Mt. Gibbs (12764 ft, 3890 m) and Monroe Hall Research Natural Area
(Artur and Meri)

East of Tioga Pass there are several campgrounds that are a lot smaller than Tuolumme Meadows and have a higher chance to have free sites on Saturday morning. We wanted to try Sawmill Campground, a walk-in campground that seemed peaceful because of the fact that you have to walk a while to arrive at the campsite. As we expected, the place was nice, clean and calm and we were lucky to get the last free spot on Saturday noon.

It took us 3 trips to the car, each one 10 minutes, to bring all our stuff to the site. As it was hot and I didn't remember that we would be so far from the car, we had taken the cooler and the big stove. After having lunch, instead of going to the car again, we just started walking from our campsite to the Carnegie Institute Experimental Station. This was a really good choice. There is a well maintained path to the station and it continues into the Monroe Hall Research Natural Area. The trail enters into the valley that leads to Mount Conness (12590 ft) and White Mountain (12057 ft), wandering on the right of Lee Vining Creek. The valley is gorgeous at this time of the year. The snow has almost completely melted and everywhere you look it is full of water and flowers. We found quite a lot of people on the trail, including groups of rock climbers. We are not sure but we think they are climbing the south-east wall of Mt. Conness. Following the trail, it took us around 2 and a half hours to get to the top of the saddle and walk a little bit along the ridge to Mt. Conness. As it was getting late, we didn't have time to reach the peak of Mt. Conness. There may have been at least another hour left to go. In 2 hours we arrived back to our campsite, just as the sun was setting. We still saw 3 or 4 rock climbing teams passing by and were wondering where they were all coming from.

Artur in front of Mt. Conness

On Sunday morning we heard voices at 4am, some rock climbers passing very close our tent, apparently a little lost and off trail. Where were they going? Its still a mystery. We got up at 7am and saw several more teams of people with ropes and helmets going in direction of Mt. Conness.

After breakfast, and only 2 trips to load the car, we left the quiet campground towards Tioga Pass and parked at Mono Pass trail head (it has 3 bear lockers). From there, we hiked 1h30min gently sloping up to Mono Pass.

Mono Pass

Then we started hiking up Mt. Gibbs by the south-southeast ridge. The terrain is full of loose rocks so our pace was rather slow, but in around 2 hours we arrived at the peak. We didn't see any other people on the trail (or lack thereof), but read in the summit register that at least 2 groups of people had climbed the peak earlier the same day. As it was sunny, not very windy, and still early we had lunch and took a nap before starting down.
The amount of flowers in this area was spectacular. The snow was also almost completely melted and the landscape was full of colors of the different flowers.

We hiked down on the north-west ridge. There are some areas with big rocks and steep slopes that slowed us down a little bit, but in general it was easier going then the south ridge on the way up. In 2h 30 minutes we were back at the car without major problems. The streams at this time of year are quite low on water or altogether dried out so we could cross them without difficulty.

Sunnyside Bench Trail (Upper Falls) and Ledge Trail (Glacier Point) - Yosemite Valley
(Cordada Rapel)

Yosemite Valley is usually so crowded that doing a hike without people seems impossible.... unless you go to Sunnyside Bench Trail or the Ledge Trail. Both are half-day hikes, mainly class II with some class III steps. Both are very steep, slippery at moments and exposed. Those trails feature lots of adrenaline for normal hikers and fun for rock climbers.

The Sunnyside Bench trail hikes up to the bottom right hand side of the Upper Falls, just below the base of Lost Arrow Spire. It took us 2 hours to climb up and about half that time to go down. We were surprised by a rattlesnake on our way up and a smaller stripped black/yellow Garter Snake on the way down.

The first half of the trail is quite flat and easy to follow but it is very exposed. You don't want to slip here. Later it becomes steepper and there are some class III steps also with a bit of exposure. The last part is mainly slabs and the main danger is the sand on top of them. The view from the top is beautiful. The Upper Falls are near but not enough to get wet.

We did this as an afternoon hike. The good news is that after the way down there is the store and an ice-cream was waiting for us.

On the next morning we hiked the Ledge Trail. It seems to be the third deadliest trail in Yosemite. Well, if I had known that before, I may not have done it. The reality is that it was beautiful, especially the couloir at the end. It took us 3 hours to arrive at the intersection with the 4-mile trail, almost at Glacier Point. And then, 2 more hours to get down to the road by the 4-mile trail. The Ledge Trail itself is exposed and slippery at some crucial moments. The good news is that it is well marked by yellow and orange stripes, so when we doubted we just had to look for them.

The first 2 thirds of the trail are dry and rocky, but when we turn left into the couloir the trail changes completely.

It becomes like a small garden full of flowers, with a creek in the middle that we had to cross several times. It is so full of vegetation that we had some difficulties to follow the marks and cut through the bushes. Sometimes the vegetation was so thick that we could not even see our feet. Here we also encountered the added difficulty of slippery wet rock.

Both are recommendable hikes to avoid people but they are risky and can have bad surprises. The snakes, though, were good with us.