Throughout the Winter, I’ve been trying to get to Yosemite for a Winter backpacking trip. Either to the north rim or south rim, depending on conditions.

Unfortunately, the lack of significant snowfall dashed any plans until February. Then a massive snow storm put down so much snow, it was a little worrying if I could even get anywhere. Scheduling problems also delayed me pulling the trigger on a trip to Yosemite in February.

In mid-March just as I was giving up hope, a small storm passed through and left a decent amount of snow on the rims. Being so late in the season, I still worried that the north rim might not have enough snow since it tended to melt out well before the south rim. It would also be better to do the north rim with 3-4 nights available. With only two, the south rim was most promising.

The problem with the south rim is that since the facilities at Badger Pass were closed this year, there would be no grooming of the Glacier Point Road. That would make the long snowshoe hikes to Glacier Point or Ostrander Lake hard and probably hard to do in with only 3 days to do the round trip.

So, Dewey Point was the obvious choice, but that was mostly a single night’s trip from Badger Pass. I’d day hiked there in the Summer and Winter, but this would be the first overnight there.

Being Winter, I would have to take my cold weather gear which increased the weight of my pack even for a short trip like this. I decided I could do two nights there and just take my time seeing the area around Dewey Point.

Friday the storm passed through and the weather report said it would clear up Saturday and then be very nice for the rest of the week. I was a little reluctant to go the day after the storm, since trail conditions would be more unsettled and unpredictable.

Regardless, I decided to head out Saturday. As usual, I got a little distracted first thing in the morning and didn’t get out of my home until close to 6:30am, almost an hour later than I had hoped. With the 4 hours to Yosemite, it would be nearing mid-day when I arrived.

I decided to take Highway 140 through El Portal since Highway 120 was at a higher elevation and more prone to closures and problems when it snowed.

Then when I was halfway there I remembered that while I couldn’t bring my Sony HX99 camera since it was broken, I did have my older Sony HV90 somewhere. It wasn’t as high resolution as the HX99 was, but it would have been nice to have it in addition to my iPhone. But my iPhone would have to suffice.

Getting into Yosemite, I headed down Highway 41 to the Glacier Point Road intersection. There, I was stopped by the road not being open yet (despite the Yosemite phone info and website saying it was open with chain/4WD restrictions). They were still working on clearing it, so I waited with the other couple dozen cars already there.

Fortunately, it was only 15-20 minutes before the snowplow emerged from the road and they gave the all clear. So my late departure from home ended up preventing me from a long wait there. I joined the caravan to drive the 5 miles down to Badger Pass. The road really wasn’t that bad. I’d driven it and other mountain roads in much worse conditions.

At Badger Pass, I got my Wilderness Permit and overheard that a group of 15 would be at Dewey Point that night as well. Ah well, I knew there would be some others there since Dewey Point was a big draw for people only wanting to spend one night out in the winter wonderland.

While the Glacier Point Road wasn’t groomed this year there was enough foot, snowshoe, and ski traffic near Badger Point that it wasn’t that difficult to get down to the trailhead to Dewey Point.

From there, the trail was less used and the recent snowstorm covered any existing tracks. Fortunately, enough people faster than this old dude had made enough tracks in the snow that I could follow the trail easily and still make decent time.

The hike out to Dewey Point was mostly through a forest and meadow, so there weren’t any great views along the way until your neared Dewey Point.

My first sight of Half Dome through the trees helped push me forward. While the elevation gain and loss along this trail wasn’t that bad, it was much tougher to snowshoe through snow covered trails even on level ground.

So, when Dewey Point came into view, I cherished the feeling of a good day’s hike (or good afternoon’s hike). I took a short moment to take in the view of Yosemite Valley below, Half dome to the South, and the mountains surrounding the Valley. While not a 360 degree view like you got at the top of Clouds Rest, it was quite a good view of the park surrounding the Valley.

Since there were a number of people there at the Point and I knew I’d have time to explore the rock outcropping that made up the Point the next day, I decided to find a good place to setup my tent.

The immediate area around Dewey Point was off limits to camping, but by heading North along the Pohono Trail (not that you could see that trail since it was buried in snow) you had some higher areas to choose from.

Naturally, my first goal was to find a good location with a view. This being Yosemite, anything else would be a shame. Fortunately, there were usually a lot of good places to find a good place to camp with a view.

Being Winter, I also had to find someplace that had: Clean snow to melt for water (no problem there), some separation from other campers, a flatish area that wasn’t under any tress with a LOT of snow in the branches that could fall and crush me, had a great view, and wasn’t too close to the rim of the Valley that could cause me to take a one way trip to the Valley floor.

I did find a great spot with partial view of Half Dome through trees and dropped my backpack. Then, because I had been burned before by choosing a spot without looking around enough first, I went a bit further along the rim. Not too far beyond that first spot, I found a great spot with a great view of the surrounding mountains and the Valley from El Capitan all the way down to Half Dome.

Goal!

Now, this spot was closer to the edge of the rim, but had three large boulders and several large trees holding the snow in place. So, it seemed fairly safe.

I just had to resit looking down over the edge too much, lest I freak out and run away screaming. Yes, it was that close to the edge.

I started to prepare my site by walking around with my snowshoes to trample down the snow, always keeping an eye on the view so I could make sure my tent’s door faced Half Dome. Why? Well, besides it always being nice to have a great view from my campsite, during Winter you tended to stay in your tent and sleeping bag more of the time. So, finding a good spot with a view you could see from inside the tent helped keep you warm.

After setting up my tent, I discovered I had forgotten the tarp I brought with me on Winter backpacking trips to have a dry spot to take off and put on my boots to keep the inside from getting wet. On top of that, I also forgot to bring some large garbage bags I could use to put wet things into (such as my boots). But the snow was fairly firm, so wasn’t quick to melt and I was able to get out of my boots without too much of a mess.

Sleeping pad and bag were put in place first and I crawled in to finish my arranging of my gear, pausing to enjoy the view as I did so. As the afternoon wore on, the light from the sun cast some nice colors across the mountains and Half Dome.

Unfortunately, some clouds moved through the area, blocking the view somewhat and–worse still–blocking the sun at times.

I heated up my dinner and enjoyed the view that I had, then was surprised by a light shower of snow and even some small pieces of hail. Fortunately, the flurries were short and intermittent.

While there was some nice colors around me for sunset, the clouds did block the full impact of the golden glow that normally would be cast against Half Dome and the granite faces surrounding the Valley.

I normally use my iPhone to capture some time lapse videos while I use my camera to take photos of sunsets and sunrises when I backpack, since I only had my iPhone to take photos and videos with I did have to change my normal methods for capturing the sights.

But I did get some good images of the light and clouds that night before I turned in for the night.

While not as good as some of the long shutter photos of stars that I got with my Sony camera, the iPhone did capture some good shots of the stars over Half Dome and the area around me. The waning crescent Moon also provided a little extra light to make the night pictures pleasant.

My -20 degree Fahrenheit sleeping bag and sleeping pad kept me quite warm that night, as long as I stayed tucked inside it. Having taken many Winter backpacking trips before, I kept an empty bottle in the tent to prevent me from having to go outside for any nighttime bush watering excursions.

I woke up a little before dawn, as planned. I had planned to put my boots on and go down to Dewey Point to see the sunrise from there. While I had a great view from my tent, the area where the sun would rise was hidden behind a cluster of trees.

Then I remembered it was Winter when the frigged cold smacked me in my face. That kind of made up my mind to enjoy what light from the Sunrise I could see from inside my tent and nice comfy sleeping bag.

The glow along the mountains was very nice and I did actually get to see the actual Sun through the trees as it rose above the mountains. So, while it wasn’t as grand of a view as it would have been from Dewey Point, it was still a nice way to wake up.

I had my breakfast and a hot cup of coco as I planned my day around Dewey Point. If it was Summer, I could have easily made it down the 5 miles to Taff Point to see the sights there before returning to Dewey Point, but in Winter that was a much harder trek and I’d be blazing the trail through the snow the while way. That could take me all day just one way, plus wasn’t a route normally used in Winter and had some dangerous areas to go through.

A wind also started blowing that morning and made me wonder about my location perched on the rim. While I hadn’t fallen over the edge in my sleep, I was starting to question staying a whole day out there. If I was hiking around, that exercise would keep me warm. While I could do some exploring, it wasn’t likely to keep me that active all day.

Reluctantly, I decided that a single night at Dewey Point was enough and I started packing my gear.

Before heading back to Badger Pass, I did take some time to enjoy Dewey Point itself. Taking in the views all around and the scary drop over the edge.

Looking back along the rim to where I had camped, I was a little freaked out when I saw exactly how close to the rim I had setup my tent (very) and how steep of a drop off (very) it was on the other side of the bolder that I thought protected me. Very steep and almost a completely vertical drop. Maybe it was a good idea not to chance fate and sleep another night up there.

I did get to spend a good half hour alone at Dewey Point, which was nice.

But then I made my way back to Badger Pass. It was more downhill in this direction, but still enough upward slopes to make it a tiring day.

As I enjoyed the heat in my Jeep, I drove home and got a nice pizza on the way.

So, I’m a little disappointed that I wasn’t motivated enough to stay the two nights at Dewey Point, it was a nice change of pace.