As summer winds down, before the pencils are sharpened and textbooks covered, one last trip must be taken.  Our destination — the Yosemite High Sierra Camps.  This is one of Yosemite’s best-kept secrets. Yosemite’s High Sierra Camps are a truly unique experience.  A 53-mile loop connects 5 different camps.

The only way to get to these camps is by foot or mule pack. Trekking through Yosemite High Sierra Camps takes backpacking to a whole new level. In fact, the term “glamping” isn’t quite right. It’s more like “glam-packing”. While on the loop you can take your time, which I did.  Stop as often as you like, did that too. 
It’s not easy hiking 8 plus miles with a 30 lb pack and making elevation gains of almost 2 thousand feet.  But, there is a reward at the end.  You can see it off in the distance. It is an oasis.  Perfectly white-canvas tent cabins lined up and you know one of them is yours. It comes complete with a bed; plenty of warm blankets and a wood-burning stove to keep you cozy at night.

The staff at each of the camps is really great.  Our first night was at Glen Aulin where our cabin was right next to a gorgeous waterfall on the Tuolumne River. It was unbelievable.
We enjoyed the wine he hiked in_ trying to lighten our load for the next day. But then we panicked. We lightened too much.

What would we consume the next night? We heard a rumor that some entrepreneuring college students could help us out.   
They said they could hike out (they knew a short cut) buy your beverage of choice and then hike back.  People lined up to place their orders.  Our group ordered a six-pack of Coors light (they’re lighter right?) and a bottle of ($5) red wine.  The cost to us was only 50 bucks.  We were happy to contribute the advancement of academia.

The next day’s hike to May Lake was equally as beautiful.  I pictured the granite I was hiking on in some gourmet kitchen. It was gorgeous. 
The views were spectacular as well. Every time we came to the top of a switchback I thought WOW it can’t get any better than this, and then you come around the next switchback and you are in awe all over again. One of the hikers making the journey said “I really felt my age on that last hill”.  We had learned earlier that Barbara was 77.  I said to myself “I’m feeling your age too, Barbara”.

May Lake was my favorite destination and not only because I survived the hike.  Our camp host Brian was so welcoming.  Brian’s wife Jen was our chef, responsible for the best meal we had.  We started with a vegetable soup and salad of mixed greens.  The main dish, steak with a blue cheese crumble, served with sweet potato wedges and sautéed summer squash and zucchini. We finished it off with (yes there is more) a large fudge brownie.

The way to get reservations for this amazing trip is through a lottery. Last year there were 2000 applications for 800 spots and I can say I’m glad I won this lottery; although I hope it’s not the last lottery I ever win.

Here’s the complete slideshow:

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 28th, 2008 at 12:45 pm and is filed under Desiree, Food and Drink, Peek of the Week, Vacation Homes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.