We wanted to get one more Yosemite trip in before the weather got too cold and rainy, so we booked the only campsite we could, in Wawona Campground. This was a new area of the park for both of us, and is worth a visit if you have extra time. Since SOTA time was limited, I decided to go up the summit first thing in the morning to Mt Savage.
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| One of the planets (probably Venus) rising. |
I parked in a lot in front of the Wawona Hotel. As far as I could tell, this was not reserved for guests only, and either way the hotel was closed for renovations. I crossed the highway and golf course, the turned left onto the Wawona Meadow Loop Trail. This trail is partially paved, and goes around the meadow, with the highway on the far side.
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| The meadow through the trees (from my return) |
At the far side of the meadow there is a trail juction, which I almost missed in the dark. I turned right onto the trail, which quickly began heading up the hill. After a short distance it becomes single track and starts following contours more than going straight up. There was a strong inversion too. As I climbed the temperature increased noticeably. This was good news, since I wasn't really prepared to activate in the freezing cold. It must be in decent shape, since I had no problems following the trail by headlamp.
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| The scenery isn't as good at night. |
The other end of the single track is a fire road. The road appears to be used, there were tire tracks and plenty of freshly cut trees along it. I turned left and continued up the hill to the height of land. Here there was a small clearing. I had read in previous trip reports that there was an unmaintained trail to the summit, but I couldn't see where it started in the early dawn, so I made my best guess and started up the hill. I found the trail pretty quickly, so I guess I'm a good guesser.
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| Sun is about to rise. |
The use trail led me right to the summit. The first part of it didn't go straight up, but after a turn it did. Pretty steep. There are some large rocks on top, high enough to give a good view if you walk up to the top. This was a nice surprise, otherwise there would have been no view.
It was a bit windy, so I didn't set up on the rocks, but out of the wind just below. Despite the early hour I had no problems making contacts while watching the sky get brighter as the dawn neared its end.
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| Start of the use trail. |
I had to get back to the campsite so I couldn't hang out on top as long as I would have liked. It was a quick run back to the road, then to the single track as I retraced my steps. Since the sun had come up I was able to enjoy the forest views and make good time. Back at the meadow it was still freezing cold, so I kept moving to get back in the relatively warmer car for the short drive to the Wawona campground.
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| Alpenglow from the valley. |
