I enjoy the video, very nice. Suggest pitching a modified A-Frame, with an open entrance practically going into bushes. Instead of leaving the other end open, peg it and all other sides down. It'll keep you sheltered from wind pretty good. I got sick of playing origami with the tarp in windy conditions, and I didn't like not being able to sit up in tarp if I wanted full wind/debris coverage (7x9). So I got a double wall moment li from tarptent. Now I only need two tent pegs/anchors and a flat spot.
Sir all you need to do is loop the guy line around a small rock, and then set the large rock right in front the small rock to anchor it. Best to make a small loop at the end of the giy line, pull the working line through the loop and place that around the small rock.
Thanks. That would have been a good option with less wind but in this case, anything not staked or tied to a stationary object was simply creeping forward and creating slack. Even then, I woke up with quite a bit of slack. I didn't show it but it probably took me 90 minutes to get it working and piles of rocks weren't cutting it. The wind was blowing everything down. Admittedly I could have gathered more rocks (4 or 5 each line). Maybe next time I'll commit to more rock gathering and stacking and see how that works. On that one tie down, I didn't explain it correctly. The guy line was actually tied to the fallen tree. I had the wooden stake to hold the edge down to prevent wind from blowing in dirt. When the wind kept blowing in, placed the rock between the stake and the tie down. Anyway, by then I was just over it and wanted to fish. LOL.
All though you had some bad winds and got a little cold I steel thought that this was a good video. You toughed it out and in the end the weather gave you a break. Fish on !
I enjoyed the fishing ( flyrod ) while living up in Yosemite as an employee ( YP+Curry Co.) back in the early 1980s. No one has fished there much and certainly none had been frog gigging for so long the Rangers' thought it was hunting; though a quick look at Calif.'s fishing rules straighten them out.
Thanks for doing this. I love Yosemite and used a Kelty Range Tarp there. I just bought the SL Quarter Dome tarp lightly used. I appreciate you showing how yourself surviving in a exposed campsite at what 9,000 feet or so lol. I was scared to take it out without doors but seeing your pyramid I feel it will be alright.
i hiked into merced lake and set up a base camp twice this summer for 7 days each time. i fished merced, washburn, babcock, emeric and bernice lakes. washburn was the best with babcock in a close second. i also fished the merced river from its headwaters at washburn lake all the way into the valley floor. brooks in the lakes rainbows, brooks and browns in tbe Merced river. caught so many fish it was in incredible. the easiest way to get there is sunrise lakes trailhead to merced lake high camp. exit via little yosemite valley to vernal falls and the john muir to happy isles. take the shuttle back to the sunrise trailhead for your vehicle. pretty much all elevation loss not gain. alot easier than doing it hiw i did in reverse with a clouds rest summit on the way out. i do the 16 miles to in one day and do not fish tbe first day but it can be split into two days by camping 1 nite at sunrise lakes that you can also fish or better yet in echo canyon which was favorite part of hiking. hike the rest of the way to merced lake backpackers camp set up base camp and fish the merced river right there. there is a honey hole at the cascades. you can day hike to wasburn lake fishing the merced river there and back. its three miles each way but the trail is flat and easy. if you have more time you could fish babcock as well which is three miles each way as well, but very steep. the exit trail runs along the merced river for the majority of the way out and offers excellent fishing.
@@highcountrychronicles update to my last post. this past July 15-31, I did a loop starting and ending at happy isles. day one happy isles to illilouette creek. brutally steep for a loaded pack, hot and exposed. avoid this by using the mono meadows trail head and you can make your first camp were day I camped at day 2. rainbows in illilouette creek. day 2 up to the halfway point to Merced lake to camp on illilouette creek. was exhausted from the prior day. stopped to fish the small Clark fork. unique rainbows in the Clark fork. rainbows in illilouette creek. good campsites. day three. feeling much better went all the way to lower ottaway lake. the mosquitoes were brutal through that section until you get to lower ottaway. amazingly beautiful lake, my second favorite of the trip. excellent fishing for huge rainbows. had to use 4x tippet and wear them out to land them. good campsites on the east side up away from the lake. day four. up and over red peak pass going down I went offtrail at approx. 10,500 to get around peak 11,371 to sue pass staying to the left of that tairn. there is a nasty cirque above it. I dropped down to the nameless lake at the head of the gray peak drainage then over the saddle to Adair lake. exhausted I set up camp and caught several small golden trout. finally Yosemite golden trout. these were my first Yosemite golden trout. decent campsite. cold night. day five. back out the same way to the trail and down to 10,000 feet were I went offtrail down and around the southeast side of red devil lake and into the red peak fork drainage. it's pretty straight forward. stay to the south of the creek past the falls and then cross over to the north side and ride the granite slabs down to the Merced river. cross the river and reconnect to the trail south of Washburn lake. camped at Washburn lake. unique wild rainbows in red peak fork. rainbows and brook in the Merced. Washburn lake is loaded with brook trout. catch one every cast. good campsites with fire pits. fires allowed. had a fire and roasted two fish. I read somewhere that Washburn lake was John muirs favorite place in Yosemite. he built a cabin there. there are no photos but there is a drawing of it. the stars were mind blowing. day six. down the Merced and up to Babcock lake. the last three miles are steep. good brook trout fishing. horrible camping. snags everywhere and lots of mosquitoes. no fires. day seven. up to boothe lake. stopped and fished Fletcher creek as it worked it's way through the meadow above emeric lake. excellent brook trout fishing. finally saw another person since I left happy isles a week before. good campsites at boothe lake. excellent brook trout fishing. day eight. down Rafferty creek to toulome meadows. I had mailed a resupply to the post office toulome meadows. they only give out packages every other hour.. the toulome grill was closed but the store was so I bought had some hummus, fresh fruit and a beer. it was packed with jmt and pct hikers and the time passed quickly as I chatted with them. I picked up my resupply and headed out camp four miles out on the Lyell fork of the toulome. I would have normally spent that night at the tuolome backpackers camp but it was closed this year and there was no camping til 4 miles out of tuolome. good brown trout fishing in the Lyell fork. day nine. pack was super heavy fully supplied so I took an easy day and hiked to the Ireland creek/Evelyn lake trail junction. excellent campsites excellent brook and brown fishing in the Lyell fork. day ten. up Evelyn lake trail to Fletcher lake. first four miles are steep but beautiful. still some snow. excellent campsites on the east side of the lake. the prime one is halfway up the waterfall but it is exposed. it was raining so I choose to camp in a tree sheltered nook closer to the lake. it rained the rest of the day and all night so I made dinner and slept. day eleven. woke up to a clear crisp morning. the deer and marmots we're soaking wet. my trenches worked well and I had stayed dry. very happy with my sleeping set up. went down to the lake and caught several large brook trout. I ate breakfast and headed offtrail up the waterfall to Townsley lake. it is a short pleasant hike that opens up to a huge meadow and Townsley lake. I saw fish feeding and cast a hopper to them. wham! golden trout!!! big golden trout! excited to walked around the lake and up the class 1/2 scramble to hanging basket. hanging basket is beautiful but tough to get at and fishless. I worked my way down to Townsley and fished my way back to Fletcher. I caught fish almost every cast. big pure goldens. the waterfall prevents the brooks in fletcher from getting up into Townsley. after dinner I fished Fletcher and caught fish after fish. day twelve. up and over vogelsang pass and up to Bernice lake. beautiful lake. good campsites on the Northside close to lewis creek. excellent fishing in both Lewis creek and Bernice lake. browns and brook in Lewis creek, big jawed brook trout in Bernice. had to work for the ones in Bernice. they were lurking close to shore but where smart fish. they would not eat if they could see you. I had to creep up, hide behind bushes and rocks . sometimes the line would be in the water over rocks back into water. they were big though. it's an amazing place. I will be back. I would like to get a line in at gallison lake in the drainage above. day thirteen. followed the Lewis creek trail down to Merced lake. fished a few accessible spots on Lewis creek and cought brook and brown. fished at the Florence creek crossing and caught some intensely spotted dark rainbows. would like to get a look at Florence lake above. good camping at Merced lake. bear boxes fire pits and fires allowed but crowded. good brook, brown and rainbow fishing below the cascades on the Merced river. fair brown, brook and rainbow fishing in Merced lake. day fourteen. down the Merced river to burnell cascades. bad camping due to snags. good to excellent fishing opportunities along the Merced for brook brown and rainbow trout especially the granite slot canyon section and the pool at the bottom of the cascade. day fifteen. back out to happy isles. a beautiful through little Yosemite valley and then down the John Muir. some good fishing for rainbows along the Merced, especially between the mist trail turnoff and the Nevada falls. fair nymph fishing for rainbows at happy isles. I used a 3wt fly pole with a double taper line. elk haired caddis, hoppers, especially Dave's, black gnats, Griffiths gnats, we're the top dry fly producers, but I caught many on midges, blue wing olives sparkle Dunn's etc.. beaded flashback pheasant tails, beaded gold ribbed hares ear were excellent in the creeks. I've used Intel from your videos to do trip planning so I really do not mind sharing. I figure you are like me and enjoy researching and planning for maximus fishing opportunities.
@@highcountrychronicles rewatching this I see you are up there above Fletcher. I fished hanging basket but didn't catch anything. I assumed it was fishless. it's a scramble to get up there.
@@hikesteepfishhigh Hey I live in Mariposa and big into fly fishing. Been planning to get up there for the first time but can't find anyone to go with yet, I'm not an experienced backpacker but been camping since I was a kid. I guide the Merced and sometimes fish for 12 hours straight walk/wade so I'm hoping I'll be able to handle it. Do you live in the area?
There wasn’t really a lee side. The wind was constantly shifting. Everything was a slope except for the far side of the lake which was already occupied. Next time I think I’ll camp at the top of the bluff in the trees. Probably the only flat spot and hopefully sheltered by the trees. I don’t approve of my campsite either. LOL.
@@highcountrychronicles LOL........Been there done that on a Wyoming hunting trips...blew our tent 200 yrds down the canyon.......no fun....no respite from the wind
I watch your videos for the beauty. It's so relaxing and enjoyable just to sit back for half an hour and marvel at it. Hopefully I can do some of this one day. Thanks for the great vids.
Another great Video... I spent 7 days fly fishing in the Mammoth area last week and I was in Troutfitter on wed or thursday and thought I saw you walking out. Was that you?
Thanks. Glad you enjoyed the video! No. Wasn't me. I haven't been in the Troutfitter since labor day. I've been in and out of the Mobile station all month though. LOL.
Hey Jim, enjoy the videos. I am planning a trip in June to that area with the goal of catching my first golden trout. Was your friends fish a Lahontan from the lake above the golden trout lake? Any advice for a mid June trip?
Legend
I admire your grit
Thanks! It's always an adventure !
@@highcountrychronicles yes the wind up there can be challenging. To people and fishing and tents.
Fantastic footage! I’ll hopefully make it up to Vogelsang this summer.
Thank you! It's pretty amazing!
I enjoy the video, very nice. Suggest pitching a modified A-Frame, with an open entrance practically going into bushes. Instead of leaving the other end open, peg it and all other sides down. It'll keep you sheltered from wind pretty good. I got sick of playing origami with the tarp in windy conditions, and I didn't like not being able to sit up in tarp if I wanted full wind/debris coverage (7x9). So I got a double wall moment li from tarptent. Now I only need two tent pegs/anchors and a flat spot.
Thanks for the suggestion. I'll have to check that out. 👍🏾
Sir all you need to do is loop the guy line around a small rock, and then set the large rock right in front the small rock to anchor it.
Best to make a small loop at the end of the giy line, pull the working line through the loop and place that around the small rock.
Thanks. That would have been a good option with less wind but in this case, anything not staked or tied to a stationary object was simply creeping forward and creating slack. Even then, I woke up with quite a bit of slack.
I didn't show it but it probably took me 90 minutes to get it working and piles of rocks weren't cutting it. The wind was blowing everything down. Admittedly I could have gathered more rocks (4 or 5 each line). Maybe next time I'll commit to more rock gathering and stacking and see how that works.
On that one tie down, I didn't explain it correctly. The guy line was actually tied to the fallen tree. I had the wooden stake to hold the edge down to prevent wind from blowing in dirt. When the wind kept blowing in, placed the rock between the stake and the tie down. Anyway, by then I was just over it and wanted to fish. LOL.
Lol ok that makes sense. It wind did look crazy. You’re still a bad ass for tarp camping in Yosemite.
@@NatiHighLife LOL. Thanks!
All though you had some bad winds and got a little cold I steel thought that this was a good video. You toughed it out and in the end the weather gave you a break. Fish on !
Yeah, it was a fun trip despite the conditions. Thanks!
I enjoyed the fishing ( flyrod ) while living up in Yosemite as an employee ( YP+Curry Co.) back in the early 1980s. No one has fished there much and certainly none had been frog gigging for so long the Rangers' thought it was hunting; though a quick look at Calif.'s fishing rules straighten them out.
I bet the fishing was pretty epic back then.
Thanks for doing this. I love Yosemite and used a Kelty Range Tarp there. I just bought the SL Quarter Dome tarp lightly used. I appreciate you showing how yourself surviving in a exposed campsite at what 9,000 feet or so lol. I was scared to take it out without doors but seeing your pyramid I feel it will be alright.
Sorry Tent setup not pyramid.
Thanks. I'm still learning but I've really enjoyed the tarp so far. If yours is used, do you know how much use it's seen? How has it help up?
i hiked into merced lake and set up a base camp twice this summer for 7 days each time. i fished merced, washburn, babcock, emeric and bernice lakes. washburn was the best with babcock in a close second. i also fished the merced river from its headwaters at washburn lake all the way into the valley floor. brooks in the lakes rainbows, brooks and browns in tbe Merced river. caught so many fish it was in incredible.
the easiest way to get there is sunrise lakes trailhead to merced lake high camp. exit via little yosemite valley to vernal falls and the john muir to happy isles. take the shuttle back to the sunrise trailhead for your vehicle.
pretty much all elevation loss not gain. alot easier than doing it hiw i did in reverse with a clouds rest summit on the way out.
i do the 16 miles to in one day and do not fish tbe first day but it can be split into two days by camping 1 nite at sunrise lakes that you can also fish or better yet in echo canyon which was favorite part of hiking.
hike the rest of the way to merced lake backpackers camp set up base camp and fish the merced river right there. there is a honey hole at the cascades.
you can day hike to wasburn lake fishing the merced river there and back. its three miles each way but the trail is flat and easy. if you have more time you could fish babcock as well which is three miles each way as well, but very steep.
the exit trail runs along the merced river for the majority of the way out and offers excellent fishing.
Cool. Thanks for the beta. Chris and I talked of doing an extended trip into the Valley sometime. This will help.
@@highcountrychronicles update to my last post. this past July 15-31, I did a loop starting and ending at happy isles.
day one happy isles to illilouette creek. brutally steep for a loaded pack, hot and exposed. avoid this by using the mono meadows trail head and you can make your first camp were day I camped at day 2. rainbows in illilouette creek.
day 2 up to the halfway point to Merced lake to camp on illilouette creek. was exhausted from the prior day. stopped to fish the small Clark fork. unique rainbows in the Clark fork. rainbows in illilouette creek. good campsites.
day three. feeling much better went all the way to lower ottaway lake. the mosquitoes were brutal through that section until you get to lower ottaway. amazingly beautiful lake, my second favorite of the trip. excellent fishing for huge rainbows. had to use 4x tippet and wear them out to land them. good campsites on the east side up away from the lake.
day four. up and over red peak pass going down I went offtrail at approx. 10,500 to get around peak 11,371 to sue pass staying to the left of that tairn. there is a nasty cirque above it. I dropped down to the nameless lake at the head of the gray peak drainage then over the saddle to Adair lake. exhausted I set up camp and caught several small golden trout. finally Yosemite golden trout. these were my first Yosemite golden trout. decent campsite. cold night.
day five. back out the same way to the trail and down to 10,000 feet were I went offtrail down and around the southeast side of red devil lake and into the red peak fork drainage. it's pretty straight forward. stay to the south of the creek past the falls and then cross over to the north side and ride the granite slabs down to the Merced river. cross the river and reconnect to the trail south of Washburn lake. camped at Washburn lake. unique wild rainbows in red peak fork. rainbows and brook in the Merced. Washburn lake is loaded with brook trout. catch one every cast. good campsites with fire pits. fires allowed. had a fire and roasted two fish. I read somewhere that Washburn lake was John muirs favorite place in Yosemite. he built a cabin there. there are no photos but there is a drawing of it. the stars were mind blowing.
day six. down the Merced and up to Babcock lake. the last three miles are steep. good brook trout fishing. horrible camping. snags everywhere and lots of mosquitoes. no fires.
day seven. up to boothe lake. stopped and fished Fletcher creek as it worked it's way through the meadow above emeric lake. excellent brook trout fishing. finally saw another person since I left happy isles a week before. good campsites at boothe lake. excellent brook trout fishing.
day eight. down Rafferty creek to toulome meadows. I had mailed a resupply to the post office toulome meadows. they only give out packages every other hour.. the toulome grill was closed but the store was so I bought had some hummus, fresh fruit and a beer. it was packed with jmt and pct hikers and the time passed quickly as I chatted with them. I picked up my resupply and headed out camp four miles out on the Lyell fork of the toulome. I would have normally spent that night at the tuolome backpackers camp but it was closed this year and there was no camping til 4 miles out of tuolome. good brown trout fishing in the Lyell fork.
day nine. pack was super heavy fully supplied so I took an easy day and hiked to the Ireland creek/Evelyn lake trail junction. excellent campsites excellent brook and brown fishing in the Lyell fork.
day ten. up Evelyn lake trail to Fletcher lake. first four miles are steep but beautiful. still some snow. excellent campsites on the east side of the lake. the prime one is halfway up the waterfall but it is exposed. it was raining so I choose to camp in a tree sheltered nook closer to the lake. it rained the rest of the day and all night so I made dinner and slept.
day eleven. woke up to a clear crisp morning. the deer and marmots we're soaking wet. my trenches worked well and I had stayed dry. very happy with my sleeping set up. went down to the lake and caught several large brook trout. I ate breakfast and headed offtrail up the waterfall to Townsley lake. it is a short pleasant hike that opens up to a huge meadow and Townsley lake. I saw fish feeding and cast a hopper to them. wham! golden trout!!! big golden trout! excited to walked around the lake and up the class 1/2 scramble to hanging basket. hanging basket is beautiful but tough to get at and fishless. I worked my way down to Townsley and fished my way back to Fletcher. I caught fish almost every cast. big pure goldens. the waterfall prevents the brooks in fletcher from getting up into Townsley. after dinner I fished Fletcher and caught fish after fish.
day twelve. up and over vogelsang pass and up to Bernice lake. beautiful lake. good campsites on the Northside close to lewis creek. excellent fishing in both Lewis creek and Bernice lake. browns and brook in Lewis creek, big jawed brook trout in Bernice. had to work for the ones in Bernice. they were lurking close to shore but where smart fish. they would not eat if they could see you. I had to creep up, hide behind bushes and rocks . sometimes the line would be in the water over rocks back into water. they were big though. it's an amazing place. I will be back. I would like to get a line in at gallison lake in the drainage above.
day thirteen. followed the Lewis creek trail down to Merced lake. fished a few accessible spots on Lewis creek and cought brook and brown. fished at the Florence creek crossing and caught some intensely spotted dark rainbows. would like to get a look at Florence lake above. good camping at Merced lake. bear boxes fire pits and fires allowed but crowded. good brook, brown and rainbow fishing below the cascades on the Merced river. fair brown, brook and rainbow fishing in Merced lake.
day fourteen. down the Merced river to burnell cascades. bad camping due to snags. good to excellent fishing opportunities along the Merced for brook brown and rainbow trout especially the granite slot canyon section and the pool at the bottom of the cascade.
day fifteen. back out to happy isles. a beautiful through little Yosemite valley and then down the John Muir. some good fishing for rainbows along the Merced, especially between the mist trail turnoff and the Nevada falls. fair nymph fishing for rainbows at happy isles.
I used a 3wt fly pole with a double taper line. elk haired caddis, hoppers, especially Dave's, black gnats, Griffiths gnats, we're the top dry fly producers, but I caught many on midges, blue wing olives sparkle Dunn's etc..
beaded flashback pheasant tails, beaded gold ribbed hares ear were excellent in the creeks.
I've used Intel from your videos to do trip planning so I really do not mind sharing. I figure you are like me and enjoy researching and planning for maximus fishing opportunities.
@@highcountrychronicles rewatching this I see you are up there above Fletcher. I fished hanging basket but didn't catch anything. I assumed it was fishless. it's a scramble to get up there.
@@hikesteepfishhigh Hey I live in Mariposa and big into fly fishing. Been planning to get up there for the first time but can't find anyone to go with yet, I'm not an experienced backpacker but been camping since I was a kid. I guide the Merced and sometimes fish for 12 hours straight walk/wade so I'm hoping I'll be able to handle it. Do you live in the area?
Can't say I approve of your campsite!...No sheltered areas?, lee side of the mountain maybe?
There wasn’t really a lee side. The wind was constantly shifting. Everything was a slope except for the far side of the lake which was already occupied. Next time I think I’ll camp at the top of the bluff in the trees. Probably the only flat spot and hopefully sheltered by the trees.
I don’t approve of my campsite either. LOL.
@@highcountrychronicles LOL........Been there done that on a Wyoming hunting trips...blew our tent 200 yrds down the canyon.......no fun....no respite from the wind
Amazing Jim! Love the videos.
Thanks! Caught a Golden for you. :)
I watch your videos for the beauty. It's so relaxing and enjoyable just to sit back for half an hour and marvel at it. Hopefully I can do some of this one day. Thanks for the great vids.
Thanks!
Such a good trip. Can’t wait for the next one.
Yeah it was. :D Thanks for coming.
Another great Video... I spent 7 days fly fishing in the Mammoth area last week and I was in Troutfitter on wed or thursday and thought I saw you walking out. Was that you?
Thanks. Glad you enjoyed the video!
No. Wasn't me. I haven't been in the Troutfitter since labor day. I've been in and out of the Mobile station all month though. LOL.
Hey Jim, enjoy the videos. I am planning a trip in June to that area with the goal of catching my first golden trout. Was your friends fish a Lahontan from the lake above the golden trout lake? Any advice for a mid June trip?
Yes. It was a Lahontan. Good luck! A few lakes in the area to catch goldens from. You should do great! Glad you enjoy the videos! Thanks!