Yosemite

Yosemite Valley from the west

This has to be one of the most looked at, gawked at, and photographed spots on the planet - Yosemite Valley from the west at Tunnel View. Yet somehow it never gets old. In the days leading up to the trip, my friend Tad described "that first look around the bend coming into the park and seeing the cliffs lining the valley...breathtaking every time!!!" I can't add to that.

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Day One

After getting a jump on the Labor Day traffic by leaving L.A. late Thursday night, we arrived in Yosemite valley midday Friday, and set up camp amidst the trees at Upper Pines.

Upper Pines camp

Almost immediately, I spotted this woodpecker nearby the picnic table, who was so accustomed to human visitors that he hardly minded posing for a photo:


Little did I know this was part of a masterful plan coordinated with a local California Ground Squirrel, who in the short time I was photographing the woodpecker had hopped up on the table and made a go at my lunch. Thwarted by my ziploc bags, he was forced to retreat (albeit reluctantly) when I announced my intention to examine his hip joint to further understand his tree-climbing capabilities. These characters, along with Western Greys, make a good living raiding the campgrounds (as, it would turn out, do the local black bears).

After securing our food in the handy steel bear bin, Michelle and I hit the trail for Vernal and Nevada Falls. This was short, sweet, and steep 2.5mi/2000' climb that featured gorgeous views down into the valley, mixed deciduous and conifer forest, and of course, two big waterfalls.

Rainbow at Vernal Falls

Nevada Falls

Looking down into the valley from Nevada Falls (photo credit Michelle S.)

Returning along the John Muir trail to the southern end of the Merced River, I was particular impressed by the late afternoon sun illuminating spectacular granite formations on the north side of the valley.

Liberty Cap and Nevada Falls

Half Dome, Mt. Broderick, and Liberty Cap from the John Muir Trail

After returning to camp, cooking up some of my famous [mushroom-flavored] Tuna Stew (naturally to a "Tuna Stew! Tuna Stew!" chant), and meeting new friends who had joined for the weekend, I set about getting a good night's rest in preparation for some Saturday hiking. This would not prove easy.

As it turned out, I was awakened pretty regularly during the night by a) late-arriving campers and b) panic-stricken screams, pot-banging, and even a few gunshots in response to a visiting bear. Evidently a relatively small black bear had been making a habit of visiting the campground to raid stores of variously unsecured food items left out by campers who - apparently unfazed by ubiquitous signs, brochures, instruction from rangers, and the bloody 3 foot wide 2 foot tall steel bear bin in their campsite - managed to miss the message. When someone told me they saw the bear walking away with a marshmallow in his mouth, that pretty much said it all. How hard is it people, seriously? Sigh.

The local bear (photo credit Michelle S.)

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Day Two

Feeling not-particularly-rested and a little under-the-weather, I took it easy on the second day, and went for a very pleasant hike out to Mirror Lake and the base of Snow Creek. The 5mi/200' trip featured great views of Half Dome, and pleasantly smaller crowds due in part to somewhat confusing signage about a landslide that closed part (but not all) of the trail. There was a fascinating diversity of trees along this route. Along with previously familiar conifers (Douglas Fir, Incense Cedar), I learned a bunch of new trees, including California Black Oak, Big Leaf Maple, Pacific Dogwood, White Alder, Jeffrey Pine, and California Bay along the way. I thought it was really cool to see the conifers mixed in with deciduous, leafy varieties.

Mt. Watkins from Mirror Lake

Wildlife was pretty scarce, although the familiar ground squirrels and an occasional lizard made their way across the trail. We also found some large piles of scat indicative of recent bear activity. I think my favorite feature of this trail, however, was a nifty little rock temple, containing literally hundreds of carefully stacked stones.

Rock temple near Mirror Lake

Of course we added our own little pile before making our way back to camp, having a refreshing, cool dip in the river, and settling in for dinner ("Tuna Stew! Tuna Stew!" - this time with chili seasoning and couscous).

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Day Three

After a much better night's sleep (now immune to the screaming), I was up early and ready for a hiking adventure. The plan was to climb 4000' vertical feet over 10mi from the valley floor up Yosemite Creek to Tioga Road, and take a shuttle bus back to camp. Unfortunately, the (very cute) ranger at the visitor's center informed me that the shuttle bus came through Tioga at 2pm, leaving me only 5 hours to complete the hike. While certainly possible, I'd rather take my time and enjoy such a trip, so I asked her for an alternate recommendation. In all honestly, I was happy for the excuse to keep talking to the cute ranger, and probably would have done just about anything she recommended ("El Capitan? Sure! Let's go!").

However, she did in the end make a great recommendation to drive up Tioga Road and do a loop hike to North Dome. Enroute to the trailhead, I came across a "needles and cones" interpretive exhibit that introduced me to all the trees in the area. The higher altitude (roughly 7000-8500') had a completely different ecosystem from the valley, exemplified by dense, evergreen forest.

Jeffrey Pine

Mixed in with Jeffrey Pine, which often grows straight out of granite rock formations, were Lodgepole Pine, occasional Western White Pine, and beautiful, tall, full White and California Red Fir. It almost felt like home in the redwoods to walk through this dense forest of tall conifers.

Amidst a "firry" forest

The wildlife was different too, with the squirrels of lower altitudes replaced by scampering little chipmunks like this guy, who looked remarkably similar to the baby wolverines I saw in Idaho:

Chipmunk

I was enjoying the scenery so much that I made a wrong turn at a trail-fork, and ended up taking a mile-long, -800' detour to Snow Creek. Cursing myself (but still loving the firry forest), I paid my idiot-tax, trudged my way back uphill, and continued on toward North Dome.

Along the way, I took a short side trip to Indian Rock, an awesome little rock formation sitting at about 8500'.

Indian Rock

Through the "window" at Indian Rock is a sweet view of Half Dome:

Half Dome beneath the arch atop Indian Rock

Getting to this spot required some easy rock scrambling and some not-so-easy quelling of the good ol' acrophobia. I've gotten a thousand times better at this than I was as a kid, but it still required some patience. Fortunately I met some new friends from Sacramento Trail Mix who offered encouragement. By encouragement, I mean offered to take a picture for me, then told me if I wanted my camera back, I had to climb up and get it (good one, Kellie!) I'm glad they did, and I enjoyed joining their group for the remainder of the hike to North Dome. It's always great to meet new people who love the outdoors!

Along the way we got some views into the valley and across to Clouds Rest and Half Dome that were at least above average:

Along the North Dome trail (photo credit Kellie)

Kidding, of course. The views were spectacular, and reaching North Dome we spent an hour or so sitting there taking it all in.

North Dome with the Sacramento Trail Mix crew

Half Dome from North Dome, through the Jeffrey Pines

Confirming that this is, in fact, a Jeffrey Pine (photo credit Kellie)

Gary showed us all a sweet spot where we could jump over Half Dome, and was kind enough to lie on the ground and patiently take photos of us all taking a giant leap.

Taking flight over Half Dome (photo credit Gary P)

With binoculars, I even spotted a few climbers scaling the face of Half Dome. No, not the hundreds of tourists walking up along the cables - people scaling directly up the face of the rock, with ropes.

Half Dome Face - I would have done it with the ranger girl

Here's a short video that Gary P of Trail Mix shot, panning East to West from Clouds Rest to Yosemite valley:



Looking down at a massive traffic-jam on the valley floor, I took the opportunity to enjoy a few moments all-by-my-lonesome before making my way back up through the forest to the trailhead.

Near the Porcupine Creek trailhead

Arriving just before dark, I bided my time, and later made my way down Tioga Road, stopping often to look up at a beautiful, moonless, starry sky.

And then, of course, Tuna Stew.

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Day Four

We were up early Monday, and out of camp before the crowds hit the road. Stopping in Fresno at a sporting goods store, I happened across a rather thorough taxidermy display. Alongside several moose heads, a wolf, an elk, a mountain goat, countless deer and antelope heads, and an alarming number of rifles, I saw this stuffed wolverine:

Stuffed wolverine at Fresno sporting goods retailer

A wolverine? In Fresno? I don't know whether to be angry, impressed, or just confused. "It was roadkill, Shawn." Just keep telling yourself that.

One night around the campfire in a discussion of global warming, someone said:

Don't worry, the earth will take care of itself. People may not be around anymore, but the earth will regenerate.

The thought stuck with me. I wondered if people really do have the capacity to destroy the world, or if rather we just have the capacity to destroy our ability to inhabit the world, and thus ourselves. Though we perceive ourselves in modern times, for the first time, as being able to influence powerful forces of nature (like climate), in truth despite what we do nature likely will prevail in the end. It's been through worse. Though perhaps not as they would have were we not here, nature and the earth will almost certainly - in some form - outlive us all, and indeed our entire species. We're not as powerful as we think. In the large scale we are transient visitors, privileged to live for a short time amongst nature and the natural wonders of this world. To think that we can conquer or control it is an illusion. We should strive instead to understand that world, and to exist within it, harmoniously and quietly. To me it seems that we should try our very best not to screw with it. I suspect if people spent more time in nature, this would become more obvious.

Aloha.