When the sun�s comin� up I got cakes on the griddle

2004-07-19 - 9:24 p.m.

OK, so last Wednesday morning we decided that on Thursday we would head off on a four-night camping trip to Virginia Lakes. I had been thinking that I'd like to take the Babe with me on my next camping trip so I called her up. Yes, it was incredibly last minute, but she came anyway! She drove here to my home Wednesday evening and then we left on Thursday for the five-hour drive to Virginia Lakes. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Virginia Lakes, it's basically a bunch of little lakes up near Mono Lake and the east side of Yosemite, off of 395 between Bridgeport and Lee Vining.

The Babe, as far as I know, has only been camping before once, and that was with me last July. She seemed to be the most adventurous outdoors person of my friends last year, so I decided to take her with me on a less newbie-oriented trip this year. We totally beat the poor girl up, but she kept telling me she was having a good time and says she'd like to do it again sometime.

We were also going to meet some family friends up there. When we first got there, the friends weren't there so after setting up our camp we decided to go for a walk around Little Virginia Lake. The first thing we did was cross a creek and the Babe fell off a rock and got a good soaking. Not only that, but she seriously banged up her knee--although she didn't tell me how badly she was hurt until quite a bit later, she just kept right on going.

The next day we decided to go for a hike. There's a trail that leads from the campground up into the mountains past a series of lakes. When we set out we hadn't yet decided how far we would go before turning around. When we got pretty far up the trail, our family friends and my mom decided that they were going to head back to camp but my dad and I wanted to hike up to the summit first. I told the Babe she could do whatever she wanted, but she decided to come with my dad and I, even though the next part of the trail was really steep, the elevation was over 10,000 feet, and the weather was deteriorating. We made it up to the top without any problems, but when we were up there it started to sprinkle. As we headed back down the trail it started to pour and then hail. I was soaked and freezing but the Babe kept saying how much fun she was having and how glad she was that she decided to hike up to the top with us. By the time we got back to camp I was so cold that my fingers were numb and I couldn't even unbutton my jeans. I've decided, though, that someday I'd like to do some serious backpacking in this area. From the summit there are awesome views into Yosemite. It looks like great country to backpack through, especially if I could somehow figure out a way to avoid rain storms.

The next day we decided that since it had rained on us in Virginia Lakes, we would head down and see Mono Lake and go to Lee Vining instead. While we were at the Mono Lake visitor center, though, it started to rain so we couldn't walk out to the lake to see the tufa and stuff. In Lee Vining we stopped at the Mono Cone for burgers and shakes, but had to eat standing up because they had so few indoor tables and it was pouring outside. Since it was still raining in Lee Vining, after lunch we drove up Tioga Pass to Yosemite. There it was absolutely gorgeous. Afterwards we drove back to camp and our family friends told us that it hadn't rained at all there. Apparently we were jinxed in the rain department.

On Sunday we got up and walked to Little Virginia Lake to hang out while my dad and the family friends fished. Later we went back to camp and played games with the kids of the family friends and some of the kids' friends. Afterwards we hiked a short hike up to Big Virginia Lake and Red Lake. We went out to Trumbull Lake, the lake that's closest to the campground, that night and sat and watched the stars and the reflections in the lake. It's so rare to have the opportunity to listen to silence.

This morning we got up and casually broke camp before driving home. After four nights of camping we were really dirty. I was really looking forward to that shower. The Babe stuck around until after rush hour and then drove back to her place.

I was almost certain that by the time I got home today I would have a letter from the Washington Board in the mail, but I didn't get one. I wonder how much longer it's going to take. But I did get my hard drive and I've transferred all my pictures onto it.

I was going to post some pictures of my trip, but photobucket isn't cooperating so instead I'll leave you with a link to a picture of the Virginia Lakes area. In the picture Trumbull Lake is in the upper right hand corner and our campground is in the clump of trees just below that lake. In the bottom right hand corner is Little Virginia Lake and just to the left of that is Big Virginia Lake. In the top left hand corner is Blue Lake, which is the first lake in the series of lakes along the hiking trail to the summit. If you were to scroll south you would see Red Lake. Scrolling west will get you the rest of the lakes along the trail to the summit.