"The mountains are calling and
I must go"
John Muir
When I last left you I was in
a Starbucks in Fresno, CA, about 100 miles to the South of Yosemite. We made our way up CA-41, stopped in Oakhurst
to restock on food supplies – meat, eggs, firewood, and beer. There was other stuff but I thought that was
a pretty manly grocery list, strawberry jelly just did not seem to fit. Around 2 in the afternoon we arrived at the
parks entrance. Normally I get out and
take a picture in front of it, but the sign was pitiful for what is considered
one of our greatest national parks. Like
Sequoia the entrance was far from the main attractions, so we had a long drive
winding up into the Sierras and then down into the Yosemite Valley.
The Half Dome, perhaps the
quintessential site in Yosemite, an 8840 ft tall mass of granite jutting high
above the valley floor, came into view as we entered the valley. The drive in was a blur of white and light
gray granite with scattered dark green pines, sequoias and redwoods. The sun was shining and we were feeling
good. Until my first site of a ranger
directing traffic came into view. My
first thought was I doubt anyone became a National Park Ranger just so she
could direct traffic (she did not seem happy).
My second thought was geez this is crowded. With 3.7 million visitors a year, this is a
popular park.
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| Yosemite Valley with El Capitan and Half Dome |
After finally finding parking
and starting to feel cranky, we stopped by the visitor center to get some
information. When I had originally
booked campsites for this stop, I was unable to secure a site during the middle
of 3 days here and had to just hope we’d find a first come first serve
site. After we got some recommendations
on sites, we asked for some advice on hikes to do. I wanted to do the Half-Dome hike but that
required a permit through lottery that I was denied back in April. The ranger unfortunately was unable to give
any hike recommendations due to legal liability (apparently lawyers even ruin
National Parks.) Instead we had to do a
Google search, which turned out to be very useful. We found our hike and headed to the
campsite. After a dinner of fire roasted
BBQ chicken and green beans we went to bed with plans to wake early for the
hike.
The hike we chose was in the
middle section of the park along a range of mountains overlooking the valley. It started at a Lake Tenaya and then went 7.5
miles to Clouds Rest with a round trip of 15 miles. It was a steep hike through the woods with
four separate climbs for a total elevation gain of 1700 ft. No pain, no gain takes on a whole new meaning
here. We took off on the dirt path that
after about 2 miles became brick sized granite rock. Our first climb was approaching; this was the
most brutal of the trip so far, 1000 ft over 1 mile. Stopping to take a break during these climbs
only make them worse, so we powered through the burn. After making it to the top we had descent of 400 ft (negating half of our work) and then had two more
climbs to reach the final ascent, a walk out onto the narrow cliff as it rose
another couple hundred feet. The path
became narrower and narrower until you could see both sides with cliffs
dropping 4000 ft.
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| Shriver atop Clouds Rest at 9,926 feet |
When we got to the top after 2.5
hours, we were rewarded with a fantastic 360 degree view of the park, with the Cathedral
Mountain range behind us, the Tenaya Lake in the distant, the Yosemite Valley
and finally Half-Dome. This was the
benefit of hiking to a point just shy of 10,000 ft. After not getting my permit
to go up Half-Dome I got an even better view looking down on it. We had lunch (peanut butter and strawberry
jelly), chatted with a pediatrician from San Francisco and her friend and then
turned around to head back. The descent
was equally grueling, no longer on the legs, but now the feet. About a mile into it, my old friend thunder
paid a visit along with some very cold rain to make us even more uncomfortable.
After finally getting down,
we headed over to the Tuolumne Meadow area and found the Grill. I’m always very hungry after a hike and that
day after doing the toughest one yet, I was starving. A hot dog for Shriver and a bacon BBQ burger
for me did the trick. Our next task was
to rinse off the dirt and smell of the hike (me the dirt, Nick the smell). Shriver went for a swim in the lake and I got
in far enough to get the dirt off my legs and arms. Our last task was to get a campground. Fortunately we managed to snag the last at
the Porcupine Flat. After a much needed
nap we set up camp, chopped up some logs, built a fire, cooked dinner, played some cards and went to bed.
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| View from Clouds Rest. Tenaya Lake is visible in the distance |
The next morning the weather
was not on our side. No rain, but an
overcast that left the park feeling cold and damp. Four days of camping without a shower and
each campsite being different, meaning lots of unpacking and packing, had taken
its toll on us. It was time to leave
the wilderness. Before leaving we
decided to check out Bridalveil Fall a 600+ waterfall in the Valley. There was some fun rock scrambling here. After that we did a short 2 mile hike to the
top of Sentinel Dome which at 8,100 feet provided us with another, much easier
to reach, 360 degree view of the park.
As always we chatted with some fellow hikers, a lady from Ireland and
her two guy friends who were initially too scared to make the climb, and a man
from Lancaster, PA. Yosemite started off rough for me, but after such a
rewarding hike and impressive scenery, I must say I rank it up there with Zion
and Glacier as one of my favorite parks.
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| View of Half Dome and Clouds Rest behind it to the left |
After our short hikes, we
headed out of the park to our next stop Merced, California. We originally had planned to hit up the wine
country, but a reality check on California geography proved that to be a stupid
idea. I got my first shower in 4 days
and it was the 3rd best shower of my life (yes, I have rankings on
lots of things). The Element got an oil
change and tire rotation and is ready to move on to Stockton where we will stay
with a former residency buddy of mine Jake McDowell and then head to San
Francisco.
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| Oil change and tire rotation at Jiffy Lube, Merced, CA |
Miles Driven: 4880
States: PA, MD, WV, VA, TN, NC, AL,
MS, LA, TX, NM, AZ, UT, NV, CA
Highest Elevation: 9926 feet
Number of Miles Hiked So Far: 42
Calories Burned hiking to Clouds
Rest: 3900 (according to Tap&Track app)
Number of days before finally
getting a shower: 4
PS.
It has been 4 days since I drank water from the stream in Sequoia using my
Steripen and I can happily report no diarrhea.
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