Hi there everyone. Welcome back to my blog!
If you are new here, you might want to take a little time to read some of my past posts to get caught up on what I’m all about.
It’s finally summertime. Hooray! We have been training and preparing for our latest hiking adventure for the past 6+ months. I’m excited and nervous all at the same time. One day I am super confident and then the next, I wonder what have I gotten us into?
We are setting out shortly on a backpacking trip that will take us from Mammoth Lakes to Yosemite, then through Yosemite to the Clover Meadow area, and back to Mammoth Lakes. We are expecting this to take us 11 days. For the 1st 4 days, our 20 yr old son (Cordlan) will be with us. After that, the next 7 days are on our own. It should be around 90+ miles.
I am in full planning and preparing mode now. Food and logistics are my top priorities. All permits have been secured. I am dehydrating on the weekends and buying all the crappy preservative filled food we need. I am starting to plan what we will eat for each meal and snacks. I will be putting those together this weekend. Meals for 2 locations in Yosemite have been purchased. They are a huge luxury that I know we will be very happy we paid for when we are actually there, but right now it was hard on the bank account.
I’m checking my Facebook hiking groups regularly to get updates on trail conditions (it’s been a big snow year) and getting the scoop on mosquitoes. I will be spraying our tents and clothing this weekend with permethrin to help control the little blood suckers. No thank you to the Zika virus!
Arrangements have been made for my home, dog, and bills. Condo in Mammoth is secure. Plans to buy bus passes in Mammoth for our before and after rides at trailheads are set. Logistics with a second car in Yosemite to get us back to Mammoth after the first 4 days, then back to Yosemite has been figured out.
An overnight trip was done up in Idyllwild to test new gear and make sure Cordlan is happy and confident with what gear he has. It was a successful trip and a great start to our summer hiking.
We recently had a little set-back with our start time. Cordlan’s time to register for his college classes is on the day we are to leave at 1:25pm. With a planned start time of 8:00am and a 10 mile approx day, this has caused a bit of a planning snag (nightmare). I was able to get those luxury meals moved forward a day each and we will leave later on our first day. We will hike as far as we can till we can find a good place to camp for the night. I have changed our itinerary for the first 4 days and will just have to pray that I can get an easy going personality before then. Haha!
I am looking forward to sharing this adventure with all of you. I will try to start posting regularly so you can begin this journey with me. You will get to experience the highs & lows of the before, during, and after! Thanks for coming along with me.
Happy Trails!
Hiking Holly 