2014 Gradpacking Yosemite - Lyell Canyon to Boothe Lake via Evelyn Lake Lollipop Loop Trail

Photojournal from the 2nd annual WildLink Club GradPacking trip: A backpacking adventure for freshly graduated alumni of the THS WildLink Club Brian and Kathleen. Thanks to another horrible drought year, we decided to tackle the Yosemite high country in early June. Unbelievably, we only encountered ten other hikers on our entire hike and very few mosquitos above 9000ft! Infact, marmots outnumbered people by about 3-1. Our three day journey was 26 mile lollipop route from Tuolumne Meadows to Lyell Canyon, up to Evelyn, Fletcher, Townsley and Boothe Lakes and then down Rafferty Creek and back to Tuolumne Meadows. Patchy snow and still-frozen lakes made the going a bit slow and caused us to change camp plans for the second night, but the views were amazing and memories to last a lifetime were etched into our brains. Be sure to check out the sunset and night photos at Boothe Lake. I’m happy with them. With that, bon voyage to Kathleen and Brian, entering the Army and Marines, respectively, in August.

Day 1 - Tuolumne Meadows to Lyell Canyon

Day 1 - Tuolumne Meadows to Lyell Canyon. 7.4mi, 448ft incline, 222ft decline.

33 images

Day 2 - Lyell Canyon to Booth Lake

Day 2 - Lyell Canyon to Boothe Lake. 9.8mi, 2129ft incline, 1125ft decline.

68 images

Day 3 - Boothe Lake to Tuolumne Meadows

Day 3 - Boothe Lake to Tuolumne Meadows via Rafferty Creek. 8.1mi, 316ft incline, 1542ft decline.

10 images