MikeJones

  • 20 hours ago
  • Joined Apr 20, 2018
  • Founder of this Forum, currently living in Southern California.

    I graduated from the United States Naval Academy and I am a Marine Corps Veteran who loves the outdoors and photography.

    You can find me on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/tendigitgrid/

  • francesca39 Glad you reached out and welcome to Ten Digit Grid! AS for if you are prepared or not, I would say the biggest challenge on Santa Rosa was that there is only one year round water source. So depending on which beach you are staying at you will most likely have to filter a ton of water their or at your campsite. Either way expect to haul a lot of water which is a lot of weight. If you are not experienced carrying large loads long distances then I would recommend to just stay at the campsite and not risk it. We were pretty spent from the water carry down to the campsite.

  • I had a few users request a more compact view mode to use on smaller screens. Been working on this the past week, along with a bunch of small bug fixes that are also released today.

    Update is live on Android right now and will be live on iOS later today or early tomorrow morning. Go check out the compact view in settings!

    On my Pixel 9 Pro I can now see 7 gear items at a time vs 4.5 when I had compact images enabled.

    As always looking to hear your feedback!

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  • New update live for Android and pending review for iOS (Should be live by Monday). Latest update ads an option to change the images that appear on gear to smaller images to condense the list in your packs more.

    This is just the start fro different view options, I plan on adding a compact mode as well. Enjoy the small images for now!

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  • Privacy Policy for Aridromos

    Last Updated: 1 March 2025

    This Privacy Policy describes how Ten Digit Grid ("we," "us," or "our") collects, uses, and shares information when you use our mobile game, "Aridromos" (the "Game").

    1. Information We Collect

    We collect the following types of information:

    • Game State Data: We use Firebase to store game state information, including but not limited to, progress, scores, in-game purchases, and other game-related data. This data is used to provide and improve the Game experience and to allow you to resume your progress.
    • Analytics Data: We use Google Analytics to collect anonymous information about how you use the Game. This includes information such as device information (e.g., device model, operating system), usage patterns, and aggregated demographic data. This data helps us understand how users interact with the Game and improve its performance.
    • Advertising Data: We use Google AdMob to display advertisements within the Game. AdMob may collect information about your device and activity to provide personalized ads. This may include your device's advertising ID, which can be used to track your activity across different apps.

    2. How We Use Your Information

    We use the collected information for the following purposes:

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    3. Sharing Your Information

    We may share your information with the following third parties:

    • Google: We share information with Google for the purposes of analytics (Google Analytics) and advertising (Google AdMob). Google's use of your information is governed by their own privacy policies.
    • Firebase (Google): We use Firebase to store game state information. Firebase's use of your information is governed by Google's privacy policy.
    • Legal Compliance: We may disclose your information if required by law or to comply with a legal process.

    4. Data Security

    We take reasonable measures to protect your information from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. However, no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.

    5. Children's Privacy

    Our Game is not intended for children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we become aware that we have collected personal information from a child under 13, we will take steps to delete it."

    6. Your Rights

    You may have certain rights regarding your personal information, including the right to access, correct, or delete your information. To exercise these rights, please contact us at mike@tendigitgrid.com.

    7. Third-Party Links and Services

    The Game may contain links to third-party websites or services. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of these third parties.

    8. Changes to This Privacy Policy

    We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page.

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    If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at:

    Mike
    mike@tendigitgrid.com

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  • New update live for Android and pending approval for iOS! You can now wishlist items while browsing public packs. There have been a number of times where I have been browsing another pack in the app and thought to myself I would love that piece of gear, or that looks cool I want to look into it more. Now you can tap the item and then add it to your wish list.

    Additionally while browsing others packs you would only see the gear name, manufacturer, quantity and weight. Some times you had no idea what the item was if it wasn't intuitive from the item name. Now when you tap the item you can get all the details including item type and pack category.

    Once you add items to your wish list you can find the list in the app settings!

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  • Fun Christmas update, if you are a pro user who has uploaded images you can now create and share your own Gear Layouts of your pack! Here is mine from my Cactus to Clouds hike:

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    You can select the Gear Collage from the 3 dot menu while viewing any pack. It will create the collage on all items with an uploaded image.

    It initially create a randomized collage, but you can edit to your liking. Drag images to move them around, pinch and zoom to enlarge or shrink image and rotate them.

    I found pinch and zoom difficult on smaller images, so you can tap an image to bring up manual controls for fine tuning. Hope you all enjoy!

    Can’t wait to see what gear layouts that you all make from your adventures!

  • Haleakala National Park Sunrise Overview

    In October my wife and I took a vacation to Maui. I had been to Maui once before, 25 years ago for my parents 25th wedding anniversary! I was pretty young then, and only had a few limited vivid memories. When I think back to that trip with my family 25 years ago I remember snorkeling, my parents renewing their vows, the Road to Hana, and freezing on top of Mt Haleakala.

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    Mt Haleakala was probably the first time in my life that I was above 10k feet in elevation. Little did I know back then as a small child that I would love going to altitude and climbing big mountains! Despite being freezing cold on a tropical island, which as a little kid I had strong feelings that should not be possible. I forever remembered that sunrise. Now married, I was excited to experience that once (twice) in a lifetime sunrise with my wife!

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    Haleakala National Park Sunrise Permits

    25 Years ago permits were not needed to visit Mt Haleakala National Park for sunrise. With the invention of the internet, social media and bloggers like myself this has become a pretty well known event to attend and permits are now required to visit for sunrise.

    Since requirements at National Parks are always changing, I recommend visiting the official Haleakala National Park Website for the most up to date information.

    When my wife and I visited (October 2024) permits were required for Sunrise as outlined by the recreation.gov website where you will book your permits:

    A reservation is required for each vehicle entering the park from 3:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. Beginning April 7, 2021 you may book a reservation up to 60 days in advance and 2 days in advance of the start date.

    If you are like us and do not have tickets two days beforehand then you can attempt to snag a ticket two days before the date. We definitely were not organized enough to try to book tickets 60 days before, but that kind of worked out. It's a risk to try to book them two days before but it's also a different risk booking them 60 days out. Booking 60 days out you have no idea what the weather will be like, at least two days out you can have a better idea. The day we originally planned to go looked really bad weather wise so we waited a couple days and pushed it to a later date on our vacation for a more favorable weather window.

    At the time of writing this reservations cost $1 per vehicle for the sunrise permits. This is not the only cost though, you still need to pay to enter the National Park as well.

    If you are not able to snag a permit but are willing to shell out a lot more money there are tours that you can join as well. The tours we saw in October looked to be about $200 per person, which is quite a bit more expensive when compared to the $1 permit fee.

    Haleakala Sunrise Reservation Tips

    Tickets are released at 7am HST time. I know everyone usually wants to sleep in on vacation but if you are trying to book tickets 2 days before for the Haleakala sunrise then make sure you set an alarm beforehand. I set mine for 6:30am. I wanted time to wake up, log in and ready to hit refresh with my credit card in my hand.

    Once up at 6am I was ready! I felt sure I would get tickets since we were here in October after the summer rush and before the winter rush. I logged in and was ready right at 7am when tickets were released.... and bam they were instantly all sold out.... I was frustrated and left to go to the bathroom. While pondering my Haleakala reservation fate on the porcelain throne, I heard my wife in the hotel room yelling for me to come out quickly! I quickly wrapped up and came running out, she was able to secure 1 reservation and we booked right away!

    ℹ️ Pack smarter, not harder, with Don't Forget the Spoon. Our app simplifies trip planning with personalized gear lists, a community gear locker, pack weight statistics, and calorie tracking. Say goodbye to forgotten gear and hello to seamless planning for your next outdoor adventure

    So what happened here, why were they sold out then suddenly not? This is pure speculation on my part, but while I was reserving our ticket I saw we had 15 minutes to check out once we found a free ticket. What I think is happening is families are having multiple people log in on different devices to "maximize" their chances. As a result a family may have multiple people who were able to snag a reservation right at 7am HST. Since you only need one reservation per vehicle, once they book their 1 ticket they then release what other ones they may have been "holding".

    Moral of the story here is if you try to book right at 7am and strike out, don't storm off to the bathroom. Calmly wait and there may be more "release" 15 minutes after. Because my wife was persistent and didn't give up we were able to snag our ticket on our preferred day!

    Summary of Haleakala Sunrise Reservation Tips:

    • Wake up at least 30 minutes before tickets are released.
    • Log into recreation.gov early. You do not want to waste logging in at 7am HST. While you are logging in people will probably already be booking their reservations.
    • Have your credit card in your hand ready to go.
    • If reservations sell out immediately, don't give up, especially at the 15 minute mark.

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    Haleakala Sunrise - The Drive

    My wife and I were staying at the Sheraton in Kanapali which proved to be one of the longer drives to summit Haleakala. Additionally I wanted to get there with plenty of time before sunrise since I enjoy astrophotography. We left the Sheraton at around 1:30am to catch the sunrise.

    Luckily one of the awesome ukulele players at our hotel a few nights earlier mentioned Maoli, an amazing artist who does a bunch of Reggae covers of country music. I instantly fell in love with his music and we had a great playlist to listen to for our drive! Despite the great music we did switch to the Shaka Audio Tours app when we got closer. If you are not familiar, the Shaka Audio tours is an app you download on your phone and it's like having a private tour guide in your car with you. It uses your phone's GPS to time the tour perfectly pointing out sights along the way. The tour up Haleakala also includes some fun history while driving both up and down the mountain. I am not affiliated with this app at all but my wife and I absolutely love it!

    Haleakala Visitor Center

    There are a number of locations to watch the sunrise from, but it is all first come first serve parking. Get there early if you are particular on where you want to watch the sunrise from. To be honest I didn't research the pros and cons of which spot to watch from in depth. I watched one or two quick YouTube videos and heard the Visitors Center was a great spot so we navigated there for our sunrise experience.

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    The Visitors center is just below the Haleakala Summit, but ended up being a fantastic viewing experience. The image I shared at the start of the article was taken at this spot.

    When we first arrived it was pitch black but magical looking up into the millions of stars in the sky. We packed our mountaineering puffy coats and a few layers to stay warm. It's pretty chilly and you will be standing around a bit waiting for sunset, so it's pretty chilly. I recommend you also pack a headlamp as well because the walk to the overlook can be a bit un-even. Please be respectful with your headlamp or flashlight and respect your fellow visitors at the park enjoying the designated dark sky.

    At this time I was unfortunately disappointed by the tour groups arriving. When the tours came up a handful of the tour guides were using massive flashlights to point locations out in the "Crater" and the sky, and were thus polluting and ruining the natural dark skies. I honestly don't know if it's illegal or not to shine bright lights in a designated dark sky like that, but as a snobby photographer I was a bit disappointed. They eventually stopped and I was able to get back to some photography.

    Since we were there early we got prime front row viewing of the sunrise right here at the green rectangle:

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    As the sunrise rose, I had my camera taking pictures and eventually made my first night to day time lapse from it. While the camera snapped away it was amazing to experience the sunrise in the chilly air with my wife by my side.

    As the stars slowly disappeared a thin red strip across the horizon began to appear slowly revealing a sea of clouds. As the stars departed the sea of clouds became more visible and flowed effortlessly over the terrain in front of us like a slow moving ocean. The black abyss in front of us revealed all its terrain features and I felt like we were transported from space to a moon-like planet below. This was one of the best natural shows of nature I have ever seen!

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    Pā Ka'oao Trail

    After watching the sunrise, we decided to hike the short distance up Pā Ka'oao Trail. Pā Ka'oao Trail is a very short .2 mile hike up from the visitors center to a slightly higher overlook from where we watched the sunrise from. The short hike has only a 100ft of elevation gain. The elevation gain may not seem like a lot but take it slow you are at 10k feet of elevation and if you drove up like us, there wasn't much time for your body to acclimate.

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    From this vantage point you get another great view of the Haleakala Crater:

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    Haleakala Summit

    After our short hike we took the short drive to Haleakala Summit before heading back down to sea level and relaxing at the beach. It worked out that we viewed the Sunrise from the Visitors Center because it looked like the summit structure had some maintenance going on and had some sections closed off.

    While up at the summit you can see the awesome Haleakala Observatories as well!

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  • I realized I didn't post the last update in here which I pushed out on 9/23/2024 which added gear notes! You can now add gear notes and filter items by searching gear notes as well:

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    Additionally today I pushed another small update that gives user feedback when swipping on a gear item in a pack to mark it as packed. Swipe right to pack and left to un-pack:

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  • Thank you for downloading Vaygo. We respect and protect the privacy of our users. This privacy policy tells you how we collect and use information.

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  • Last updates I added usernames, and this update starts to take advantage of them!

    Now when viewing a public pack from a user, you will see their username in the bottom left hand corner. You can now tap their username and go to their public user profile. The public user profile is very simple right now and shows a list of that users public packs!

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    Much more planned for the user profile in the future!

  • Adding user names! Apologies if you just went through the new onboarding screens, you will need to one more time to set your username ;-)

    User names at this time just show up under the pack description on public packs in the "Find Packs" section. This is just the beginning, lots more to come :-)

    Currently live on Android, Apple should be live sometime today!

  • Another small update pushed out today. Live in Android app store, waiting for the iOS review still.

    LAtest update adds onboarding to the app. When you first open the app there will be a few screens that give you a high level overview of how the app works. This is to help new users get acquainted with the app quicker.

  • Andhon it's probably one of my favorite Jeep trails. You get some great views of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

  • Lately I have been working on a lot of code clean up and back end changes that you all will not really see but will have huge benefits for you all. Unfortunately while doing that I broke the community gear locker search for about 24 hours (Sorry about that). It is now fixed, so please update to the latest version to make sure you have that fix.

    Secondly the changes I made in the background was more for me to be able to more quickly conduct admin tasks. If you do not know I screen all the items before they go into the public gear locker, so that it doesn't get crazy with lots of duplicates etc. With the large influx of users lately, I have not been able to keep up with approving gear locker additions, new items are being added to quickly by you all (Thanks!).

    In the latest release I can now approve new additions to the community gear locker much quicker!

  • Another update going out tonight to the app stores for approval:

    Under the hood fixes mostly for our European friends or anyone not using pounds and ounces. There were some ever slightly small rounding errors when looking at total weight and summary cards for a pack. This update should fix those small rounding errors which add up with a lot of gear.

  • Pushing to the app stores right now is our latest update! Should be live in Android App Store today and maybe even the apple app store (Apple has been getting quicker at reviews).

    Latest update adds summary cards to your Gear locker. This allows you to see basic stats about the items you own. It also allows you to filter your gear locker easily by Category, Item Type or Manufacturer by taping the bar graphs like you can already do with the pack summary cards.

    Hope you enjoy the update!

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  • Backcountry Snowshoe Camping Eagle Peak Yosemite National Park Overview

    I absolutely love Yosemite National Park, and it's where I first got into backcountry snowshoe camping. I have actually never been to Yosemite in a warm month. I have only been in the winter. It's great, the crowds are basically non-existent, so don't tell anyone my secret ;-)

    Since my wife and I started backcountry camping at Yosemite, I have always had this unwritten goal of wanting to winter camp the South Rim, East Rim and North Rim around Yosemite Valley.

    I have completed the South Rim twice with two different Dewey Point adventures. The first was with one of my best friends from the Marine Corps, and the second was my wifes introductory snow camping experience.

    The East Rim out towards Half Dome and clouds rest, I had attempted once but we quickly had to turn around as a result of not being properly prepared (Trip Report). A couple years later my wife and I went back prepared and made it up towards Clouds Rest (Trip Report).

    As for the North Rim... my wife and I got Covid and had to cancel that planning.... I got really out of shape. Then we got to this year and we were excited to finally tackle the North Rim! Our plan was to head up lower Yosemite Falls Trail, make camp near Eagle Peak and possibly check out El Capitan if conditions permitted.

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    Yosemite Falls To Eagle Peak Maps

    Our planned route was to take Yosemite Falls Trail towards Eagle Peak. Spend the night and then explore El Capitan and Eagle Peak during the day, spend one more night at the same campsite and then hike out back down Yosemite Falls Trail.

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    The Caltopo map above can be viewed and downloaded here. Since our plans were fairly loose, and we really just wanted to get to the Eagle Peak area, I just linked to the Eagle Peak map. I will show more on how our actual route turned out in the trip report below.

    Planning: Weather

    Any hike in Yosemite can be dangerous all year round, but there is another level of danger in the winter. If you have read any of my previous winter Yosemite reports you know that I am fairly risk averse and have no issue with turning around. If I feel like conditions do not match my comfort, training, or the gear I have with me then I will re-evaluate my plans.

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    Normally we plan our Yosemite winter treks in February but we try to stay flexible as we track storms as our dates get close. We had planned for February this year as well, but the weather decided against us. With our vacations dates confirmed at both our different Jobs, we sadly watch a huge winter storm come into Yosemite over the exact weekend we had planned:

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    The weather report above in our new app (Don't Forget The Weather) is showing a 100% chance of snow on Saturday every hour of the day and 100% chance of snow most of Friday. That's not safe driving conditions let alone backcountry snowshoe camping conditions. So we decided to reschedule. About 8k feet they were expecting over 5 feet of snow.

    Due to both our "normal" jobs we were not able to reschedule right away and April became our new target date. Luckily, due to the snow this year there was snow in April to snowshoe on ❄️ .

    How did I know there was snow? I was checking daily on Caltopo weekly Satellite imagery and was able to snag this great image the wednesday before our trip. I wasn't too sure on the depth of the snow, but there was at least some snowpack.

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    The Sunday morning of our hike the weather report for Yosemite Valley was looking pretty good, light precipitation in the afternoon, and then a sunny Saturday and Sunday to enjoy the backcountry:

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    Planning: Permits

    One of my favorite parts about Yosemite National Park in the winter is permits. They are all walk-ins and you do not need to reserve them prior. It makes it super flexible when planning, especially when you are watching constantly changing weather.

    With our trip being pushed from February to April, I realized I had to make sure to look at the reservation policy and I am glad I did. If you are planning your own trip make sure to triple check because the reservation policies can change year to year. The policy for April 2024 was:

    April 13, 14, 20, 21: Overnight hikes starting on these dates will require a reservation, with wilderness reservations available one week in advance on Recreation.gov. (Hetch Hetchy permits will only be available on a first-come, first-served basis at Hetch Hetchy Entrance.)

    Our plan to start was on Sunday April 14th, so we had to get permits. Luckily not many people seem to be backcountry snowshoe camping so I was up at 7am getting permits the week before and had no issue snagging two, for my wife and I.

    Gear List

    Winter packing is always a bit heavier than non winter camping due to the extra layers, double sleeping pads (I go foam and inflatable), and winter safety gear. I am by no means an "ultralight" backpacker, and we were on the heavy side for this trip due to unknown conditions.

    ℹ️ Pack smarter, not harder, with Don't Forget the Spoon. Our app simplifies trip planning with personalized gear lists, a community gear locker, pack weight statistics, and calorie tracking. Say goodbye to forgotten gear and hello to seamless planning for your next outdoor adventure

    For our "extra" items, we obviously had snowshoes for this trip which ended up being a smart decision. Postholing was no joke without snowshoes once we got out of Yosemite Valley. We additionally had crampons and ice axes as well. Ended up not needing them, conditions were really favorable for us on the way out of the valley. Since I have had to stop and turn around on my first clouds rest attempt, I didn't want to risk it. We also did use our ice axes on crampons when we were hiking out of the Valley for our second Clouds rest trip.

    Here is a quick overview of my packing list:

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    If you want to check all the items I packed in detail you can check it out here. You might notice I am missing a sleeping bag that was packed in my wifes pack. The bear canister took up a lot of real estate in my pack.

    Trip Report

    Having had to push this trip back from February to April, I had a lot of emotions of if this trip was even going to happen at all this year. It was a rollercoaster of planning. Our last decision before leaving was what car to take to Yosemite... I have a Jeep Wrangler and my wife drives a Tesla Model 3. The Jeep obviously does much better in the snow, but my jeep has no working heat ( We live in san Diego 😆 ). The model 3 is not great in snowy conditions (ours is rear wheel drive), but it does have working heat and heated seats. We made a comfort based decision, got some snow chains and decided to drive the electric car. The savings in "fuel" cost offset the cost of one of our hotels on the way back home....or just paid for the snow chains 😂 .

    With the car all packed we were off!

    Since we were watching the weather the entire week before we didn't book any hotel rooms until the drive up. Usually we like to drive up and stay at the Yosemite Lodge the night before, so we can wake up and get a full day on the trail. Usually in February we have had good luck getting last minute reservations at the Lodge but no luck this time with the trip mid April. We ended up getting a room at the Yosemite View Lodge, just outside the park. The one plus side with this, was the Tesla Supercharger at the hotel.

    The entire last hour or two of the drive to the hotel was pretty rainy and even snowing a bit at one point. It wasn't too bad and we never needed to put the snow chains on the car. I was slightly worrying about what the trail conditions would be in the morning on the Yosemite Falls Trail. Would we be dealing with a lot of snow on the steep switchbacks? Or would they just be a sheet of ice? Not much I could do though, I would have no idea until we got to the trail and assessed the conditions in the morning.

    In our room, we made final preparations re-packing all our gear just right. I also waxed my Fjallraven Keb Trousers in preparation for the snowy conditions we would be experiencing once we hiked out of the valley. Fjallraven designs some of their gear to take wax, a natural way to add water resistance to clothing without harmful chemicals.

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    In the morning we woke up and the rain had subsided and we were off to Yosemite Valley! Despite all the preparations and research there is always a sense of what conditions are really going to be. I never want to cancel a trip, and I really needed some backcountry camping time. It's been a bit since we have been backpacking. As usual the first sights of Yosemite Valley as I drive in makes all my worries disappear. I was suddenly in my favorite place on earth and any nervous energy instantly changed to pure excitement!

    In all my excitement I missed the parking lot we had to park at to check in and get our permits. As a result I had to drive all the way around the Yosemite loop one more time. I was a bit disappointed because I just wanted to get on the trail, but at the same time it's pretty scenic route, and this time we made a quick stop to take a panorama of what we would be hiking up.

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    On the second pass, I made the turn for the parking lot. We parked at the Village Store Parking Lot, and then walked on over to the Yosemite Wilderness Center to pick up our permits.

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    Since we usually come in February this was my first experience at the Yosemite Wilderness Center to pick up permits. We met three really nice rangers who gave us some great info on what to expect and gave me a quick quiz on what I should put into my bear canister, making sure we were going to place all items inside that have a smell and not just our food. So things like toothpaste and toothbrushes etc.

    With our permit in our hands it was finally time to head out to the trailhead! For this backpacking trip we would be parking across the street from Camp 4 at the Yosemite Falls Parking Lot.

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    I break Yosemite Falls Trails into a couple of distinct sections. The start is tree covered, very steep with lots and lots of small switchbacks. You gain just under 1k feet in elevation in about three quarters of a mile. Once you start to poke out above the forest the trail starts to head North East towards Yosemite Falls. This section has a lot less switchback and steadily rises past Columbia Rock (Great Photo Spot), and brings you almost right up to Yosemite Falls. The third and final section brings you back to a lot of narrow switchbacks, having you gain about 1,500 ft of elevation in about 1.2 miles. Long story short, it's a lot of uphill with lots of amazing views!

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    As we started our hike it was a little brisk out with broken clouds, but we quickly warmed up as we were hiking uphill basically all morning. In the morning as we started we saw a small handful of day hikers beginning their own hikes to see Yosemite Falls. I was happy it wasn't too crowded.

    Switchback after switchback slowly brought us higher and higher. As we slowly broke through the trees the views started to open up and we eventually started seeing some fantastic views of Half Dome in the distance, and the stunning Yosemite Valley floor below us.

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    At this point I was surprisingly feeling pretty good and strong. We still had a lot of hiking to do, but I was happy my wife pushed out out of the house the previous weekend and hike El Capitan in San Diego. It was a good way to get the legs ready for this hike.

    Columbia Rock was the first real stop we made on our hike up. We took our packs off, sat down and ate some delicious Blue Diamond Almonds as we enjoyed the view and refueled for our next push.

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    We were very much enjoying the nice views and being off our legs for a little bit, but we had to get back on the trail as the cold started setting in. Every time I winter hike it always amazes me how much heat the body produces when it is working hard on a continuous uphill and once you stop all that heat quickly dissipates if you don't trap it in with the right layers.

    Up to this point the trail had been fairly familiar to me. When me and my friend Matt had to cancel our Clouds Rest Trip a number of years ago we came to Yosemite Falls as a day hike. Without crampons and ice axes we got to a point where we could see Yosemite Falls and then had to turn around due to some deep snow and ice. As my wife and I got closer and closer to this section I was starting to worry what the trail conditions would be. The weather was a wintery mix the previous night where we stayed in El Portal and I expected to start seeing more snow and ice on the trail and we continued up to higher elevations.

    As luck would have it, the trail continued to be clear of any ice or snow. At this point I was honestly starting to worry, would we have any snow to snowshoe on when we got to the top?

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    With the warm temperatures the week prior, there was definitely a lot of snow melt going on and as a result the falls were roaring!

    From here on it was all new trail for me, and the conditions of the trail continued to be great. Above us, the rim of the valley was beginning to look a little cloudy which we were expecting from the weather report we looked at on Don't Forget The Weather before hitting the trail. My goal was to get high enough in elevation before the precipitation started. I would rather deal with snow than rain when it's cold out.

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    Although the trail was free of ice and snow still, it did get a little interesting at one or two parts as we started into the third section of Yosemite Falls trail. With all the snow melt there were a few sections of switchbacks that were becoming light mini waterfalls. These mini waterfalls were flowing pretty good, and we had to be really careful about each step because the rocks were slick and it was pretty steep at times.

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    Continuing up the switchbacks we basically were hiking into a cloud and visibility of the valley floor below was becoming less and less. We were getting very close to the rim of the valley at this point. The rim of the valley was my next milestone in my mind, as the trail would significantly become less steep. The rim of the valley was also where I was expecting us to start reaching some snow based on the satellite imagery we were looking at the day before.

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    Eventually it started to lightly drizzle. The drizzle quickly turned to flurries which eventually turned to light snow. There is something magical about hiking through some light snow, and I was just getting more excited with each step toward the rim of the valley.

    Eventually the light snow got to the point where we decided to put some jackets on. We knew the trail would be getting less steep and we wouldn't be producing as much internal heat as a result. We found an awesome tree that sheltered us quite a bit from the snow where we de-packed and fetched our shells.

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    Soon after putting our shells on we ran into another couple who was coming down from backpacking the last few nights near Eagle Peak. They actually mentioned they were cutting their trip short by a night because one of their snow shoes actually broke. I felt bad they had to cut their trip short, but it was nice to hear there was plenty of snow for snowshoeing! They also gave us some great trail beta. With the warm temperatures and the snow melting the snow bridges over the creeks and rivers were starting to collapse.

    On this trip we would cross a lot of these snow bridges, and we were thankful for the advice. We made sure to cross one at a time and tried our best to pick the best snow bridge to cross when there were options. Snow bridges can be very dangerous this time of year as the snow melts, and some of the drops into the creeks were easily 6+ feet.

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    We finally made it out of Yosemite Valley and the trail began to flatten out a little bit and we were suddenly in a forest filled with snow. Although the terrain leveled out a bit, we did still have a little bit of climbing before we made camp for the night near Eagle Peak. The change in scenery was beautiful seeing snow in every direction.

    At first we didn't need our snowshoes as there was a little bit of a trail, but very quickly the trail began to disappear and we threw our snowshoes on. For a little bit there were some footprints to follow but we eventually were blazing a new trail through the snow!

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    Backcountry snowshoe camping is especially challenging once there are no "trails" to follow, which is one of the reasons why I love it so much. You really do feel like an explorer plotting and navigating your own path. Navigation can be especially difficult with no trail to follow so you need to be confident in your map skills. A lot of people bring GPS devices which are highly recommended, but always be prepared for that device to die or fail. I always bring a paper map and compass as a backup.

    Reading maps in the snow is extra challenging as well so make sure you are extremely confident in your backcountry navigation skills. Terrain association is challenging because the snow can drastically throw off the landscape due to snow drifts. What may look fairly flat on the map, may be a bumpy mess of ups and downs. So a "flat" and "easy" plotted course may actually be an exhausting rollercoaster of ups and downs.

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    Protip if you are snowshoeing and now there will be a lot of climbing, get snowshoes with heel lifts. Our MSR Snowshoes (REI Affiliate Link) have heel lifts you can flip up before going up steep inclines and it's quite magical.

    I mentioned at the start of the article that we had to push our February trip back and it was now April. One added benefit of this is the time change is advantageous. In the winter the days are much shorter and you do not have a whole lot of daylight. Since April is after the time change, we had a whole lot of daylight, so we never felt like we were racing the sun to make camp. If it was actually February we would have had to start much earlier, or would have had to make camp earlier and not have had as much time to pick an ideal location.

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    We had a couple locations that we marked on our map for potential campsites before setting on one on the edge of a clearing. When you find your campsite after hiking all day long your body just wants to sit down and rest and call it a day, but it's really just the start of a different type of work. We still had to dig out a pit for our tent, set up our tent, melt snow for water, and then eventually cook dinner all before calling it a day.

    We only had one shovel so we took turns digging out a pit to help protect us a little more from the wind. As we set up camp I took off my snowshoes and instantly sunk up to my knee. So we tried our best to pack down the snow in our area to make it a little safer to walk around with our snowshoes off.

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    After setting up camp there was still a decent amount of daylight left so we decided to do a little bit of exploring towards Eagle Peak. We stashed our food in our bear can away from camp, and set out with our now very light packs and enjoyed a nice early evening hike through the snowy forest of Yosemite.

    We ended up not going far at all, a round trip of only about .6 miles. As we hiked towards a view of Yosemite Valley we quickly realized we would not get a view at all due to the thick clouds we were hiking through. We were also a bit more tired then maybe we were admitting so we ended up turning around and heading back to camp for dinner.

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    Not counting our short little evening hike towards Eagle Peak here are our hiking stats for the day:

    • 6.42 miles
    • 3,661 ft elevation gain
    • 5 hours 45 minutes of hiking (with breaks)
    • 2,591 calories burned

    Day 2: Exploring El Capitan and Eagle Peak

    The first night probably fell into the low teens but we were comfortable in our little home away from home. I love waking up in the backcountry in the winter and seeing the little ice crystals on everything in the morning. Our plans for the day were pretty loose. We were going to explore up where we went last night to catch a glimpse of Yosemite Valley, then head towards El Capitan if conditions permitted and finally check out Eagle Peak before heading back to camp and calling it a day.

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    After a simple breakfast of pop tarts and beef jerky we were back out exploring the wonderful winter wilderness. Between the super light packs, and the early morning hard frozen snow, I felt like we were flying! Last night's short walk towards Eagle Peak was nice because we had a route of our own footprints to follow and didn't have to do as much route finding in the morning.

    Unfortunately my nice camera lens had some fogging issues in the morning with the temperature changes so I didn't get a whole lot of pictures on the way.

    We ended up finding a fantastic overlook of Yosemite Valley just East of Eagle Peak. The plus side to there was a really nice warm rock to sit on and warm up while we enjoyed the view and had a little more food.

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    After we enjoyed the view we headed towards El Capitan. This was a fun side adventure, with a lot of route finding and not much of a trail to follow. The snow was warming up very very fast and becoming a bit slushy in sections. Additionally there were a number of sections where the snow was totally melted. With the drastic changes of deep soft snow and then areas of zero snow, we had to swap in and out of our snowshoes multiple times.

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    We ultimately got to a section that was fairly steep and was a mix of wet builders and melting snow fields. I wasn't super comfortable crossing this section and it eventually led us up to creek crossing that was flowing pretty good with the snow melt. We were not too far from reaching El Capitan but we ultimately decided to turn around here and head back.

    The temperatures were rising towards 50 degrees and it was getting warmer and warmer out. With large temperature swings and melting snow there is a lot of shifting that occurs. I wasn't sure how stable the snow fields were and was also thinking of loosening rocks and boulders. Maybe I was being overly cautious but, ultimately I think we made the best decision based on our skill level. I was also thinking about a truck we drove by on the way into the valley on our first day. As we drove in there was a truck on the side of the road with a massive rock lodged in its hood that clearly recently fell off a cliff. We were slightly disappointed because we really wanted to get to El Capitan, but the disappointment quickly faded when we eventually made it to Eagle Peak.

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    The route towards Eagle Peak was a fun snowshoe climb that ultimately led to some of the best views I have ever had of Yosemite Valley. There were some steep sections along the way but the snow was solid and we slowly made our own switchbacks back and forth as we made our way up towards the peak.

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    Near the top of Eagle Peak we found a wonderful rock to just relax on. We spent a portion of the day just enjoying the view and relaxing. After all this was a vacation, so I didn't feel too bad just sitting there enjoying the view. Additionally I did a lot of photography from here, which ultimately led to the large stitched together photo at the start of this article.

    As we sat here enjoying an almost 360 degree of Yosemite, it was a great place to reminisce on our previous snowshoe adventures in Yosemite over the years. We could see across the valley to the southern rim where we enjoyed our first snowshoeing trip together at Dewey Point. We also had stunning views of what was either Vernal or Nevada Falls which we hiked past on our way to Clouds Rest. And of course just to the left of Half Dome we had spectacular views of Clouds Rest. As the clouds slowly rolled by at eye level, we even got to see a few take a "rest" at Clouds Rest.

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    Eventually it was time to head back down to camp to melt snow, cook dinner and spend one last night before heading back down to the valley in the morning. On the way back to camp we didnt take the direct path back and spent a little time just exploring the wonderful wilderness of Yosemite. It's not often you can say you have Yosemite National Park all to yourselves, and we wanted to enjoy every view as much as we could.

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    When we made it back to camp I had plenty of time to melt snow for dinner and top off all our water bottles for the trek back in the morning. While I melted snow, my wife got to work building a nice chair to enjoy our dinner together. Dinner the second night was much better having a real place to sit!

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    As we sat in our snow chair enjoying dinner, we had a wonderful view of the clearing in the forest we made camp by. As the sun slowly went down clouds started rolling in on the meadow and it was amazing watching the meadow and the trees in the fog with the constantly changing light. The best part was the fog didnt roll into camp, it was just in front of us in the meadow putting on a show for our final night in the backcountry.

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    Day 3 Back down to the Valley Floor

    In the morning we packed up camp and talked about all the food and drinks we were going to get at The Ahwahnee. It was nice to know that we had an entire day of almost all downhill hiking. We made quick progress back to Yosemite Falls trail by following our first day's tracks and not having to route find.

    Once we hit Yosemite Falls Trail we started seeing a lot of day hikers coming up to view the falls. Compared to our first day the weather was much nicer, so there were a lot more people. I think one of my highlights of this trip was of a young girl coming up the trail with her family. As she stopped to catch her breath she looked up at my wife and let out a loud, "Wow!". I think my wife inspired another future backpacker!

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  • New update pushed out today! Live now on Android, and should be live on iOS in the next 24-48 hours. This has been an update I have personally been wanting for awhile now. I have a lot of packs and sub packs now, and wanted to clean up up my pack list..... So now you can archive packs!

    Archiving a pack removes it from your Pack List, but still keeps it available for other to view if its a public pack. You can also archive sub packs if you do not want them cluttering your main view, and you will still be able to add them to packs.

    To archive a pack just click the 3 dots in the upper right while viewing a pack, and select "Archive Pack"

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    Once a pack is archived, you can go to settings and there is an option to view all archived packs. You can edit packs straight from that list or you can tap the un-archive button to bring it back to your main list.

    Archiving packs is only available to pro subscribers since free users can only have 5 packs at this time.