Going it Solo

Trying to make the most of the lame Californian winter, I'm completing the season with a snowshoeing/backpacking trip to Yosemite National Park. I'll be leaving Thursday night and hopefully coming back Sunday. I'm heading up either to Glacier Point, a modest 21mi round trip, in snow.

Last night I packed my backpack as best possible. Going solo brings extra packing and weight. For instance, instead of sharing the load of a tent, I've got it all to myself. It's hard to convey what a different a pound or two can make or why people go to the measure of cutting the ends of toothbrushes to save on weight, unless you backpack. It doesn't mean much until you add it all up and you realize you shaved off 8lb of a prospective 40lb load. My pack it heavy for three days, but there isn't much I can do.

Double trouble is that I have to account for both spring and winter conditions. The afternoons will bring 50-70F on some days and 20F at night. I'll be hiking both grassed plains and snowy vistas.

I've been reading Bill Bryson's hilariously funny book on the Appalachian Trail, to which he mentions Bears. Here in good ol' California black bears are abundant in the national parks. I'm concerned that the early onset of spring (more like summer with high 80's F weather) will bring the bears out. I can just see it now, two days into backpacking and a bear manages to snag my food suspended from a tree! That or I leave something on my person and have an unexpected visitor in my tent.