Smith Peak Views
David and I just got back from a great overnight in Yosemite. Although Tioga road is slowly being cleared out there is still no overnight parking allowed, so most people are heading to the low country for backpacking right now. We decided to head there too, except we had a different trailhead in mind than the masses. The ranger at the Hetch Hetchy entrance said there were 60 people heading into Rancheria Falls, but no one heading in our way – toward Smith Peak on the south side of the reservoir.
We left from the Mather ranger station and took the shorter route to the peak, about 8 miles and 3000+ ft in elevation gain. The route passed through some very burnt out territory and then into Cottonwood Meadow and finally Smith Meadow. Things were very wet in the meadows and I actually preferred hiking in my Crocs rather than getting my trail runners soaked in the ankle-deep sludge (actually, it was too late by the time I switched to the crocs!). There were also some deep and icy cold stream crossings. But, the payoff of the tricky terrain was the wildflowers – they were absolutely stunning. Many of the meadows were so overgrown with grass and wildflowers the trail had disappeared entirely. The trail also hasn’t been maintained this season – lots of fresh fallen trees and branches. Both of these things made it a bit slow-going, but it never was unmanageable.
At about 4pm we arrived on Smith Peak (~7800 ft) which is a granite peak poking out of the surrounding woodlands. From the summit there are great views of Hetch Hetchy toward Rancheria Falls and the grand canyon of the Tuolumne as well as the northern Yosemite High Country. It’s the Hetch Hetchy valley’s equivalent of Dewey Point, as far as the view goes. But the best part of the peak is the summit terrain – it’s got some great campsites. We didn’t see a single person all day and we had the entire summit to ourselves. It was one of the best campsites I’ve had as far as comfort and views. And what a sunset! Even with the clouds over the peaks we had a great show! We could see a few tents in the shadows clustered down by Rancheria falls and didn’t envy them. On the summit there was a slight breeze but some rocks protected the site and we were far enough above the meadows that the mosquitoes didn’t bother us.
In the morning the clouds over the high peaks had cleared so we were able to see all of the still-snowy peaks. Not a bad view to enjoy while sipping tea and eating my oatmeal! After letting our stuff dry out from the night’s bad condensation we packed up and headed back down the peak to Smith Meadow. Once we filled up our water at the meadow we headed off on a different trail back, one which paralleled a creek that was rushing with snowmelt. The route back was a couple of miles longer but was much different as far as terrain and views. About 4 miles from the ranger station we ran across a solitary dayhiker, the only other person we saw on the trail all weekend.
The two trails made a great 18 mile loop and the campsite on the summit was one of the best I’ve had. I still can’t believe we did an overnight backpack in Yosemite on a weekend without seeing another backpacker on the trail! (Unless you count the tents we could see way below us at the falls).
