Read Reid’s Blog

Rancheria Falls, Yosemite

This past weekend, Nelson, Koklynn, Wysz, Charlene, Jenny, and I went backpacking in Yosemite. The trip has already been considered a disaster and someone almost died of dehydration, but, in my opinion, it was well worth it. What’s a better way to bond with coworkers than to bring yourself to an extreme situation where you have to depend on each other for survival? What could be more relaxing after a long week of work than backpacking into the wilderness and considering the human condition?

Since I was the designated “planner” for this trip, I’ll take the blame for under-preparing ourselves for the hike. The unfortunate issue with backpacking is that there’s sparse details about a trail and what to expect. When I searched on Google for information about Rancheria Falls, I found sites indicating that the trail was about 6 or 7 out of 10 in terms of difficulty (Half Dome is 10) and there was only an elevation gain of 800 feet. And the kicker - it’s only a 7 mile hike.

If we are to trust my GPS, I’d say both measurements are wrong. According to the data uploaded onto MotionBased, we ended up hiking 9.73 miles each way and ended up doing far more than 800 feet of climbing, due to the numerous ups and downs of the trail.

So Rancheria Falls was hardly what we expected. As a whole, it’s a beautiful trail, which starts at the O’Shaughnessy Dam, which was built in the 1930s to create the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, which provides water to over 2.4 million people in the San Francisco area. The trail winds its way along the northern side of the reservoir, providing breathtaking views of the water and the granite rock that surrounds it. Along the way, you pass a Wapama Falls:

And wind your way along some ups and downs before finally reaching Rancheria Falls and the campground. All in all, it’s a gorgeous hike.

If there’s any moral to the story, it’s that backpacking is hard and you need to prepare. I really do feel bad that I didn’t emphasize the importance of bringing along plenty of water - some of us only had one water bottle, and when you’re hiking with a heavy pack, in 90 degree weather, with the sun beating down on you and with air quality that’s less than ideal due to the Northern California Wildfires, 16 oz of water is only going to last you so long. We had a lot of external factors working against us during the hike-out (the hike back was a lot better), but that’s the whole point about camping anyway - to be outdoors and have fun.

Although much of the humor centered around our slim chances of survival or relative pain experienced at various moments of time, looking back, I can’t help but laugh. Jenny’s shoes broke less than 5 minutes into the hike, requiring her to hike with sewn up soles. Charlene lost her sunglasses. Nelson fell in the water (and Wysz saved him). Koklynn was the best target for mosquitoes. I got sunburned and hiked the entire trail back with a bum knee that hurt with every step. And Wysz, he’s the best - turning his jeans into shorts on the hike back, curling up in a fetal position after Nelson and I hiked ahead to Rancheria Falls to get water and bring it back for him and using a wine bottle to hold water on the hike out.

So would I do it again? Definitely. In fact, I’m hoping to get out to Yosemite at least once more this summer, so if you want to backpack, hike and camp at a drive-in campground, let me know. Here’s a photo by Wysz that highlights the vastness of the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir:

More photos:
Nelson’s photos
Koklynn’s photos
Wysz’s photos