3 Days of Yosemite’s Backcountry and Wildlife | Lake Vernon via Hetch Hetchy

We'll encounter plenty of wildlife, beautiful campsites, and amazing views, as my Dad and I backpack 28 miles through Yosemite's wilderness. This was the "Hetch Hetchy Loop Trail" and we completed it going clockwise. Our main goal was to camp at Lake Vernon, which we reached on the second day. My favorite trail section on this route would be the Tiltill Valley area. In this valley we had to get our shoes soaked in over a foot of water to cross this gorgeous lush landscape, but that was a small price to pay for the memory of Tiltill. (-23:56 Tiltill Valley)
Hope you enjoyed, thanks for watching!
Check out some of my other overnight trips. Also feel free to hit SUBSCRIBE!
Overnight videos and playlists:
Camping at a Frozen Sierra Lake: • Hiking Through Snow an...
Kayak Camping at Remote Yosemite Lake: • Kayak Camping on Yosem...
Solo Backpacking Trip in the Rain: • Hiking, Camping & Fine...
Chapters:
-3:42 Day 0 Campsite
-8:26 Day 1 Lake Vernon Campsite
-16:19 Wildlife (Bear Buddy)
-22:30 Day 2 Tiltill Valley
-24:56 Day 2 Rancheria Falls Campsite
-30:19 Pack List
- Follow me on Instagram: / xl.outdoorsman
Gear List (not sponsored):
Backpack: "Hyperlite Southwest 70L" www.hyperlitem...
Tent: "Big Agnes Blacktail 2" www.bigagnes.c...
Sleeping Bag: "Feathered Friends Condor YF (10°, long, w/hood)" featheredfrien...
Sleeping Pad: "Big Agnes Q Core SLX" www.rei.com/pr...
Water Filter: "Katadyn Hiker Filter" www.katadyngro...
Stove: "JetBoil" jetboil.johnso...
Hydration Hose: "Source Tactical SNEP Convertube Water Bottle Adapter Kit" www.amazon.com...
Bear Canister: "BV500 Journey Bear Canister" www.rei.com/pr...
Ava's sock: N/a
Satellite Device: "Garmin InReach Mini 2" www.garmin.com...
Lightweight Pump: "Flextail Zero Pump" www.flextail.c...
Headlamp: "Black Diamond Spot 400 Headlamp" www.blackdiamo...
Head Net/Pillow: "Sea to Summit" seatosummit.com/
Camera Gear + Accessories:
GoPro Hero 12: gopro.com/en/u...
GoPro Media Mod + Light: gopro.com/en/u...
Power Bank: www.amazon.com...
Fishing Gear:
Maxcatch Tenkara Fishing Rod: www.amazon.com...
Dragontail Furled Tenkara Line (9ft, 12ft, 16ft): www.amazon.com...
Music:
Royalty Free Music from Tunetank.com
Track: Country Story by RedLionProduction
tunetank.com/t...
#hiking #outdoors #yosemite

[@mikewichmann6959]

We've done many adventures together through the years, but this backpacking trip was the BEST! It was a real joy to spend 4 days in the wilderness with a solid adventuring partner like you! I love the clip with the bear in it at the 17:00 minute mark! Thanks for including me and I look forward to the next adventure! Love, Dad

[@jessicavaughn7537]

Great seeing you Mike!

[@GGxKiwi]

What a good dad! ❤️

[@bigbreezy64]

The bear also had me laughing!

[@Awentworth72]

Mikes little side scamper under the waterfall killed me 😂 another great video!

[@XLOutdoorsman]

I’m getting a lot of similar feedback on that side scamper, I had no idea he did that until I got to editing. I laughed pretty hard

[@JudithWinsor]

Like the little sock for your battery. Glad you didn’t have to wrestle the bear!

[@XLOutdoorsman]

I’m glad I didn’t have to wrestle the bear either! Thank you for watching

[@mikecurtin4659]

Awesome video! I enjoyed watching it. Thanks.

[@XLOutdoorsman]

Thank you for watching, I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[@LonelyRev]

Good to meet you papa wick

[@XLOutdoorsman]

His first appearance of many I'm sure!

[@jessicavaughn7537]

Another amazing adventure. Keep them coming.

[@jessicavaughn7537]

I also really enjoyed know how you pack and the items to take and use.

[@XLOutdoorsman]

Thank you! Many more planned

[@XLOutdoorsman]

I plan on going over the gear I take for every big trip video from here on out. This "gear review" could have been done better but I learned plenty for the next one!

[@SilascoRS]

Those views, man. Amazing vid! Appreciate all the uploads :)

[@XLOutdoorsman]

Thanks for watching and thanks for the support!

[@Mastblood]

Absolutely stunning! Love the tunnels!

[@XLOutdoorsman]

O'Shaughnessy Dam and the tunnel right next to it is a very impressive modern marvel. If I ever get a chance or permission to take a tour inside the dam, that would make an epic video in itself!

[@hikesome]

Watching this makes me want to pack my bags and hit the trails immediately! Cool footage and editing.

[@XLOutdoorsman]

Today’s Friday! Perfect time to head out

[@bigbreezy64]

Always look forward to new videos from you! Hope youre enjoying doing them because i know your videos make quite a few people happy. Looking forward to more adventures!

[@XLOutdoorsman]

I am enjoying them very much and I'm still working out ways to upload consistently. Once I get a solid routine going, I'm sure I'll be able to stock up more videos

[@asteroid006]

This place looks awesome! great video

[@XLOutdoorsman]

Thank you! I don't think Yosemite has anything less than awesome to see and experience. You have to go someday!

[@trentinomelone]

Great video and cast of characters! How'd you get the bear to make a guest appearance? 😂

[@notmaxpro]

i usually skip forward to the part where you swim cause i like it when you take your shirt off

[@VivaPedro]

Nice trip! Just hiked the south of Yosemite, rangers said no go on original plans of Whitewolf to Tuolumne due to avalanches 😮

[@XLOutdoorsman]

That would have been amazing. Rangers tend to know best. I can’t wait to get up to Tuolumne

[@BlakeMcGuire-oc5kc]

Just finished this loop 6/28/24 - 7/1/24 NO snow at all on trail. We had alot of luck fishing at Lake Vernon using size 4 Panther Martin Spinners Black colored with the Yellow dots and gold blade late evening and early morning. Caught and released 20+ beautiful rainbows between 3 of us. Pan fried a couple and they were delicious. We passed up on early campsites at lake vernon at the beginning and We kept walking on trail and eventually setup camp at the far north backside of Lake Vernon and thats also where we did our fishing. We Saw 1 Big Cinammon colored bear early morning at lake vernon about 50 yards from our camp and it left us alone completely. Because we camped at the far end of lake vernon that meant we had to hike back about a mile to pick back up on the trail to cross the outlet and footbridge to start the switch backs out of vernon. Thankfully we didnt have to wade across any water to make it across the footbridge as shown in your video. Then after the switchbacks on the way out of vernon on to Tiltill we came across a Mama bear and 2 Tiny baby cubs. Crossing Tiltill was still marshy and wet. The descent coming down before tiltill valley was brutal on the knees. My absolute favorite part of the trip was waking up at Rancheria Falls and finding a beautiful swim spot at lower rancheria. Crystal clear pools of water and granite water slides. It was amazing. By the time we made it back to the reservoir and Wapama falls we were soo ready to make it back to the truck that we didnt even drop packs at Wapama. We snapped a couple pics and a video and within 5 minutes we were back on the trail for the final push to the finish line. The Falls were not splashing onto the foot bridge this time of year. Our entire trip was done with the weather in the Mid 90's so it was slightly torture looking at the beautiful water in the reservoir on the final stretch back just wishing we could jump in and swim one last time. Overall Loved this trail! it was a trip i'll never forget!

[@XLOutdoorsman]

Fantastic! Could you imagine doing this loop counter clockwise? That hill above Tiltill would be painful. Like you said it was hard on the knees on the way down, but it would be brutal on the lungs on the way up. I’m glad you had a great trip! What’s next?

[@BlakeMcGuire-oc5kc]

@@XLOutdoorsman That section would have been absolutely brutal going counter clock wise. Its funny you say that because we passed ALOT more people that were doing the loop counter clock wise. To be fair, Clock wise did have ALOT up elevation gain as well. Up until That LONGGG Stretch of down hill descending into tiltill valley and Afterwards rancheria, we voiced several times about how we thought counter clock wise would have been easier. We quickly changed our mind after that. Although our First day was absolutely Brutal as well. We left the dam to start our hike at like 10 a.m. we got such a late start! knocked out the switch backs and made our way onto laurel lake to refill waters and have lunch. You were smart to leave a day early and get the switch backs knocked out the evening before. Getting to Vernon that first day for us felt like i had been climbing up a mountain all day. We made it to Vernon around 7 pm. set up camp and got some fishing in before it got tooo dark. We thought Day 2 would be easier from vernon to rancheria but my legs were toast by the time we made it to camp day 2. I still think down hill is almost worse than uphill. much harder on my legs/knees. Our Next trip is scheduled for early september, we are exploring Tuolmne meadows and Tenaya Lake.

[@XLOutdoorsman]

You'll love the Tuolumne area if you've never been. It's my favorite place in the park. Posted a video last week up in that area ( kzbin.info/www/bejne/fZPZZWaEi9aDfrs ). September is a great time of year to hike in the park

[@DeideraGaming]

algorithm pls give viewssss

[@XLOutdoorsman]

The algorithm gives what you earn haha. As long as some enjoy or draw inspiration from it, then I'm happy with that

[@vigilantjdawg]

This is awesome! Where do you get a wilderness permit to backpack on this?

[@XLOutdoorsman]

I picked up the wilderness permit for this trip at the Hetch Hetchy entrance station Yosemite has 6 wilderness permit stations: (www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/permitstations.htm)