August 8, 2016 - Little Yosemite Valley

Title: August 8, 2016 - Little Yosemite Valley
Hike Info : Description : Trail Lessons : Background : Menu : Extra Photo's : Animals 

Trail head: Illilouette Creek

Hike Info:

Type:  Backpacking

Trail:John Muir Trail

Destination: Little Yosemite valley
Actual Destination: Sunrise Creek

Distance:  5.61 miles ¹

Start Time: 9:22

End Time:  4:35  

Travel Time:  7:13 (0.74 mph)

Moving Time:  4:19 (1.30 mph)

Elevation Rise: 1,179'

Maximum Elevation: 6,844' 

 ¹Usually I figure anything less than a half a mile an hour is GPS error. But because we were going through brush, I lowered that threshold down to a tenth of a mile per hour.

Description:
Today's start is a quote from Tolkein's The Lord of the Rings:  "Short cuts makes long delays." ² This is where Frodo tried to elude the Black Rider and take off across a bog. Our route did not include a bog, but a good amount of brush. On the other hand, it could also be a title of a book which I will never write: My Life in Buck Brush. As if this walk today does not have enough titles, I could christen it "The Cranberry Girls".

Rose breaking camp

Got up at 6:30. It is was between 30 to and 35 degrees. It was a cold last night. I kept warm enough until I would roll over. Then I would need to warm up the spot which had been on underneath me. But Sherri had difficulty sleeping last night so I suspect tonight we will have a tent. Apparently we were not the only ones who felt a bit cool as when I grab my clothes, a lizard bolted out from there, wondering why in the world are we waking up when it so cold.

As it turns out today will be a turning point in our JMT adventure. If we can make it at least to Sunrise Creek, near the Clouds Rest trail junction, then we should be in good shape to reach Sunrise Meadows tomorrow. I am hoping to make it beyond that, maybe to the upper part of Sunrise Creek.

We did not get started until 9:20. Since the trail is only about a third of a mile above us with a climbable slope-maybe 300' to go up. The trail would take us about a mile with 500' of climbing. Sounded like a good bet even though there was brush, we could find a path through it. And for awhile this was a good strategy. But with about 50 yards of brush in front of us, we could no longer find a way around and had to go through. The manzanita was not too bad, but the buckbrush came up to about my chest. Poor Rose had it at head level. At one point looking back, I see a sea of green manzanita with Sherri and Rose just floating in it looking like the guys in the Ocean Spray cranberry commercials of a few years ago.

The Cranberry Girls

So the "short cut" cost us about an hour and a half and took a lot of our energy. By the time we break through the brush, it is past 11 and we are only a third of a mile from our camp. In retrospect, this may have been the central event of our trip.

Once we are on the trail, I take my rear position and following both Sherri and Rose. We walk pretty good. But it is hot and we are on an exposed part of the trail. By the time we reach the top of the rise, 600' above our campsite and about 2 1/2 miles travel, we are ready for lunch, even though there is no water, we make due.

Rose with Clouds Rest before her

Sherri and Half Dome

There is something refreshing about trail junctions. Maybe it is because of the signs telling us where we have been or where we are going. More than likely it is also  means a marking of a passage. In this case, we meet the horse trail coming in from the upper part of Illilouette Creek, which is nothing really big. But a little ways further we hit the Panorama Trail. Here we wonder, has Kate and Sonya already been by here? Have we been that long in getting here? On the one hand, with the heat and exposure, we really want them to be past the real hot part. On the other hand, it would be somewhat deflating to know that they just started out this morning and have already passed us. See what I mean about trail junctions marking passages?

Grizzly Peak

Liberty Cap

The good part is because of the openness, we are able to have some really good views. Half Dome does loom in front of us, along with its little sibling, Liberty Cap. Clouds Rest soars majestically along a far ridge and Mt Starr King is at our side. Below us towards Yosemite Valley is Grizzle Peak. I love views like this.

And now that we have lost all of the elevation we climbed up this morning and more, we get to Nevada Falls.  It is time for a pee (not over the Falls) and water break, along with shade from the hot sun. I rest in the shade on the south side of the river while Sherri and Rose go off for their business. Earlier Sherri had talked with some musicians who travel the parks playing their music. I talk a bit more with them-never learn what their names are or where they are from-just enjoying the chit-chat as I sit against my rock.

But the afternoon is progressing and we are not. So off we go. The stretch from Nevada Falls to Little Yosemite Valley starts with a bit of a climb, about 250' as it goes over a shoulder of Liberty Cap. What makes this a particularly wicked trudge is the heat, openness and what you have done just to get to this point. When we come down, I sense that this has just about done us in. So I take off, hoping to get a resting place in Little Yosemite Valley, find Kate and Sonya, and be able to come back and grab a pack. I only succeed on the first task. After wandering around the camp area, I drop my pack and start to go back when Rose and Sherri come up the trail.

We set up camp and I go down to the Merced to draw water. And there I see a couple of blondes-Sonya and Kate. They are flabbergasted to see me and wonder what is going on. I just say that Rose and Sherri are close to their camp and I am drawing water. While we are starting to put together our camp, we discover we are squatters on someone's camp and start to move when they come back. No problem-this is sort of a everybody-loves-everybody-else camp. We end up staying with Kate and Sonya.

As you might have guessed, we are staying the night here rather than trying to make Sunrise Creek, about 1,300' above us. We are beat. After eating and talking for a little while, it is time for bed, or should I say for the bag. And yes Sherri did put up a tent.

Before I end this post, one thing which I have been contemplating is that experience itself does not make you better, but learning from experience does.  So the big question is, what did I learn today?

• First, just because a map shows a direct route does not mean that it is.
• Second, scout out your route. Maybe I could have gone around the area if I had been more alert.
• Third, remember the rule of thumb: a mile of cross country is about the same as three miles of trail.

Trail Lesson:

• Short cuts may not be the shortest or quickest ways-either on the trail or in life.
• Experience itself does not make you better, but learning from experience does

Background
 ²From Tolkein's Lord of the Rings, Chp 4, A Short Cut to Mushrooms

Menu

Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Snacks
Oatmeal and add-ins, such as dried peaches, strawberries, nuts, granola. Tang.	Ritz Crackers, Tortillas, Peanut Butter, Nutella	Mountain House Lasagna	Clif Bar, GORP, Propel, CytoMax, Scrytch, Coffee Candy, Jelly Belly

Extra Photo's

Gary with his full pack

Half Dome

Half Dome

Animals

Mangy coyote

Same coyote, different view

April 23, 2016 - Yosemite Valley Loop-East Section

Title:April 23, 2016 - Yosemite Valley Loop-East Section
Hike Info : Description : Trail Lessons : Background : Menu : Extra Photo's : Flowers and Plants

Trail head: Camp Curry

Hike Info:

Type:  Hiking

Trail: Valley Loop Trail

Destination: Loop

Distance: 9.98 miles ¹

Start Time: 9:18

End Time:  4:27

Travel Time: 7:08 (1.40 mph)

Moving Time: 5:18 (1.88 mph)

Elevation Rise: 1,118'

Maximum Elevation: 4,242'

 ¹Walking mileage and elevation only. Does not include riding on bus.

Description:
Another meetup hike today and this is Sherri's and mine game today.  There are seven of us going this morning: Art and Phil who will meet us at Eddie's Bakery and Vic, Sharon and Don in Oakhurst. With only four of us, we pile into my car a little before 6:30. So we get to Oakhurst early. Things are going well. Art wants to do a stop at Tunnel View for a few shots before making it down to Camp Curry. As a note: Even though we will be going to Half Dome Village and The Majestic Yosemite Hotel, I prefer the older and more historic names of Camp Curry and the Ahwahnee Hotel.

Silver Strand Falls from Tunnel View

Around 9:15 we start walking though Camp Curry on our way to Happy Isles. Weather is cool. On the way in, there was snow all along the road, even ice on one section. But down in the Valley, the ground is damp and much of what we travel along is somewhat paved.

Merced River

Before moving on from Happy Isles, we take advantage of the facilities. Our next section is the eastern end of the Valley Loop trail. This goes underneath part of the ridge between Half Dome and Grizzly Point. So we are in the shade here and the hand are starting to freeze up. But soon it will be warm enough. I have migrated to the front and am having conversations with Don, Art, Vic and Phil while Sherri has Sharon Vic and Phil at the rear. But this is a pretty homogeneous group, as far as the rate we are traveling. So the difference between the  front and back is only a matter of a minute. Our conversations range from the mundane to quasi-political to how the group makes sure that it has a comfortable environment. With a small group as ours, we have a bit more latitude with our topics.

Edge of Mirror Lake

Tenaya Creek

When we get to Tenaya Creek, two things happen. The first we turn right to go along the Mirror Lake Loop trail and second, the rate of stoppage increases dramatically. Why you might ask on the second? Well there is so much to take pictures of that ever couple hundred feet, there is something new (Art will take over 600 pictures today). Even before getting to Mirror Lake, there are a myriad of stops admiring North and Basket Domes. Of course when we get to Mirror Lake, the whole parade stops. There has only been a few times in the last five years which Mirror Lake has had enough water to create a mirror. But today, there it is and we, along with several others cannot take our eyes off of it. One couple is working on their sketches, others are content with their cameras.

Falls by Basket Dome

Ahwiyah Point Rock Slide with Mt Watkins

Mirror Lake Loop

Tenaya Creek

But wait, there is even better as we go along the trail. Some of our seven have not been this deep behind the lake. The trail takes us more than a mile beyond the lake.In that mile, we spot an unnamed waterfall coming out of a creek close to Basket Dome, the Ahwiyah Point rockfall, along with Half Dome. Of course there is the "normal" hiking stuff such as dogwoods in bloom, Tenaya Creek raging under us and us hopping across small ponds on logs. When we walk, we walk pretty good, but there is a lot of time we are only going a ways and taking pictures.

Royal Arches Falls and the Ahwahnee

We finally get to the west side of Mirror Lake. It is about noon and we have gone something like 5 miles. Now that is some very enjoyable miles. But as I am looking at our pace, I am calculating we will end our hike around 6pm. So what to do? We talk it over and decide we will walk on to the Ahwahnee Hotel. Then pick up the bus and get off at Yosemite Falls. From there we will walk back to Camp Curry and our cars.

And that is pretty much what happens. We stop at an outhouse a little below Mirror Lake, then head on to the Ahwahnee where they have a lot more classy bathrooms. Also we look around and enjoy the grounds. The bus is very crowded at the Ahwahnee, but all seven of us get on.  Fortunately for us the ride is short as this is a sardine-packed-type bus. Before we move out the the Ahwahnee, it should be noted that Royal Arches and its falls played a gracious host to us. It kept us enthralled for about 15 minutes.

Yosemite Falls

Yosemite Falls is spectacular when there is water in it. While the spray is sparse at the bridge, it is roaring with life. So good to see it that way. Once we get back to the road, Half Dome is there, crystal-clear with a mantle of clouds on its forehead. Such a good day to be in the park.

Gary and the New Yorkers

Some folks from New York wanted their pictures taken, and I do that for them. Then they ask a crucial question: if you had a few more hours in the park, what would you do? Here I go into tour guide mode and give them places on the west end of the Valley: El Capitan, Bridalveil, Tunnel View. They day this is the most information anybody has given them in four days.  It feels good.

Photo taken by Art/Bill, caption unnecessary

Yosemite Traffic Jam

But what does not feel good is when we cross over the Merced and come up to Sentinel Bridge, there is a long line of traffic with rangers directing them to go back to the west end. No room beyond here. We walk back to Camp Curry, still hitting a good pace. And then we see a line of cars trying to get out, but stuck in traffic. Pretty soon we hear shouts from a couple of the cars and there are folks we know. So we go out into the road-traffic is not moving-and talk with them a bit.

Staircase Falls

We decide that we might as well eat here since we are not going to get out anytime soon. So we trot on over to Camp Curry and munch on pizza for awhile, enjoying a post hike fellowship. Yosemite even has one last treat for us. As we look up towards Glacier Point, there is a waterfall coming down sort of sideways-stair stepping. It turns out that is the name of the falls: Staircase Falls. As the air cools down, we decide to leave. By the time we make it back to our house, it is 9:00pm. Tired, but a great day of hiking.

Trail Lesson: Too much beauty to take in with the mind; open your soul.

Background:

• According to the map, the falls we saw coming down from Glacier Point were Staircase Falls
• The falls next to Basket Dome are unnamed.
•  An early slack line video between Yosemite Point and The Lost Arrow 
• Sketching lessons from John Muir Law, who created Laws Guide to the Sierra Nevada.
•  The Diving Board is the ledge to the south of Half Dome (I though it was the ledge off of Half Dome). The ridge from Half Dome to Grizzly and Sierra Pt is unnamed.
• Video on the 1997 Yosemite Floods
• The Ahwiyah Point rockfall let loose about 115,000 tons of rock in 2009.

Extra Photo's

Edge of Mirror Lake

Sherri below Mirror Lake

Mirror Lake

Falls by Basket Dome

Half Dome from Mirror Lake area

Royal Arches Falls

Yosemite Falls

Yosemite Creek at the Falls

Flowers and Plants

Flowering Tree at the Ahwahnee

Dogwood

October 18, 2014 - East Yosemite Valley Loop

Title: October 18, 2014 - East Yosemite Valley Loop

Trail head: Curry Village Parking Lot

Hike Info:

Type:  Hiking

Trail: East Yosemite Valley Loop

Destination: loop

Distance:   12.98 miles ¹

Start Time:  11:11

End Time:     5:15

Travel Time: 6:03 (2.14 mph)

Moving Time: 5:09 (2.52 mph)

Elevation Rise: 1,170'

Maximum Elevation: 4,306'

 ¹Matt's GPS read 13.7 miles; my initial reading before removing the "slow" times was 13.2 miles.

Description:
This is the first time I'm hiking with Karol in awhile and I am looking forward to it-this does not count my Wawona hike. I am a bit apprehensive-my schedule lately has not allowed me to get up to the mountains to hike-doing fire lookout does not count since that is much more sedentary. But anytime you get up to the mountains, it is a real blessing, so there is many things I am excited about: the hike, the people and the Fall colors.

Fall Colors on Tenaya Creek

We met at Kohl's at 8 and stop at Starbucks in Oakhurst around 9. There we pick up two more hikers: Nat and Stephanie, making us a group of 17. I am not driving as both my wife and my son needs cars. So Matt G is taking Dana and myself. We hit Yosemite Valley after 10. Some of our travel discussion was about places in Yosemite where it would be suitable to intern a person's ashes. We park at Camp Curry and take care of some basic human needs. So by the time we get moving, it is after 11.

Steve B takes the lead. Karol is having some shoulder issues so she will be cutting short her hike. We take off for Happy Isles. This is the normal hike along the paved  path. When we reach Happy Isles, we don't stop. Here we go under the cliffs of Half Dome-Grizzly Peak. It is a dirt trail and here we start noticing the Fall colors. The frondescence  are just starting to turn from their greens to yellows on the broad leaf trees.

Our Trail

When we hit the Mirror Lake trail junction, we discuss going up there, but our hike today is long enough without including this diversion, so we head off towards the Ahwahnee Hotel. Spirits are high and conversation flow. I enjoy talking with Cindy, Nafisa, and Theng Theng.  Several people have not been to the Ahwahnee so it is an eye opener for them. Maybe not the splendor of the building, but how the building blends in with the Valley and the walls just magnifies the buildings aesthetics.

Before Yosemite Falls

But there is not much time to stop and gawk as there is a trail to be walked, hopefully before dark. So we continue on the loop. This goes above the Valley by a couple hundred feet, which does some things for us:

• Opens up the canopy, letting in light
• Gives us views of the Valley
• The trees are now oaks and we feel the chaparralness of the area
• It is warmer.

Yosemite Falls-Dry

So several of us shed the outer layers of clothes. Now the wisdom of Duran comes into play because I had shed my outer clothes back at the car and was feeling comfortable now. But the sights looking west compensate for the temporary warmth. By this time it is only Karol, Beth, Dana and myself at the rear. The main group has lost contact with us. So we continue on to the Falls. I should say the wet spot on the rock cliff because falls creates a picture of water pouring down. But we do not see the rest of our group so we continue on to the bathrooms. Still no group. Where did they go to? After looking around for awhile, here comes the group, coming from the direction of the shuttle.

Half Dome

We stop do have lunch-I break out my bear canister of Nutella Brownies, much appreciated by the group. Then it is time to say goodbye to those returning back. We are eleven hikers now and going on towards El Capitan bridge. I was not expecting to go this far west-note to Gary: read the hike description rather than assume. But I am feeling good and so on we go. Steve takes the lead and navigates us through woods and Meadow, along the side of the Merced and the cliffs of the Valley. He sets the pace and I am the sweep.

Climbers

We pass through Camp 4 before crossing Northside Drive. This brings us to the remains of the Merced which in places looks like it is barely flowing. When we come close to El Capitan, I spot some climbers-a ranger later on tells me there is 15 parties on this face, but I only spot two of them. I do start to understand the settings on binoculars and why you care about the field of view. 

We finally come to the bridge, crossing the Merced and now are 4 1/2 miles from Camp Curry, the home stretch. Dana's new shoes are starting to give her problems. By the time we reach the Four Mile Trail junction she is in pain and she stops at Swinging Bridges-we will pick her up later. Matt and I continue on, catching up with the group shortly after. 

Gunsight and Cathederal Rocks

El Capitan

I am at the back again, but we are now nearing the end, only a mile and a half away from the car. I am joined by Cindy and Stefanie as we do the final leg of our walk. I can feel the effects of the 13 miles. The right hip is starting to feel a bit sore-it will feel more sore the next day. We pull in well behind everybody else, but are victorious in finishing the hike. Matt swings around and picks up Dana and we meet the group in Oakhurst at the Southgate Brewery. We reach Kohl's at 9pm, tired but good.








Trail Lesson:

Half Dome

The trail is long, enjoy the now and do not worry about catching up.

North Dome