The best meal I’ve ever had was in the Yosemite high Sierra camps and I don’t even remember which camp, or which year! The fact is that the last one was always the best and next one will be even better. They alternate the menu so if you are going from one to the other you won’t have a repeat, not that any of us would mind. A highlight is Thanksgiving and Christmas meals. I’m sure you can figure out what that may entail. The last thing on most of our minds is food when we imagine a week in the high country but I’ve overheard on more than one occasion hikers making a statement to the effect that they might actually gain weight while hiking fifty miles in week at elevation!

A unique experience all the camps are all very different and yet very similar. The famous Yosemite canvas tents are in all of them. Pot belly stoves are also in all of them with the exception of Merced Lake, with an elevation of just 7,000 feet there is usually no need for heat. They all have water, a bed and the greatest staff in the world! Mostly college kids spending a summer they will never forget, they run the asylum making beds, preparing meals and having the time of their lives. Every time I enter one of the high camps I’m sure that I, along with my group must certainly be more happy at the end of an eight hour day to see them then they can possibly be to see us, and just about every time I’m wrong. I always tell them that of all the high camps theirs has always been my favorite, no matter which of them we have just staggered into!

At May Lake is a family that has been running the place for quite a few years. I use the thought of seeing them once again as incentive for the day knowing how happy I will be, if only I can get there! It’s about eight and a half miles up from Glen Aulin to May Lake.

Up!

After one of the above mentioned breakfast meals preceded by a sunrise shoot the legs feel fresh, the pack (the stone as most refer to it) feels somehow lighter/heavier depending on how good the morning light was and how good the expectation of the day ahead.

Fifteen minutes out of camp begins the first serious climb of the day. Steep but relatively short it gives you all you want in a hurry. The reward is soon realized with great early morning light on Magee Lake. The beauty of being a photographer is that an image may rise at any turn or moment giving the opportunity for both a frame or two and a break. The downside of course is that you need to carry the gear to make this possible.

Some two plus hours out comes the first real clearing and vista. A great place for a snack, a break and some great conversation about The Yosemite. A spectacular view of Mt. Conness and the vast wilderness in all directions suddenly make thoughts of anything else impossible!

In the snapshot here my hiking buddy, sometime workshop assistant and good friend, James Morrisey and I exchange thoughts about just how fortunate we are to be here today!

Next …. Photography at May Lake high sierra camp.