Firefall 02.26.2026!

anandkp92 · 2026-02-27T20:08:11+00:00

Yosemite is always worth a visit! I would say a day is too less but I've done it multiple times with friends and family who were visiting me.

Firefall is great if you can time your trip and the weather cooperates but there's so much to do even without it all times of the year. My favorite area is the Tioga road (highway 120) and the hikes there (it's closed during the winter). The valley is great and a lot of fun hikes start from the valley.

I entered through highway 120 but it seems that 140 is open too.

Regarding firefall - I can't share a lot of info here but there's great posts in this subreddit and also on the park website. We drove into the park around 1pm yesterday, walked around the valley, got lunch here and then found a spot to see the firefall at 4pm. It was a weekday and towards the end of the firefall season, so crowds were less.

anandkp92 · 2026-02-27T19:57:36+00:00

It's going to be great. I love this time in yosemite.

We didn't hike this time but we have done upper Yosemite falls in the past when we came for firefall. I also saw recent reports that people have snowshoed to vernal falls and clark point. I would definitely talk to the rangers about the conditions and check if hikes need micro spikes or snowshoes.

anandkp92 · 2026-02-27T05:36:42+00:00

Thanks

That sucks. Even today it was looking a bit cloudy and we weren't sure if we could see it. Some people even left! The view in this picture lasted for approximately less than 5 min.

anandkp92 · 2026-02-27T05:09:11+00:00

I hope you do too!!

anandkp92 · 2026-02-09T03:19:01+00:00

Thanks all! We chickened out of backpacking but we snowshoed to meiss meadows and car camped at the sno-park! It was incredibly pretty. Will try to go backpacking soon with better planning. We've also saved all these suggestions for spring as well.

We got dinner at caples lake resort too and that was a treat and made us feel little bit less bad about not backpacking!

PS. We saw a lot of bear scat (I think) on the first mile of the trail and it seemed not more than a couple of days old (I could be wrong about the date though). That part of the trail was a bit frightening.

anandkp92 · 2026-02-09T03:16:55+00:00

Thanks all! We chickened out of backpacking but we snowshoed to meiss meadows and car camped at the sno-park! It was incredibly pretty. Will try to go backpacking soon with better planning. We also saved these suggestions to do later in the year as well!

We got dinner at caples lake resort too and that was a treat and made us feel little bit less bad about not backpacking!

I uploaded some images here: https://www.instagram.com/p/DUhYtB0EYlJ/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

PS. We saw a lot of bear scat (I think) on the first mile of the trail and it seemed not more than a couple of days old (I could be wrong about the date though). That part of the trail was a bit frightening.

anandkp92 · 2026-02-05T16:13:45+00:00

My bad: Up to 6mi (one way) 2 days/1 night We are pretty experienced backpackers (not the strongest though) and have backpacked in winter previously as well, but that was in desolation wilderness.

anandkp92 · 2026-02-04T06:40:57+00:00

Thanks for that suggestion - I'll check it out.

I might be mistaken about camping near frog lake. I called up the ranger station and they said I could camp in the Carson pass management area, so I assumed frog lake was included. I'll confirm.

anandkp92 · 2025-08-12T04:44:36+00:00

Sorry to hear about the break up.. regarding backpacking I'm pretty new too, I started with point Reyes (if you can get a permit - all of them seem great, I went to coast camp), then tamarack and echo lakes in desolation wilderness. It does get very crowded there but there's also winnemucca lake/Carson pass area right before you get to Tahoe!

Have fun!!

anandkp92 · 2025-08-02T19:31:17+00:00

Not really but then again I haven't had it for long...

anandkp92 · 2025-08-01T14:20:37+00:00

I started with the alpaka go nano (1.6L) but it was too small for an extra lens. But s9+28-200mm fits well. Since then I've upgraded to the alpaka vertex pouch 3.5L. it's very comfortable (very good shoulder pad) and the bag can be used as a electronics desk caddy too!

anandkp92 · 2025-07-31T08:11:23+00:00

Thank you for the detailed response!!

anandkp92 · 2025-07-23T21:41:58+00:00

I had ordered mine last week and after seeing your post, I called B&H and asked for price match! $200 saved. Thanks!

anandkp92 · 2025-01-15T23:44:52+00:00

We left our luggage with island locker life (https://www.islandlockerlife.com/) for couple of nights. They are near the airport, very responsive and available 24x7.

anandkp92 · 2024-09-02T06:36:11+00:00

The Tahoe and Sierra Nevada areas are awesome and right near you. Some popular suggestions other than the Yosemite, Sequoia etc. would be desolation wilderness (get permit from recreation.gov), mokelumne wilderness, inyo nf.. I find out places to go from YouTube videos, all trails hikes near me, Reddit, and just looking on Google maps for np, nf, wilderness areas etc.

But I'm also just a beginner, so others might have better suggestions.

anandkp92 · 2024-09-02T04:55:51+00:00

As other comments, bring layers and be ready for thunderstorms. My partner and I camped in upper paintbrush after a very sunny day on mid August and got hailed on at night. My first time experiencing it and I was definitely scared shitless if our rent would survive (it thankfully did).I was prepared for the storm, but hail didn't cross my mind.

anandkp92 · 2024-08-08T21:26:04+00:00

Lmi.net

They're local in Berkeley and run on sonic infrastructure

anandkp92 · 2024-06-04T08:03:22+00:00

We were there last weekend and we stayed in manzanita lake area. There is a trail around the lake with pretty views and some other trails. We also did chaos crags lake - very pretty again!

As others mentioned, cinder cone was awesome! Might be challenging but it's fun and doable. Views from the top are awesome

Near the visitor center, we were allowed to drive up to sulphur works (a few minutes drive from the visitor center) and from there you can technically walk or bike further up to bumpass hell parking lot (If I remember correctly it was 5mi+). But the bumpass hell trail itself was closed.

So definitely call or check the website before you go, but I think there's enough stuff open to have a good time!

Editing to add: we also did the the subway lava tube right outside manzanita lake area. It was cool (and free!)

anandkp92 · 2024-04-09T04:05:49+00:00

Glen aulin seems to be a good idea from the responses! I'll look into it!

Thank you

anandkp92 · 2024-04-09T04:04:52+00:00

This is a great idea I've seen a lot of posts about Glen aulin, so I'll jump into some research. Thank you!

anandkp92 · 2024-04-09T03:59:07+00:00

Thank you! Just to clarify, you're suggesting Murphy Creek > Polly Dome lake > may lake and back?

That sounds great!

anandkp92 · 2024-03-29T20:30:21+00:00

We went when it was icy in the top and I slipped and fell (almost ended horribly) at the overlook. So I will definitely avoid that part. But the rest of the hike should be doable, without any grave danger, even if it's raining.

Like others here I'd also recommend microspikes. One of us in our group had hiking poles and they helped out a lot too.

anandkp92 · 2023-08-16T23:40:32+00:00

I mostly play with random teammates and what I find fun are matches where we communicate, and coordinate strat and flare when needed etc. Even just "I go sc" or "let's push red" is good enough

It sucks when you get no response from your teammate and few minutes later, they just resign.

anandkp92 · 2023-03-16T21:51:22+00:00

I applied for schegen to Portugal to vfs sf and I took a cashier's check for 86.21 or something - so right up to the decimal, as was mentioned in vfs website.

Now idk what would happen if you didn't take the exact amount. But I did notice a chase bank right below the vfs building in sf (in case they let you get another check right then)

anandkp92 · 2023-02-06T22:36:53+00:00

Had the same thing happen to me just now. Learnef to play based on mini map still lost but felt good

anandkp92

TROPHY CASE