Yosemite National Park - September 2010

On My Way

I really don't have a bucket list but if I did, Yosemite National Park would be on it. However its always been in the back of my mind to travel there, the land where John Muir was so greatly inspired. I got a note from my good friend Andy asking if I would like to join him and his wife Elwira (El) and a few others on a trip to the High Sierras in September. 

I knew that Andy had traveled that area extensively and if I were to pass on this opportunity, I would regret it. I did tell him to give me a day to decide however, as I wanted to make sure it was in my budget having already planned another trip for a few weeks before that. It really didn't take much thinking to decide that I would make it happen. The next day I had my plane tickets!

I was now on my way to Fresno. It does take a bit of plane hopping to get there as I live in a small city in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Needless to say there aren't very many choices of flights here usually meaning long layovers. I first flew to Detroit in the Lower Peninsula, walked the airport for hours and then headed to Los Angeles. Upon arrival, I would take a shuttle and catch a smaller plane to Fresno. These kinds of itineraries usually make for stressful moments but everything went off without a hitch. 

When I arrived in Fresno, I was greeted by Andy, El and Jim and skirted off to the REI where we would wait for Jenn and Matt who had some flight delays. Then we would eat a hearty meal at Mimi's and head a few hours north to Yosemite. We set up camp at Wawona CG around 1 AM in the morning. We secured our food in a bear locker and we were ready to drift off..It had truly been a long day! The camp site was on a very sloped area. I slept against the wall of my tent all night...this is one time that I was glad that I didn't have my tarp as I would of slid right out and down the hill and in to the river...OK, maybe the last part was an exaggeration!!.

Mariposa Grove

In the morning we went to pick up our permit at the Wawona Ranger Station. We listened to the ranger go over the rules and many of us picked up a few items at the shop including a stuffed bear. Unbeknownst to me at the time, this bear would accompany us.  

This was our acclimation day so we day hiked over 6 miles through the Mariposa Grove. We latched on to a ranger-led hike (who interpreted the history and status of the grove) for awhile that ended at Old Grizzly (many of the trees have names) but we had much more to see on our own. We saw huge areas of sequoias that were up to two thousand years old.

We later did some car touring in the Yosemite Valley with views of El Capitan and Half Dome and ate pizza before we drove to the backpackers campground. It was a huge walk-in back country site occupied by many, but it was quiet. Belding ground squirrels were busy as ever scouting the campground for bits and pieces of crumbs.

Andy and Matt shuttled the cars as they couldn't be parked anywhere near the camp site legally so in the morning they took the shuttle to retrieve one of the cars. We piled into the Ford with all our gear. El had the honor of riding in the back with the packs to Glacier Point (our starting point). We talked about how we were going to do the return trip with the other vehicle and El said she wasn't getting in ANY trunk (the other vehicle was a regular car). Even though she was serious it had a hint of humor just hearing her say it.

We left a note on the dusty back window for Yogi to stay out of our vehicle and we were on our way. It was a good mixture of descending and ascending as we dropped elevation to rivers and waterfalls and then climbed repeatedly back up of course. We spent time at Illilouette Falls and Nevada Falls. The distance was short today at 6.2 miles because of the shuttling but the trail was very rocky. The camp site at Little Yosemite was spacious and two-story composting toilets were a luxury.

The camp was near Merced River and we lightly washed off our trail dust. It was already apparent we were going to have a hard time staying clean on this trip as the trails are very dusty and the fine dirt penetrates everything.

I soon met another backpacker with whom I had a great conversation. We soon found out that we only live 100 mi from each other. What a small world!

We were preparing shared dinners on this trip so Jenn and Matt served up a gourmet pasta with artichokes, sun dried tomatoes and mushrooms. In the evening we talked about our plans for tomorrow. We would be hiking to Merced Lake but the option of ascending Half Dome could also be included. It would make for an extremely long day but Andy, El and I opted for it with the rest of the group traveling to Merced Lake in one unit. We would meet them much later with alternate plans for everyone if we didn't make it.

Climbing Half Dome

The Half Domers woke at 5 and were on the trail by 5:30 AM. We used our headlamps for travel and stopped for a quick breakfast along the way. There were tons of switchbacks and it was extremely rocky. I was surprised when we came to the approach area how long it truly was. Rock stairs were cut into the side of the mountain in various places and were right on the edge.

Looking down was not really that comfortable for me and approaching Half Dome looked downright scary. I had gone into this knowing that it may not be for me, so I really didn't know until the last minute if I wanted to attempt the 400 ft cable climb. Loads of leather gloves lay at the base ready for climbers so I found a pair that appeared to have the kind of grip I was looking for :). We started the climb with El going first, myself in the middle and Andy bringing up the back. 

About a quarter of the way up, I voiced my concerns about being able to get back down. With a few words of encouragement I decided to go forth. About every 10 ft a board lay across the base of the cables that one could "rest" on especially when people coming the opposite way were trying to pass. I just kept looking upwards and I knew I would be OK. 

At the top, Half Dome reminded me of a big moonscape...hikers had piled up rocks to make cairns and peace signs, etc. We probably stayed an hour at the top before we began our descent. There was a ton of people now going up, so the descent involved numerous stops to let people by but soon we were at the approach area. (Picture above courtesy of: Andy Mytys)

We descended back to Little Yosemite to pack up our camp site...we had already hiked 7 miles plus the cable climb to Half Dome and we still had more than 8 miles to go for the day. It was already 2:30 PM so we hoped to make it before dark. At first the trail was very sandy in spots making hiking slow, we had a fair amount of climbing to do and we stopped only for very short 5 minute breaks.The Merced River had a ton of picturesque cascades and there were several crossings including one with an impressive footbridge built over the river. We arrived at camp where the others were, just at dark. We quickly set up camp and devoured a huge meal that Jim had prepared...good stuff!

Vogelsang Pass

I was looking forward to today as it involved a climb to Vogelsang Pass. I seem to have no trouble with altitude or climbing per se and I kept a consistent steady pace. El said that I and Andy have "goat blood", not sure if that is a compliment :) We left the Merced camp and passed by one of the High Sierra Camps which was closed for the season. These are large canvas tent camps with amenities such as meals that are used by horse packers and hikers that want to carry a lighter load.

Jen and Matt left early so the rest of us ventured on. We climbed steadily on the Lewis Creek Route but often lingered taking photos. We took a two-hour lunch where I finally got some resemblance of a bath after several real dirty trail days. We passed through some meadows but mostly the trail was rocky and mountainous. Trees were stunted and gnarled into interesting shapes as they adapted to the prevailing winds and weather.

I believe the bear was named today by Jim. The name, Fibby, was in reference to Andy's estimation of how the trail would pan out each day...ie, mostly flat, etc .....those of us who have traveled with Andy before know that his interpretation of easy isn't always easy.... :)

The climb to Vogelsang (10500 ft) was very rewarding as the view of Vogelsang Lake from the pass was breathtaking. I rested at the pass while the others caught up.

After awhile Andy came along and then backtracked to meet the others. I had been sitting absorbing the views. I stood up to layer on some extra clothing and my Tilley Hat went for the dance of its life. I never thought I would see it again. The wind currents took it extremely high in the air, it swirled around and eventually let it drop where I could actually see it. I was so happy as I needed the sun protection provided by it and I would have been up the creek so to speak. 

I resettled and waited for the group and then we were on our way to Fletcher Lake where we would camp for the night (8.8 miles). We arrived late but it wasn't dark yet. After setting up camp, getting water and eating an awesome dinner prepared by Andy, it was soon dark.

The full moon lit up the area and it was simply beautiful. Andy and El went for a night hike to retrieve a shirt that Andy had dropped earlier, it wasn't far from camp. We hunkered down as we expected a real cold night.

Long Day turns into Shorter Day

We woke early at 6 AM as we expected to have a full agenda today with about 14.2 miles. In the morning fog surrounded the mountains and the night had been much warmer than we would have thought. We have seen deer, some fawns, jays and marmots. We hiked to Tuolumne Meadows. The plan was to pick up our food drop and hike many additional miles today. Andy considered the options and the group voted to stay the night there and alter the plans for the following days. Some were have problems with altitude and it was best to not overdo the miles.  We had hiked 7.6 miles already today so everyone was content to stay.

We had burgers at the picnic area outside the small diner and picked up our food drop. Everyone's packages had arrived except for Jen and Matts. Since the post office had closed for the season, instead of sending it to the Village store, they were holding their package back in Yosemite Valley.

They were told by the store employees that it could be driven up the next morning but after checking our supplies we found that there was way more than enough food to keep Jen and Matt happy. Andy especially purveyed most of their food as he had brought extra for such a scenario. We were glad that we didn't have to depend on someone bringing their food the next day as many of the seasonal employees really didn't have their act together...I think I heard the word "stoners" mentioned quite a few times in conversation.

We headed to the campground and settled in the far corner where quiet would prevail. We hiked down to the visitor center, a neat log cabin built by the Civilian Conservation Corps. Later I prepared my humble dinner offering, freeze-dried food and chocolate.

Backpack Loaded With Wine

Today our hike (9.6 miles) took us by the Cathedral Lakes where we spent a couple of hours enjoying the beauty. The first of the lakes was quite large and impressive. We climbed to Cathedral Pass (9700 ft) and then headed towards camp at Sunrise High Sierra Camp (9320 ft). We ran into muscled trail workers who obviously spent a lot of time wrestling granite.

At camp we had a great view of the sunset, a view of the full moon over the meadow and shared our campfire with backpacker Chris. He was just starting his John Muir Trail Thru-Hike. It was his first night on the trail so we all had a lot of questions about his trek. He had arranged food drops but we were startled that he still had an incredible 50 lbs of equipment.

We soon found out why his load was so heavy when he pulled out a 3L wine bladder. His intent was to share that with fellow backpackers and several of our group readily helped him with that. He had gone to school for wine making and was from Santa Barbara.. I quietly wondered if his future food drops included wine as well.

Clouds Rest - Spectacular Views!

We arose early so that we could enjoy the long day ahead of us (12.4 miles). We soon passed by a series of lakes called the Sunrise Lakes.

We had a lot of climbing to do topped by the Clouds Rest at 9926 ft. This outstanding rock spine lends for views in all directions. Part of it does have a scare factor as the top of it has sheer cliffs on each side. It does widen out a bit at one end for a comfort factor so people were hanging out in that area before the descent would begin. 

The descent was very long and arduous, it is simply hard to get in a rhythm with granite steps and rough trail. We all arrived in Little Yosemite Valley at various times but soon dinner was being made followed by two unique and great desserts that Andy had saved for the last night to celebrate the trip.

Return to Valley

The next morning we hiked back to the "Valley" for a distance of about six miles. It was marked by very steep descents and an incredible rock staircase leading to the bottom of Vernal Falls. Throngs of clean-smelling but exhausted day hikers were headed to the falls and beyond. A rowing team from Stanford University ran up the trail as part of their training regimen. We took the shuttle to the Village where we checked for the availability of pizza. They had reverted to late fall hours so we took another shuttle bus to Curry Village where our appetites were satisfied.  

We noticed a bit of commotion going on and thought a bear was sighted. It was actually a bobcat trying to catch a squirrel. It didn't succeed but it was neat to watch. Andy, Matt, Jen and Jim left to pick up the other car while El and I shuttled back to the village. We checked out the shops, gallery, and ranger station. We heard rangers talking about a certain bear and we laughed. One of the rangers had seen the backpack with the bear on the back while we hiked into Sunrise High Sierra Camp days earlier. El acknowledged that it was her husband who provided the transportation for the bear.

Andy, El and I met the others in Fresno and later we dined at a good place on the bad side of town. At least that was my impression as the parking lot was fenced and had a guard and all the businesses had metal bars on all the windows..quite different from my environment back home. However the food was great but interestingly enough on the plane the next day a woman sat next to me from Fresno. I told her where we ate and she indicated that she had never ventured to that part of the city to dine even though she had lived there most of her life..ouch! Thanks Matt!!!...Just kidding!

The next morning we all went our separate ways but not before reflecting on the trip itself, it was a memorable hike in an outstanding landscape. My thanks to Andy for his meticulous planning and his kind spirit.