way to carry your water, you need a way to purify the water you pick up on the trail.  Some people use pumps, some people use iodine, but I went high-tech with a SteriPen.  My brother bought it for me as an early birthday present, and this nifty little gadget uses UV light to sterilize a Nalgene full of water.  Previous iterations of SteriPens and the like received pretty poor reviews, but the second generation seem to work really well.  The one I used (SteriPen Adventurer Opti) worked perfectly and kept all 3 of us free of germs in scant minutes (as opposed to half an hour with iodine pills like we usually use).
  2 Nalgenes + Bladder
• Clothing
  An obvious “duh” – but specifically you should have:
• Shorts & T-shirts (in the summer)
• Warm Pullover: as soon as the sun goes down Yosemite gets pretty cold; our first night in particular was very chilly.  I was glad I didn’t skimp on a pullover.
• Long John bottoms: see above.  Definitely glad I layered up for warmth.
• Long-sleeved shirt: especially if you’re pale like me, having protection from the sun outside of sunscreen is important.  If you’re used to hiking in heavily forested areas like the Appalachian Trail, it’s easy to forget how much sun exposure you’ll get out west.
• Bandana + Hiking Hat: As with the long-sleeved shirt, items to keep your face shaded reduce the risk of sunburn.
• Rain Coat
  It didn’t rain in our case, but it’s never a bad idea to have a rain coat.  Plus it doubles as super insulation for cold nights and mornings.
• Camp Shoes
  Crocks, flip flops, or some sort of light “easy” shoe is good to have for when you make camp.  It lets your feet cool off and means you don’t have to put on and lace up hiking boots if you have to get up and pee in the middle of the night.

  

  I'm also wearing Crocs in this picture.

• “Personal” bag
  Tooth brush, tooth paste, “Important Papers” (toilet paper), sunscreen, etc – all unscented.
• Summer Sleeping Bag & Air Mattress
  

  We purchased the BearVault BV500 - it served us well.

  Despite the cold, my dad and I decided to go with Summer sleeping bags to cut some weight.  Overall I was fine with the swap…I’m just glad I brought clothing layers to compensate. 😀

• First Aid Kit
  No details here – just use your smarts and remember to go with scentless everything.  There bears in them hills!
• Bear Canister + Food
  Something interesting to note is that, unlike the AT, Yosemite requires that you have a bear canister for your food.  This, while adding a few extra pounds of weight, does keep all your smellables tightly locked in a container that, were a bear to come upon it, would be super difficult for it to get into.  This is good, since getting stuck in the middle of nowhere with no food would really suck.
• “Poo Bag” & Trowel
  A trowel for digging a cathole should be standard fare for any backpacker, but additionally, YNP requires that you pack out your used toilet paper.  Ick, right?  The “good” news is that there actually exists bags that are design to hold not only your papers, but the waste itself.  We didn’t go quite that far, but we did use the bags to hold the required TP.

No tall grasses here...

Things I Wish I’d Brought

• Warm Hat
  I’ve already talked about the cold – having something on my head when the sun went down would have been welcome.

Things I Intentionally Left Behind

• Long John top
  Extra layers on my legs were very welcome, but with a rain jacket and a fuzzy pullover, I don’t think an extra top would have been necessary.
• Gaiters
  There were next to no tall grasses on the trail, meaning no ticks (hooraaaaay!!), so I’m glad I left my gaiters behind – I didn’t need them!

Important Papers (The Not TP Kind)

• You have to apply for a Wilderness Permit well in advance in order to get permission to hike.  Unlike the AT in GA, where no permits are necessary and you’re basically on your own, you have to submit your group size and a primary and secondary set of dates for your hike.  We applied for our permit around 6 months in advance – so plan early!
• If you’re planning on hiking up Half Dome, you need a Half Dome Permit.  In order to make the climb safer they’ve reduced the number of people who can go up every day, and thus you need a ticket in hand – the rangers are checking!  This is – again – something you need to get done in advance!

View of Half Dome from SubDome

Mary Gezo

Formerly of both n00bcakes and !Blog, the two magically become one on Spatialdrift; expect some lazy baking and serious nerditude. Also, I love semicolons.