The 2021-22 winter got a promising start, with the snowpack at year’s end registering at 160 percent of average. Unfortunately, January and February 2022 were some of the driest on record, and by April snowpack was just 38 percent of average. With no significant spring storms, many Californians braced for a dry, hot summer and had good reason to believe that Sierra wildfires would once again dominate the news. As it turned out, 2022 was not a big wildfire year — credited in large part for due to increased staffing of fire management agencies and aggressive vegetation removal.
As changes in climate have shifted the seasons, in recent years we have been motivated to jump start our backcountry jaunts as early as possible — you just don’t know what the summer will bring. So when Yosemite announced that the 2022 opening date for Tioga Road would be the Friday before Memorial Day, we were able to easily snag a wilderness permit from the list of trailheads that became available once the park made the announcement.
Tioga Road connects Yosemite to the Eastern Sierra via its namesake pass at 9,943’. Its opening date changes yearly and has historically occurred as late as July. In contrast with 2021-22, the winter of 2022-23 was one of the wettest ever recorded — with Yosemite’s snowpack in April coming in at 244 percent of normal. From the first deluge in November to the final snowstorms in April, the mountains were drenched in an unprecedented amount of precipitation. Snowfall reached record-breaking depths, transforming the Sierra Nevada into a winter wonderland into July.
As we entered the park in late May of 2022, we knew there would still be considerable snow coverage, so we opted for a route that would enable us to sleep below 10,000’ if we needed to.
We drove up the Thursday before Memorial Day with our friend Sarah and camped at Bass Lake. On Friday morning we picked up our permit at Wawona and enjoyed being among the first to drive up Tioga Road to the trailhead at Murphy Creek, near Tenaya Lake.
The first couple of trail miles were snow-free. Once we hit snow, as far as we could tell we were the first (human) hikers to lay down tracks. There were many bear and deer tracks, and as it turned out, some were quite fresh: we had a mutual startle when we encountered a cinnamon-colored black bear. Fortunately, the bear was happy to run the other way.
Our intended destination for this hike was the trail crest below Tuolumne Peak in Yosemite’s high country — a magical land of pikas and yellow-legged frogs which we had previously enjoyed when hiking the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne in 2020.
Proof of excellent pika sightings at this location in July 2020.
Much of the trail was still muddy and under water early in the season, making route-finding challenging at times. But early hiking meant no wildfire smoke to deal with, and very few mosquitoes thanks to the cold. Another advantage of early-season hiking was that campfires were permitted in existing fire rings below 9,600’. We were grateful for the warmth, and we made a new friend who was also seeking to stay toasty.
Days: 3 (May 27-29, 2022)
Mileage: 15.5 mi
Elevation: Murphy Creek trailhead 8,185'; crest below Tuolumne Peak 9,881’'. Total elevation loss/gain 2,208’.
Camp location: Polly Dome Lakes (2 nights)
