I was hooked after we did our introductory snow camping trips with the Sierra Club last year, and had already started thinking about where we would go next, when I remembered seeing a photo of someone camping on the snow with a view of El Capitan in the background. Where is that, I wanted to know. After asking around and doing lots of googling, I learned that it was taken from a place called Dewey Point in Yosemite National Park. We had the location of our next trip identified.
Fast forward to January 2023 when I finally got around to planning our one night camping trip to Dewey Point in earnest. I had been reading other people’s trip reports on and off for months but didn’t get down to picking a date and making preparations until it was only a month away. Since we had gone with the Sierra Club in February, I figured that was as good a month as any for our outing. What I hadn’t counted on was that Firefall, an annual event where the setting sun lights up Horsetail Falls in shades ranging from pink to bright orange, also occurs in February, and new rules implemented by the National Park Service to manage the growing crowds meant that getting into Yosemite during the last three weekends of the month would require a reservation. I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to secure one at this stage so the goal was to avoid needing one which would mean entering the park on any day of the week other than Friday, Saturday or Sunday.
Since neither of us had ever witnessed Firefall, we expanded our camping trip to include at least one viewing opportunity, which is how I landed on Presidents’ Day weekend; there would be more people in the park, but with Monday being a holiday, and a decision to take Thursday off so that we wouldn’t need a reservation, we would also have more time to do everything.
We spent the first two nights in an unheated tent cabin in Curry Village. Talk about training for the cold; we slept in our sleeping bags under the thin Rumpl blanket that was provided. Friday was a free day in Yosemite – we did a hike to Mirror Lake and saw Firefall in the afternoon. On Saturday morning, we got up at 6:00 A.M., organized our backpacks, loaded up the car and left a little after 7:00 for the one-hour drive to Badger Pass Ski Area. We easily found the A-frame ranger station and I was happy to be the first person that morning to pick up a permit for Dewey Point.
The overnight wilderness parking area, at the far end of the lot, already had quite a few cars, and there were other groups of campers (heading to Taft Point) and day trippers getting ready to head out. It would be another 30-40 minutes of fine-tuning our packs before we were ready to go ourselves.
Glacier Point Road is closed in the winter and groomed for skiing and snowshoeing. We decided not to wear our snow shoes and actually ended up never using them. It was a beautiful 45-minute walk up the snow-covered, tree-lined road. We passed the trailhead for Dewey Point via the Ridge Trail (#14) and continued a few more minutes until we reached the Meadow trailhead (#18).
Our plan was to take the easier Meadow route to Dewey Point in the hopes that we could get there faster and be one of the first to pick a prime camping spot, and then return on the more difficult Ridge Trail. The trailhead was on the left side of Glacier Point Road and veered off into the woods. It was pretty well broken in and fairly flat for the first mile, leading us past a large meadow.
The last 1.5 miles were more undulating with at least one small hill. Every now and then we could see the mountains through breaks in the trees. After another mile we reached the junction where the Meadow Trail joins with the Ridge Trail. From here it was another half mile to Dewey Point. By the time we arrived, it had taken us a little over two hours.
Our first task was to find our camp spot. We knew we couldn’t be anywhere on the point but we also wanted a view of El Cap and Half Dome so we headed up into the hill that looked down onto the point. After scoping out a few places we found the perfect place between two clumps of trees that had unobstructed views of Dewey Point and Yosemite Valley.
We spent the next three hours setting up camp. This entailed digging (a lot of digging) and leveling an area for our tent, building the kitchen (more digging and cutting snow blocks), and getting all our gear organized. The sun shone brightly, the weather was perfect and time passed quickly. After everything was done, we spent the rest of the afternoon ensconced in the comfort of our tent marveling at our view.
Preparations for dinner began around 4:30. We didn’t really have lunch, just a bunch of snacks, so we were ready for some hot food. It was fun sitting in our front row seats with sweeping vistas, melting chunks of snow, while watching the light slowly fade from the sky, turning the mountain tops pink. First course was Maggi Cream of Asparagus Soup, followed by Mountain House’s chicken fried rice and beef stew. The beef stew was particularly good and really hit the spot. For dessert, we ate some really delicious freeze-dried blueberries. After cleaning up and brushing our teeth, we watched the stars come out for a few minutes before heading to bed.
We woke up to a beautiful morning, just in time to see the sun rising above the mountains and casting its warm rays across our camp. Chris got the stove going while I busied myself in the tent. After a yummy breakfast of coffee and oatmeal fortified with powdered goat milk and topped with freeze-dried strawberries (the blueberries were much tastier), we started taking everything down. We had to fill in the areas we had dug out and basically, do our best to return the area to a more natural state.
Once we were packed up, we hiked down to Dewey Point and took pictures, being careful to not get too close to edge. We found our camping spot and couldn’t believe how close to the side of the hill it looked from this vantage point. Good thing we didn’t get discombobulated in the night and walk right off!
By 10:30 we were on our way back. At the junction of the two trails, we followed the Ridge Trail, turning right to go up the hill. There were a lot more uphill sections on this route, compared to the Meadow Trail, that had us sweating, especially given the weight of our packs (even after eating most of our food), but when we reached the highest point of the trail, we were rewarded with endless views of the foothills.
Around 12:45 we made it back to the parking lot which was really full. After unloading our packs and changing into more comfortable shoes we drove back towards Yosemite Valley, feeling quite accomplished and already thinking about what our next trip would be.
Read about our very first snow camping trip here.
Coda
It felt like quite the achievement to have done this on our own and to not have encountered any problems, especially given that it had been a year since we used any of our snow camping skills. Fortunately, we hadn’t forgotten how to tie our deadman anchors or use our liquid fuel stove. We got also great use out of our newly purchased snow saw and shovel.
What we will be more mindful of next time is where we site our camp. We both agreed that we were probably a bit too close too close to the edge given that we were on a downhill slope.
There’s definitely nothing like practice to keep improving skills.
Additional Info
- Permits are free and are required for any overnight camping. They are issued on a first-come, first served basis and can be obtained from the A-frame ranger station.
- We lucked out because the trails had already been broken in. It made finding our way really easy, and also meant that we didn’t need to wear our snowshoes.
- The trails were well-signed, with yellow tree markers like this one located every several hundred yards
