You may view these photos as a slide show or an indexed list. There is also a Trip Map (BIG, 540K).

This was my first "serious" backpacking trip, a 5-day 50-miler from Tuolumne Meadows to Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. My companion was Mr. Gary McClaughry, of Grass Valley, California. Our trip took place in the first week of June 1975, with the Tuolumne River swollen from a heavy snow pack. Swift water was our constant companion, except for a very dry stretch over Rancheria Mountain. The canyon bottom was flooded in many parts, forcing us to walk barefooted through several forested areas. We had some very thrilling (and lucky) creek crossings, particularly over Register Creek and Piute Creek. Crossing Table Lake in Pleasant Valley on a log raft was another highlight. I still haven't forgiven Gary for telling me about "sierra piranha," as I took my turn kick paddling the raft out in the middle of the icy lake.

We didn't have any problems with bears, although there were signs of their presence. We hung our food each night without incident. The first night out, as we camped above Glen Aulin, a pair of hikers walked through our campsite, asking, "you didn't own a Porsche convertible, did you?" Later, we saw an old gym locker at the trail junction in Pate Valley, a notorious bear raiding area. The heavy gauge steel doors of the locker were twisted like paper wrappers on salt water taffy. We also saw a large bear ambling along the opposite side of Irwin Bright Lake in Pleasant Valley. Near the end of the trip, as we hiked around Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, we saw a group of foreign tourists snapping pictures of a bear cub in a tree, shredding one of their backpacks. Gary and I were in a hurry (19 miles that day), and didn't stick around to see if the cub's mom showed up.

I learned two important lessons on that trip:

1. Do not use "Made in Taiwan" imitation Sigg fuel bottles. I had one that leaked into our trail mix, which we ultimately had to eat, due to lack of food.

2. Do not use moccasin-toed high top work boots for "serious" hiking. Blisters. Leakage. More blisters. Pain. 'Nuff said.

We used Gary's ancient Kodak Pony 135 camera on this trip. Most of the shots were at 1/60 of a second; hence the blurry moving water. I think we had one roll of ASA 25 black and white and one roll of ASA 64 color. In contrast, on my recent trips I've usually taken at least 20 rolls of film!

The original scanned images were very poor, and I must thank Doren Garcia (doren@alogical.com, www.alogical.com) for providing color correction. To see what a great job Doren did, one photo is left in the uncorrected state. See if you can figure out which one it is!

(Note: My recollection of some of the geographical features is a little hazy, and I didn't take notes. If you feel that a landmark is incorrectly identified, please let me know. For example, some of the waterfalls may not be correct.)

It was a fantastic trip, and a great introduction to the High Sierra!

Once again, you can view my photos as a slide show or an indexed list.

Best Regards,

Frank R. Farmer

ffarmer