Yosemite National Park ~ Day 7

~Sunday, August 21st ~ 

Onto our next (and last) High Sierra Camp: Sunrise! Depending on what you read, this is anywhere from 9.1 - 10 miles (one way) and a (net) 2,250 ft elevation gain. (More on that in the  next photo). Can't forget breakfast: oatmeal again (with toasted coconut and brown sugar - awesome!), omelet, peanut butter and honey pancakes (surprisingly really good!), fruit, sausage, etc....

The hike to Sunrise began quite flat and very pretty....

through some trees......

We even saw some deer........

Merced Lake in the morning. 

(We left camp at 8:30 am  - our earliest start - knowing it was a long walk and might be hot.)

Pretty!

We walked along Echo Creek.

here we are again!

The vegetation started with Manzanita and Chinquapin, eventually becoming Jeffrey Pines, Hemlock and Lodgepole Pines.

Wildlife!

Our first sign was one showing how far AWAY from Merced we were - there were no signed TO Sunrise HSC for quite a while. So we've hiked 2.3 miles at this point.

Next sign about a foot away. Notice the addition: 2.3 + 7.7 = 10 miles. Not 9.5 miles as on the literature , so we hiked somewhere between 9 and 10 miles that day! :-)

Just some more cool views of the trail........

We were surprised to find ferns, and these were already changing color!

These were HUGE boulders.

From here, we are actually on the "other side" of the peaks that were west to us from Vogelsang - they are now east of us.

So.....it was thundering a lot while we were hiking toward Sunrise. So much so that it kept us at a pretty quick clip. Well, as it happens, we got rained on (a bit) and it got VERY cold very quickly. So here's a new look above-and-beyond the two shirts: rain gear!

Side profile of the rain gear look!

Just a mile to go!!

The last mile into the Sunrise HSC is along the JMT (John Muir Trail, a 221 mile trail from Yosemite to Mt. Whitney). It's meadow here.

Almost there!!

A few steps up............

Made it once again!!!!

Yup - we once again asked for a 2-person cabin and here we are in cabin # 6.

We enjoyed a cup of tea and got warm (remember, the temperature dropped and it was cold!)

Meadow views from Sunrise HSC. We spent lots of time just watching for people. (After our showers, of course!)

The dining area. Dinner was: tomato bisque (good), simple salad, spicy corn bread, turkey, spicy yams, coleslaw and a peach cake. We didn't really like it - probably the worst meal in the HSCs, unfortunately. Breakfast the next day was the usual. Sunrise was beautiful, but as far as staff, was our least favorite camp - the staff was there more for themselves than the other camps and the food service was poor. We did enjoy sitting with people we met at Merced, such as Mark & Keith, Russ & Leslie, Drew & Christy - all nice people we met along the way. 

Waiting for the sunset. While waiting we decided the following:

 Best meal - Vogelsang dinner
Best salads - Merced
Best breakfast - Vogelsang
Best Bread - Vogelsang
Best Dessert - Vogelsang & Merced, Day 2
Best staff - Vogelsang