[code][/code]My wife and college-bound daughter joined me yesterday for a main trail day hike, the third for me and my wife, second for my daughter. A beautiful day and great hike!

We live in the Bay Area and had done what we've always done before to acclimate. This means the first day we drove to Tioga pass and did a short hike straight up from the gate that took us to near 11,000 feet. Spent the night at Mammoth Mountain, then the next day did a short trip to Devils Postpile before driving to Lone Pine where we stayed at the Dow Villa. Great dinner at the new-ish Grill restaurant that's next door. All their food is home-made and very tasty, had a great chicken pasta to carbo-load (then last night we went back for ribs and burgers - yum!). It hailed on us in Yosemite and intermittently poured rain as we drove down 395 but the forecast was for Wednesday to be clear.

Up at 1:30, got to the Portal at 2:30, on the trail at 2:45 under a bright moon that almost made headlamps unnecessary. Turned them off at Mirror Lake, then ran into the sun just above Trailside Meadow (neat how we ran into the sun climbing up the trail from there, an abrupt change that had us scrambling for sunglasses!). It was a cool morning, low 60's at the Portal and colder as we climbed with some wind, so we had long pants, gloves, warm hats, and a couple layers under windbreakers. Had a nice rest at Trail Camp, then headed up the switchbacks (they hadn't gotten any easier!). Tons of water on the spring at the bottom (and everywhere else on the trail due to recent rains).

We got to Trail Crest around 10 and rested a bit before tacking the last 1.9 miles of hell. There was a lot of snow and ice, though not really a factor except one small icy section with a long drop to the west. I suspect that this will be gone in another day or two. Other than that just a long plod to the top, arrived at about 11:30 to hit the "Easy" button in the box that holds the guest list!

Uneventful trip down, got back to the Portal around 7:15. That last couple of miles is sure tough as you have few reference points after having hiked up in the dark! Total trip time about 15 1/2 hours.

A great trip. Highlights were:
- We ran into a family who were finishing an 8 day hike with a summit. Their kids were very young, including a 7 year old!

- A nice group from San Diego who we back-and-forth passed all the way up.

- Wildlife, including deer ( a doe grazing 10 feet from the trail near Lone Pine lake), marmots, squirrels, a little furry tail-less critter that looked like a big gerbil, and a large black bird that looked like a hen turkey (?).

- Lots of time with family.

Not so wonderful things:

- Trash on the trail, particularly abandoned wag bags. I REALLY hate this and can't understand why people are so thoughtless. We picked up some trash and I collected two abandoned wag bags from the switchbacks.

- Unprepared hikers. We watched a pair of hikers that looked dangerously unprepared: poor shape, tennis shoes, little water, "backpacks" with cord for shoulder straps.

Only tips I'd have:
- We really were happy to have extra warm clothes, particularly hats and gloves. The warm weather at the Portal wasn't an indicator of what's higher up.

- Start early and take your time.

- Bring something to eat at the top that's not in a wrapper! We brought salami, cheddar, and crackers. Really nice to have after all the power bars, etc on the way up.

- Eat at the Grill in Lone Pine!