Retired NFL lineman with passion and respect for the great outdoors. Subscribe to follow my firsthand adventures, as I slip and stumble my way to becoming a more confident outdoorsman.
I did a four night backpacking trip in Yosemite high country. I left my cook pot, stove and coffee cup in the car. Thank goodness for cold soak option, which got me through.
Great job Cody! This is my FAVORITE XL Outdoorsman video yet! You did a great job of sharing your experience in an honest, entertaining and educational way! I've always said it's not an adventure without a little adversity andd/or blood, and this one's got it with a sorta-planned bivouac at 10,000', DARN COLD/NO TENT/NO SLEEPING BAG/NO SLEEP! This video comes with all the "now expected" clips: how to get a last minute backcountry permit, a cold water stream dunk, camp set-up including the luxury CHAIR (LOL), another DELICIOUS PEAK MEAL dinner, wildlife sightings, amazing scenery, and successful fly fishing with lightweight Tenkara fly-rod. What an awesome spot to experience such SOLITUDE! I applaud your respect for wilderness regulations and the natural environment! It's been about 30 since I was at Vogelsang. I recall one time with my friend Jeff J. who had a serious case of ALTITUDE SICKNESS. His heartbeat hit 240 bpm while resting in our tent at 10,000' and we had to pack up in the pouring rain in the middle of the night and head to lower elevation! So proud of you for pursuing this passion of yours and sharing! Dad
Lovely scenic trip X.L! Didn’t know that you played pro ball. Very cool! Besides videoing and family what else are you doing? Happy to see you do some fishing near the end! Take care!
I finished playing ball in 2020 and since then I've done some traveling, did some coaching for our local high school basketball team, and have been spending a lot of time with my little daughter. Recently RU-vid has kept me plenty busy, so I've been enjoying that. Thank you for watching!
On one hand, I'm jealous you got up so early on the season, but those damn skeeters. Did young lakes July 4th for a few nights a few years ago and they weren't too bad. It all depends on how damp the ground is. Great video! Thanks for sharing!
Yeah I understood that the bugs are always really bad during May and June. The thing I messed up with is not having gloves. Other than that I would have been good to go. Thank you for watching!
I picked up the wilderness permit for this trip at the Hetch Hetchy entrance station Yosemite has 6 wilderness permit stations: (www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/permitstations.htm)
Just finished this loop 6/28/24 - 7/1/24 NO snow at all on trail. We had alot of luck fishing at Lake Vernon using size 4 Panther Martin Spinners Black colored with the Yellow dots and gold blade late evening and early morning. Caught and released 20+ beautiful rainbows between 3 of us. Pan fried a couple and they were delicious. We passed up on early campsites at lake vernon at the beginning and We kept walking on trail and eventually setup camp at the far north backside of Lake Vernon and thats also where we did our fishing. We Saw 1 Big Cinammon colored bear early morning at lake vernon about 50 yards from our camp and it left us alone completely. Because we camped at the far end of lake vernon that meant we had to hike back about a mile to pick back up on the trail to cross the outlet and footbridge to start the switch backs out of vernon. Thankfully we didnt have to wade across any water to make it across the footbridge as shown in your video. Then after the switchbacks on the way out of vernon on to Tiltill we came across a Mama bear and 2 Tiny baby cubs. Crossing Tiltill was still marshy and wet. The descent coming down before tiltill valley was brutal on the knees. My absolute favorite part of the trip was waking up at Rancheria Falls and finding a beautiful swim spot at lower rancheria. Crystal clear pools of water and granite water slides. It was amazing. By the time we made it back to the reservoir and Wapama falls we were soo ready to make it back to the truck that we didnt even drop packs at Wapama. We snapped a couple pics and a video and within 5 minutes we were back on the trail for the final push to the finish line. The Falls were not splashing onto the foot bridge this time of year. Our entire trip was done with the weather in the Mid 90's so it was slightly torture looking at the beautiful water in the reservoir on the final stretch back just wishing we could jump in and swim one last time. Overall Loved this trail! it was a trip i'll never forget!
Fantastic! Could you imagine doing this loop counter clockwise? That hill above Tiltill would be painful. Like you said it was hard on the knees on the way down, but it would be brutal on the lungs on the way up. I’m glad you had a great trip! What’s next?
@@XLOutdoorsman That section would have been absolutely brutal going counter clock wise. Its funny you say that because we passed ALOT more people that were doing the loop counter clock wise. To be fair, Clock wise did have ALOT up elevation gain as well. Up until That LONGGG Stretch of down hill descending into tiltill valley and Afterwards rancheria, we voiced several times about how we thought counter clock wise would have been easier. We quickly changed our mind after that. Although our First day was absolutely Brutal as well. We left the dam to start our hike at like 10 a.m. we got such a late start! knocked out the switch backs and made our way onto laurel lake to refill waters and have lunch. You were smart to leave a day early and get the switch backs knocked out the evening before. Getting to Vernon that first day for us felt like i had been climbing up a mountain all day. We made it to Vernon around 7 pm. set up camp and got some fishing in before it got tooo dark. We thought Day 2 would be easier from vernon to rancheria but my legs were toast by the time we made it to camp day 2. I still think down hill is almost worse than uphill. much harder on my legs/knees. Our Next trip is scheduled for early september, we are exploring Tuolmne meadows and Tenaya Lake.
You'll love the Tuolumne area if you've never been. It's my favorite place in the park. Posted a video last week up in that area ( ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Gbv43NVqPHY.html ). September is a great time of year to hike in the park
Seems like an awesome time, just came from a trip like this at the Palmira Desert in my country. Glad to see you're a camping enthusiast too, hope you´re doing great
Great video man! Have really enjoyed watching your content the past month or so. I’ve got some trips planned into Ansel Adam’s and emigrant wilderness this year, this stuff just gets me so much more excited.
The heat and elevation got to me during this hike. Luckily I had a few creeks to cool off in and to refill my water. It's beautiful Yosemite though and always worth a little challenge to see the sights!
@@bigbreezy64 At the time of making this video it was still very early in the hiking season. So understandably the trail crews had not yet been able to clear this path from downed trees. It just seemed like every time I was able to pick up the pace I would turn the corner to see another downed tree. They really slow you down after awhile
Really enjoyed the fishing footage and cooking too! You eat well’. Ha! Reminds me when you were a kid and how everything you ate was was “delicious!” 😊Just a great job on this video and thank you for promoting compliance with wilderness regulations in Yosemite national Park!
Great question! It is a rule in Yosemite to camp 100' from water sources such as lakes or streams and also 100' from any main/popular trails. The reason for camping away from water (I believe) is to preserve water quality and to help wildlife reach the lake without running into humans. When it comes to camping near the trail its just a better experience for hikers to not have to walk right past someones tent to continue their journey.
