To Drive or Not to Drive

We’re really doing it! We’re going to disappear into a wilderness for nearly a whole month, carry everything we need to survive - shelter, food, clothing and a few other essentials - on our backs from Yosemite Valley all the way to the very top of the highest mountain of the continental US.

Over the last month the preparations got underway. The first decision we had to make was regarding transportation. It would be nice to walk to our vehicle at the end of the trail and have the freedom to take off at any time we please. On the other hand will we really feel like a 2-day drive after the trip? Probably not. I also was not quite sold on an idea of leaving the Jeep at the trailhead for such extended period of time. In the end we decided to fly.

We booked a flight to Reno from where we will take the East Sierra Transit to a small town of Lee Vinning. This is where we can catch the YARTS bus heading for Yosemite Valley. The timing is not perfect, the last YARTS bus leaves Lee Vinning before we’ll have a chance to get to the town but we will need to pick up few supplies, including gas, and having the afternoon to do so will make us feel less rushed. On the other end of the trail we should be able to pick the East Sierra Transit bus directly at Lone Pine and ride it all the way back to Reno.

Another decision we made was to prepare our own food. We like food. We like food even more while we’re on the trail. Ramen Noodles and Mountain House pouch might be all right for a 1 night trip; however we did not want to expose ourselves to incredibly high amounts of sodium and other ingredients that resemble a list for chemical experiment more than a dinner day after day for the whole month. So we started dehydrating. Our first experimental meal consisting of pasta, beef and pesto with a bit of cheese was born, and it tasted good. We also dehydrated some sweet potatoes we plan to use for our Shepard’s Pie and some strawberries for snacking. It’s a good start and we have a week long trip planned to Arizona in late April which will give us an opportunity to test more of our creations in area where there is access to other food should something go wrong.