Backpacking:

	Ohlone Wilderness Trail
	South Desolation Wilderness
	Bull Run Lake

Trip Reports:

	Pinnacles 03/04
	Death Valley 10/03
	Reno 07/03
	Fourth of July 2003
	Memorial Day 2003
	Carson-Iceberg 11/02
	Yosemite 10/02
	Mt. Whitney 08/02
	Carson-Iceberg 07/02

Other Links:

	Birds
	Wildflowers
	Gear
	External Hiking Links

It was cool, in the high 40s, as we hiked across Dana Meadows in search of the unofficial trail to Mount Dana. Before too long we found the trail and followed it past numerous small lakelets as it ascended, first gently, then non-gently. After leaving the meadow, the trail zig-zagged rather steeply up towards the large bowl midway up the mountain. Being a Wednesday, there weren't many people about at all, though two hikers, also from the Bay Area did pass us on their way up, and kindly offered to take our picture. As we climbed, our views opened up considerably. Gaylor Peak's red ridge stood prominently to the northwest, and Mammoth Peak rose to the southwest. We continued climbing steeply across rocky terrain, switchbacking our way along the trail and enjoying fine views down into Dana meadows. We saw a terribly cute pair of marmots and stopped to watch them for a bit before continuing. Although unofficial, a guidebook of mine suggested that the path was actually laid down by a naturalist long ago to minimize the impact to the alpine environment, and is not simply one of use.

We eventually came to a stone cairn that marked the end of the well-defined trail. A couple descended past us - they started hiking at 6:30 (and must have been hiking much faster than us if they were already coming down!). There were a number of informal trails crossing Dana's gigantic bowl, and we took one that headed towards a ridge that looked like it might have a nice view. I was starting to feel slightly woozy at this point, whether from the altitude or from not eating quite enough I wasn't sure. We found another cairn, well-sheltered from the strong wind, and settled in it for a few minutes to have a snack and take some aspirin. After our rest, we hiked over to the edge of the ridge, and sure enough, we were treated to a fantastic view down into the Dana couloir, across the Dana plateau, and out to Mono Lake - cool! We spent a little while here enjoying the excellent scenery, snapped a bunch of photos, then continued on our way.

We initially set out more or less straight up the ridge, but soon found it a litle too steep for our liking, and definitely too rocky for Sarah's liking. We traversed to the right and came to a well-worn use trail leading up - much better! It was obvious now that the easiest path was towards the right, but then we wouldn't have had the nice ridge view, so I was glad we went the way we did. Sarah complained that her throat was tight - not a good sign! We continued on at a slow pace, stopping frequently, until Sarah decided she'd gone far enough and bade me to go onwards to the summit.

She'd climbed nearly all the way anyways, and deciding to stop was definitely the right decision since she wasn't getting enough air. A friendly middle-aged woman passed us as we rested. I liked this, as she could then find the best route to the summit and I could simply follow her :) Several lovely patches of sky pilot were in glorious bloom - I'd never seen this flower before, and stopped to gaze at it several times. I caught the friendly woman right as I summitted, 5 hours after starting out, and we struck up a lively conversation. She was an avid hiker, this being her 5th time on Mt. Dana. She'd done many very long day hikes in the Yosemite area and was quite familiar with the terrain, pointing out the names of various mountains and lakes in our expansive view. To the east were Mono Craters and Boundary Peak, Saddlebag Lake and Mt. Conness to the northwest, Mono Lake to the northeast, and most of the Yosemite high country to the southwest - nice! The nice woman (whose name I never did catch, as it was not thrown) took my picture and I returned the favor. We spent a little while looking for the summit register, but failed to find it. It wasn't where it had been the last time she was here, and I of course had no idea. Oh well. I noticed that I'd been at the summit for 30min or so, and thought it'd be wise to head back down to rejoin Sarah before she got upset that I'd been gone for an hour plus.

Sarah had wisely started heading back down the mountain a bit before I caught her, and didn't mind my tardiness. The descent was rocky, much like the ascent. We skirted a large'ish snow field and I was tempted to do a standing glissade down it, but its bottom wasn't in view and I didn't want to be surprised by a rocky termination to my slide. Too bad, as it would have saved a good deal of hiking. There were a few groups of people making their way up as we descended, but they were taking different routes than us and our paths did not cross. We arrived at the large cairn we'd passed in the morning, and continued down the thankfully less-rocky, but plenty steep, trail back towards Dana Meadows. My feet were starting to ache a bit by now from all of the rocky hiking, but before too long we emerged at the Tioga Pass ranger station, 2 hours 40 minutes after I left the summit.

This was a fantastic hike - the views were stupendous and encompassing. They certainly didn't come free, though - this was not an easy hike. Our average speed was well under 1mph (although we did spend quite a lot of time stopped to rest, take pictures, enjoy the view, gasp for air, etc.). This defintely ranks as one of the loveliest hikes I've done so far.

Hike Stats:

Distance:	5.8mi
Total Time:	8h 21m (including 30min at the summit and at least 90min stopped along the way)
Elevation gain:	~3100 feet
Difficulty:	8.5
Scenery:	9.5
Trail condition/markings/etc:	N/A - no official trail
Overall rating:	9.5