After an excellent breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes (had the regular cook had returned during the evening hours?), we needed to make a decision. Two trails lead from Merced Lake to Vogelsang, one with better views and more elevation gain and one with less elevation gain but side trips to two lakes. In either case, we were faced with a 3,000+ foot climb (cue up "trouble ahead" movie music), so we decided to take the low road with the diversion possibilities. The hike actually turned out to be a very enjoyable, partly shaded and not as strenuous as we expected (cue up "trouble behind" movie music). We made a detour to Babcock Lake for lunch, and a second detour to Emeric Lake for a late afternoon swim by James. It was great to be away from the main hiking trail at the lakes, to have a little bit of paradise just for ourselves.
We were very happy to arrive at Vogelsang, but shocked to find they knew nothing about our reservation. Thankfully, James pulled out the email printout with our reservation on it, and the young woman who was the manager moved the mule wranglers leading the mule trek into a tent, giving us a spot in a very nice tent cabin right next to the creek.
We had two nights reserved, and Vogelsang is an amazing place with the best food of all the camps. Yes, portabella ravioli with two sauces (pesto and marinara), vegetables, and dessert!
At dinner, we found out that one of the women who was doing the mule trek had fallen off her mule just before the mule train reached camp and had to be escorted to camp because she was not able to get back on the mule. Everybody was worried because she couldn't ride and she couldn't walk over the rough country so it was hard to see how she could return back down to Tuolumne Meadows, though she was able to walk around camp with difficulty.
We all agree that the HSC website makes the mule trek sound too easy -
in reality, if you can't walk that distance, you probably can't ride a mule either. It takes a lot of leg strength to ride. It was a bit ironic listening to one of the wranglers, complain about the marketing department at the HSC website (a perennial complaint by tech types in Silicon Valley). From talking with the mule trekkers, the mule ride sounds more strenuous than
the hike. You can't train for it, you have to watch your mule all the
time, only one pee break every day at lunch - I was sure glad I was hiking. Just look at how big the mules are!
