Lost around Buena Vista Peak we climbed Bruce Peak (9743ft, 2970m)

Yosemite NP

On Thanksgiving weekend we decided to get a little bit of cold and hike up to the Sierras. We had never been on the south side of Yosemite and knew that Wawona had some trails worth trying. In ~4 hours we arrived at the self-permit station at the Wawona Hotel and self-issued a permit. The parking at the trailhead has bear lockers and a restroom. The day was clear and relatively warm. After having a quick lunch we put on our backpacks, which weighes ~18Kg, and started the long hike up to Chilnualna Falls. During the first 2 hours the trail is windy and steep uphill with nice views to Wawona valley. Afterwards, the trail meanders through forrests and is flatter. We climbed about 4000 ft before deciding to stop to make camp. It was around 4:30 and we knew at 5 the sun would already have set. There were some patches of snow but we found a nice dry flat spot to put our tent. We had decided to take the route south to Buena Vista peak and camp near Grouse Lake.

On friday the day was quite clear and we started walking at 8am. We planed to be at Buena Vista Peak at 12pm, and then go down to Buena Vista lakes via the north ridge. To arrive at the peak we had to hike the last part crosscountry, as no trail leads you there.

At 12:30pm we arrived at a peak thinking that is Buena Vista Peak. Happy but very cold, we had some lunch and decided to hike down the ridge to a lake that we could see clearly from the peak. On the way down there was a steep unexpected step that we had to pass. There was snow and ice so we put on our crampons and jumped down the rocks. At this moment we started realizing that something was weird and that the reference points didn't correlate with the map and the coordinates. We realized that we had been in the wrong peak (Bruce Peak) and that we were actually going farther away from the trail. Also, we were leaving the area for which we carried a map. Worried, we decided the go back up the ridge of the mountain we had just climbed. It started snowing and the ridge was too steep and too far so we found a relatively nice and dry spot and camped on a semiridge. The snowfall and the wind got heavier. It became dark and cold and we didn't know if the day after we would be able to climb that ridge with so much fresh snow. We started worrying about the avalanche hazard and started thinking how much food we had. How many days could we stay here before somebody came to look for us? Nobody knew that we were there. The permit was self-issued, maybe nobody would ever look for us!

During the night there were some moments when the snow storm stopped. We had a nice moon shining down on us and everything was already white.

On Saturday, we woke up early, at 5:30. The idea was to start walking as soon as we had sunlight. We looked again at our map and almost in all directions there was a steep incline. So we decided to take the shortest path and go up the ridge we took the day before. As we approached the ridge it seemed more impossible to climb. The snow covered the flat rocks of Yosemite but it was powder that would slide pretty easily. We found a couloir that seemed more accessible.

The snow was deep in some places but we managed to climb the ridge taking turns leading and without major slides. It had snowed a little more but now it was finishing and it seemed that the weather was going to improve. To make sure we found the way back, we decided to return to the trail we hiked the day before, as we had the track on the GPS and we would be able to follow it if the snow had hidden the trail.

Fortunately, the way down was not very steep and we found the trail soon enough. There was snow all the way down until Chilnualna falls, but the trail was visible almost always and when not we had our GPS.

After a long day of 8 hours, 17 miles and 5800ft of elevation drop we arrived at the trailhead. At Wawona there was no snow, the sun was shining, some people looked at us saying: real hikers!!

We were exhausted but happy. Our body would remember that trip for a few days. Artur would have joint problems for the week and Meri her favourite giant blisters.