Trail Guides

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, CA - - The Wellness Center had a poster up in the kitchen trailer advertising a hike to Kibbie Lake. We checked our Yosemite hiker's guide and the hike sounded interesting. Plus, it was their gas. Three hours of driving later, we reached the trailhead at the end of a single lane fire road. During the drive we quickly learned that the organizer had never been to the end of the road or on the trail. Fortunately, the trail was relatively easy to follow.....until we ran into a huge granite outcropping on our left, a stream on the right and no easily discernible trail. Enter the group above - - Father Steve, an elementary school principal, and sons Ben (red shorts) and Sam. Ben was my personal guide and told me he had carried his own pack to their camp, asked a lot of questions and was unfailingly polite.

They guided us up a barely visible trail through heavy growth bushes up to the granite face and onward to the 6,513' top near where they were camped. The lake stretched out ahead and beside us (below).

LH had explored the trail we finally took minutes earlier and signaled us to follow...and then took off with single-minded determination to find a route. She did, but to the other side of the lake. See Below.