Yosemite National Park - 2011

Yosemite National Park
September 2011

 

It was really all about Rick.  Oh, sure, we wanted to take this trip for ourselves.  We wanted to be refreshed.  We wanted to experience nature.  We wanted to wake up to the mountains each morning and sit by the rushing streams cascading down the slopes.  The type of experience not found in Illinois.  We sought the solitude and wonder that only come when you are two days from the nearest road.  But in the end, it was really all about Rick.  Rick, who abandoned us to vacation on the beach in Acapulco with his wife, and didn’t seem all that disappointed.  Rick, who, like us, had never successfully finished a backpacking trip.  This was the trip that would settle once and for all who was cause of all our failed trips of the past.  And since Tom and I could not find anyone else to journey with us (though we tried mightily), this would be a true test of knowing which of the three of us were the cause of all the trouble.  Our Jonah, so to speak.  We were determined that this was going to be one backpacking trip that we finished as planned.  No amount of rain, snow, wind or swollen rivers would stand in our way!

 

There are many beautiful natural areas of our country.  There are wilderness areas, national forests and monuments.  Yet the areas designated as national parks are done so for good reason.  The national parks are not just beautiful.  They are spectacular.  The three California national parks we visited (Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon) are no exception.  The parks are connected by a trail named for John Muir, the famed naturalist who was instrumental in establishing Yosemite as a national park.  The John Muir trail traverses 230 miles of the Sierra Nevadas running from Yosemite Valley to the top of Mt. Whitney in Sequoia National Park, the highest peak in the lower 48 states (14,494 feet).  We planned to hike about 60 miles of it, starting from Devil’s Post Pile Monument, close to Mammoth Mountain and finishing in Yosemite Valley.  The trail is not the most rugged we have attempted, but it is very remote and at a high elevation as it winds its way through the mountains.  And it’s not like we need rugged trails to have an adventure

 

We started where many adventures start:  at the Peoria airport.  This time, however, we were leaving from the new terminal, which is noteworthy primarily because of the clearly superior seating in the gate areas.  Manufactured by Herman Miller, it is far superior to all other airport seating!  The beauty of the furniture was only exceeded by the skillful positioning by the experienced installers from Widmer Interiors.

 

Our route took us to Fresno via DFW, the coldest airport in the world.  At least it was on Friday, September 9^th.  It was so cold, we were regretting having packed our thermal layer in our checked luggage.  But we are rugged outdoorsmen.  Wilderness explorers, if you will.  We are used to adversity, and we weren’t about to turn around because of a little chill in the air.  Having donned our fleece layer, we persevered, arriving in Fresno in the early afternoon.  Fresno is a city of a half million in the San Joaquin Valley, the heart of California agriculture.  As we approached the airport, we could see mile after mile of fruit trees, vineyards and vegetable farms.  It was also very warm (97).  We picked up two rental cars and some last minute supplies.  (The TSA frowns upon carrying gas canisters in your luggage on airplanes.)  We also HAD to stop at a grocery store so Tom could get a half-pound block of cheese.  While there, we proved once again that the length of the checkout line is in inverse proportion to the amount of time it takes to get through the line.  This particular time was due to pricing issues with the customer in front of us.  It was, however, comforting to think that these laws work in California just as well as they do in Illinois.

 

Here we made our first mistake.  We had eaten a small lunch at DFW around 10:30.  We should have grabbed some more food while we were in Fresno, even though it was mid-afternoon there.  The two hour time change threw off our schedule, plus we were anxious to get going as we had a lot of ground to cover yet.  As we left Fresno to drive to Yosemite, we traveled through the fruit farms and began the ascent.  As we drove from the valley into the mountains, the temperature dropped dramatically.  By the time we hit 5000 feet, it was down to 57 degrees.  Progress was slow as the mountain road was filled with curves and occasional slow vehicles.  We also passed though an area with a sign cautioning about smoke on the road.  I found out later that there were no less than 7 forest fires burning in Yosemite while we were there.  The forest fire issue is a very thorny one.  One the one hand, we think they should be put out so they don’t destroy the forest.  They leave hideous scars on the land that last for decades.  On the other hand, forest fires have been periodically sweeping through these areas for thousands of years.  They are part of nature and are a necessary part of the life cycle.  All the same, I would prefer to hike through deep, mature woods rather than through barren, blackened boulder fields.

 

Bear Canister

We also stopped at a ranger station to rent two bear canisters.  Many of our adventures have taken place in areas populated by bears, although I had yet to see one during a hike.  Not surprisingly, given the legendary reputation of the Yosemite black bears, signs throughout the park caution everyone to be “Bear Aware” and warn not to leave food or even scented toiletries in your car.  Leaving food is in a container locked in the car trunk may not discourage the bears from attempting to get at it, and that’s not an insurance claim you want to have to file.  Plus there are fines for leaving food anywhere except for the bear lockers that all the main campgrounds have.  Since we were in remote areas that did not have the bear lockers, we needed to put all our food in bear canisters.  A bear canister is a small plastic barrel weighing two and a quarter pounds with a lid that the bears have not figured out yet.  The idea is that at night all your food and other scented items go in the canister, which is then locked and wedged among the rocks or under a log along with something that will make noise when the bear tries to dislodge it.  You, as the camper, will hear the bear trying to get your food and will get out of your nice warm sleeping bag and scare the bear away.  That is why I always go hiking with other people, particularly light sleepers.  They can throw rocks at the bear while I stay in my sleeping bag and pray the bear goes away.  Thus far that precaution had been unnecessary, but it’s always good to be thinking ahead.  It is a requirement to carry bear canisters in and around Yosemite.  I think the hope is that eventually the bears will not associate people with food and will look elsewhere for their dinner.  The canisters also make excellent stools to sit on, although that doesn’t justify in your mind why you are carrying this extra 2.25 pounds.  We were very much looking forward to seeing bears in the wilderness since these were be black bears, which are much safer than grizzlies.

 

If you have been paying attention, you might have wondered why we rented two cars when there were just two of us.  The reason had to do with the backpacking route we had selected.  Since we were doing a section of the trail instead of a loop, we were getting on the trail and off the trail at different locations.  Since we were traveling after peak tourist season, there was no available public transportation from one end to the other.  Therefore we parked one car in Yosemite Valley where we would (hopefully) complete our hike, and then drove around the park to Mammoth Lakes, where we were to begin the hike.  As you enter the valley, you go through the Wawoma Tunnel, a 1.3 mile tunnel that was drilled by miners seeking access to the valley to mine gold in the 1800’s.  It must have been an incredible undertaking for that time period.

 

Yosemite Valley from Wawoma tunnel entrance

As you leave the tunnel, there is a spectacular lookout point that showcases many of the famous landmarks including El Capitan, Half Dome and Bridalveil Falls.  We continued to descend to the valley via a set of switchbacks.  The valley itself is somewhat developed with lodges, tents, restaurants, stores and campgrounds.  In other words, it is a dayhiker paradise, providing all the comforts of life, except for a Starbucks.  There are buses that continually loop through the major destinations as well as bikepaths for those who prefer traveling under their own power.  We left one rental car at the lot at the far end of the valley and went to look for some food.  By this time it was toward early evening.  The restaurant we found inexplicably closed at 5:00, so we decided to go on without eating.  I think if we had searched further we would have found another place, but we figured we could find someplace to eat along the way to Mammoth Lakes.  It turns out that during the off-season, there really aren’t that many places to eat.  The vast majority of visitors to Yosemite make it no farther than Yosemite Valley.  The average length of stay in the park is 1.5 hours.  Once you get outside that area, there are very few signs of civilization.  We thought we found one place to eat in a remote part of the park, but when we said we didn’t have reservations, they relegated us to “We’ll see what we can do.”  After five minutes of arrivals of others who did have reservations, we took the hint and left, having to be content with granola bars.  We finally arrived at the Mammoth Mountain Resort (elev. 9000 ft), a ski lodge that we could not have afforded if it had been ski season.  It had been a very long travel day.

 

Devil's Postpile

Saturday morning broke clear and sunny, as all of our days did.  After a very overpriced ($18) breakfast buffet at the lodge, we set out to pick up our permits and then head to the airport to turn in our other rental car.  After driving past the Inyo National Forest office several times (a re-occurring theme of our trips), we finally found it, arriving just before it opened at 8:00.  Getting the permits was no problem and we were soon off to the airport.  The “airport” turned out to be not much more than a landing strip and small administration building about the size of one of my sheds.  This entire area exists solely for the winter ski season.  During ski season there are seven flights daily from LA and San Francisco, but during the off season, there is only a single evening flight from LA.  So when we arrived at 8:30 am, the entire place was locked up.  After scrambling and getting assistance from Scottie, our taxi driver, we ended up leaving the car back in town.  Scottie took us the rest of the way to Devil’s Postpile National Monument where we were to begin our trail experience.  He also donated a can of Off to the cause, a contribution that ended up being worthy of a trail journal salute.  So here’s to you, Scottie!  May your path always lead you to new adventures.  Hopefully bug-free ones since we still have your last can of Off!  Devil’s Postpile is a display of lava formed into what looks like hexagon-shaped posts.  While a greater part of the mountains are granite, there was a significant amount of volcanic formations as well.  Thus we began our hike at 7,500 feet.

 

John Muir Trail

The trail itself is very similar to other trails we have experienced:  a lot of rock and many switchbacks through the steep elevation changes.  We saw quite a number of other hikers, but no bears.  I had expected it to be less populated, but on most days we saw 30 or so.  People that is, not bears.  Near some of the entry points there would be fishermen or day hikers (bear-bells and all), but even on the remote days, there were always a few other hikers.  On this particular day we came across quite a number of thru hikers who had started at Yosemite Valley and were heading toward Mt. Whitney.  Everyone was friendly and stopped to talk for a couple of minutes, eager to talk about their trail experience and pass on some good pointers to those heading that direction.  There is quite a variety of people backpacking.  Although there were a few women, the vast majority were men.  We met one man traveling by himself who was from Germany.  We also saw another one who was hiking in sandals.  We chuckled to ourselves after we passed him, wondering how long he could do that.  On the other hand, he could have been a Sherpa on vacation and considered this the flatlands!  After all, he had done 55 miles by that time.  Generally, the thru-hikers were planning to do 14-18 miles a day to finish the trail in two weeks or so.  At this point, they were over ¼ done and had done what we were planning to do in about half the time we were planning.  Doing a thru hike requires taking the whole backpacking experience to the next level.  In order to do the miles they are doing, they need to make sacrifices.  We generally tend to lean toward the better equipped side, which results in greater comfort, but with greater pack weight.  I probably could have done 14 miles one day, but to do it consistently would require going without some of the comforts we enjoyed.  I could have shaved a couple of pounds from my pack weight by eliminating one of my water bottles, part of my thermal layer, a shirt and some of the water that I carried.  Lakes and streams were plentiful, so we could have carried just half a day’s water instead of an entire day’s supply.  I also have a fairly heavy pack and sleeping bag.  Eliminating a few ounces here and there would be the difference between the 35 pound pack I was carrying and a 25 pound pack, which would make a huge difference over the course of 230 miles.  Some of the thru-hikers take more extreme measures such as using tent poles and the rain fly instead of an actual tent.  This leaves them exposed to inclimate weather, insects and other wildlife.  I don’t think I’m quite ready for that yet.

 

Tom

In the afternoon, the weather turned cloudy with some rain.  At one point during our travels, we came across a sign, which I neglected to take a picture of, explaining how California is in a drought and we needed to conserve water.  Well, if that was a drought, I’d hate to see a flood.  It rained every day.  E-V-E-R-Y D-A-Y!!!  This was the pattern for most of the trip:  clear morning followed by rain in the afternoon and/or evening.  Once we understood this (we’re quick learners once we get wet), we made sure we had a decent start in the morning so we could get to the next campsite to set up either before the rain, or between showers.  The rains were gentle showers, nothing like the rainstorms of the Midwest with their wind-driven rains.  As with most mountains, the soil is rocky and sloped, so there is very little mud.  Overall, while the rain is not pleasant, it is not too difficult to handle.  Still, I thought it was always sunny in California.  Evidently that is just another marketing ploy, similar to the “Great Smoky Mountain” masterpiece referenced in a previous trail journal.

 

Camp at Rosalie Lake

After a hike of 7.6 miles, we reached our first campsite by Rosalie Lake at an elevation of 9,300 feet.  Unlike other trails we have hiked, there are no official campsites on the John Muir.  However, there are sites that are used often enough that they are easily identifiable as campsites.  Generally they are sheltered from the elements, close to water and to the trail.  The official guidelines are that you need to be off the trail and away from water by 100 feet, but who carries a measuring device on a backpack trip?  We (meaning Tom) built a campfire.  Dry wood was scarce, but half of the fun of having a fire is the challenge in getting it started when everything is wet.  Or, more correctly, half the fun of having a fire is watching Tom get one started using nothing but wet wood and homemade fire starters.  The campsite was on a moderate slope.  While we could easily walk up and down the slope, doing so was exhausting.  I wasn’t acclimated to the elevation yet, and was surprised how quickly I became winded.  One of my concerns prior to the trip was how I would handle the higher altitudes, based on some previous experience.  I made a conscious effort to keep hydrated and never really had difficulty.  At the beginning of the week, small climbs were tiring, but as the week progressed, they became less effort as my body became acclimated to the elevation.  We went to bed early, having seen no bears.

 



Lake Rosalie

Sunday morning was cloudy and at 11:00 it began raining.  Thoughts of the Smoky Mountains crept into my mind.  We had 8 miles to go, which is not that much, but there was quite a bit of up and down.  In fact, our total elevation gain for the day was 3,500 feet.  It was cold, rainy and just generally dismal.  At one point, Tom exclaimed, “I think it is done raining!”  This proclamation was followed immediately by a loud thunderclap (the only one we heard on the trip) and more rain.  About mid-afternoon as we were ascending yet another steep slope in the rain, Tom, I think to encourage me, began expounding how this was backpacking for real men.  No wimps on this type of trip, yessirree!  No day-hikers, no fishermen, just real hard-core backpackers.  I believe his exact quote was something like, “We are definitely earning major man-points here!”  About a minute later, we met a group of hikers coming from the opposite direction.  The first two were a couple of Filipino women; probably in their 50’s or 60’s (although it is so hard to tell with Filipinos as they age so gracefully) who cheerfully sang out a greeting as if we were just passing during a stroll down the boardwalk.  They were followed by two similar aged men.  All were loaded down with gear. After they were out of earshot, Tom remarked, “Just forget about my last comment.”  So much for the manliness of the trip!

 

It was still rainy when we reached our destination for the night:  10,000 Islands Lake.  This is a large alpine lake at an elevation of 9,850 feet.  I don’t think there really were 10,000 islands, but there were numerous small islands (or at least large rocks) protruding from the lake.  We quickly pitched our tent at the first marginal campsite we came to (which was not 100 feet from the trail) and crawled inside.  The problem with rainy days at the campsite is there really isn’t anything else to do.  You could sit outside in the rain, but that gets old.  Plus you get wet.  And cold.  At least in the tent, you can crawl into your sleeping bag and be warm and dry.  About 6:00 it cleared up, allowing us to get out and cook supper.  This was by far our worst weather day.  And we hadn’t seen any bears.

 

10,000 Islands Lake

Monday morning was clear and crisp with a tremendous picture postcard view of the mountains across the lake.  This was one of the most photogenic scenes of the trip.  I had gotten up in the middle of the night and would have stayed outside enjoying the brilliant full moon had it not been well below freezing, as evidenced by a layer of ice on the tent.  I don’t remember any of our other trips being during the full moon period, but it’s something to keep in mind for planning the timing of future trips.  The majestic aura of mountains in the moonlight defies description and must be experienced to be understood.

 

Typical Alpine Tundra

We had gotten up early (6:00) as we had a rough day in front of us.  Not only was this one of our longer days (10.6 miles), but we also would hit our highest point:  Donahue Pass at 11,000 feet.  The morning weather was again tremendous which is so uplifting when you’re undertaking this difficult of a path.  The John Muir trail joins the Pacific Crest Trail as this point.  As you might recall from earlier trail journals, the Pacific Crest Trail is one of the three major trails in the US, with the others being the Appalachian and the Continental Divide trails.  All are over 2,000 miles.  We have now set foot on all three as we hiked part of the Continental Divide trail in Glacier last year.  As we meandered up the switchbacks toward the top of the pass, I was reaching my limit.  It was by far the most brutal hike of this trip, and

Rock Quail at the pass

one of the most brutal of any of our trips.  We had to stop numerous times to rest.  Incidentally, I’ll have you know that I set the pace for most of our hike.  Yes, just like those ridiculously small sports cars at the front of the pack at the Indy 500.  You know, the ones whose sole purpose is to keep the race cars from really opening up and wouldn’t stand any chance of being able to compete in the real race.  Poor Tom.  Maybe someday he can go with someone who can keep up with him.  Anyway, back to the hike.  On our way up to the pass, we met a group on horses coming down.  It looked like two men with a guide and 8-10 horses.  It seemed terribly cruel for the horses to be on that rough path.  After they passed, we could see drops of blood along the trail.  No doubt one or more of the horses had gotten cut by the sharp granite rocks.  We also found a horseshoe dropped by one of the horses.  I suppose they are used to these trails, but I couldn’t help but feel they would much rather be galloping though a sun-drenched meadow somewhere.  Actually, at that point I would have much rather been galloping through a sun-drenched meadow somewhere.  We skirted along the edge of two snow fields and finally achieved the top, which was where we moved from Ansel Adams Wilderness into Yosemite National Park.  We ate lunch there at the pass beside a small alpine pond.  There were a couple of ground squirrels there who were very excited to see us.  I can’t imagine how they could live at that elevation.  The area is quite barren and probably snow-covered eight months out of the year.  So the chance of getting some of our crumbs seemed appealing to them.  After a short rest, we resumed our hike which was easier since we were going downhill.

 

Note that I said easier, not easy.  Nothing at that elevation is easy.  However, backpacking is much easier than what the next group we encountered was doing.  They were a work crew repairing and upgrading the trail.  So here they were at 11,000 feet with shovels and crowbars heaving around these large pieces of granite in this painfully slow process of upgrading the trail.  I doubt one guy could do more than 25 feet per day.  They were going to be there for a long time and none of them looked any too happy about it.  Actually they probably weren’t going to be there for a long time because winter comes early at those heights.  Snow was expected shortly after our trip was done.

 

We had met a few other hikers as we were approaching the top of the pass.  They had given us some valuable information on potential campsites coming up.  When you are tired, that first potential campsite looks pretty inviting.  Knowing that there would be a better campsite just a couple miles down the trail, we kept plodding on.  By this time it was tending toward the middle of the afternoon.  With the weather in the mountains generally turning rough about that time we were anxious to get to our campsite.  We met several other hikers as we were descending to the campsite.  Considering the time of day and the severity of the hike they had in front of them, we weren’t sure they were going to make it over the pass and down to a suitable campsite.  You want to avoid camping at the top of the mountain.  Winds can be wicked and being that exposed can be dangerous.

 

Camp 3rd Night

We got to our campsite around 3:20 while it was still sunny.  It soon grew cloudy and windy.  We debated about taking a nap, but decided to cook supper instead.  Good call.  It began raining around 6:30 and continued well into the night.  We went to bed without having seen any bears.

 

Tuesday dawned another beautiful clear day.  While it was not as cold as most mornings, the sun did not reach down into the valley.  Neither did we have a chance to dry out our gear which was still wet from the previous night. As the sun rose its rays illuminated the tops of the mountains on this side of the pass.  Not quite as majestic as the previous morning, but still spectacular.  We could see some patches of snow toward the peaks that may have been glaciers, according to our map.  Our route for this day was one of our easiest.  We were heading down into the valley and traveling to Tuolumne Meadows.  During the descent into Lyell Canyon we encountered more workers, including one with a hammer drill to break up the granite slabs.  Hearing the gas powered hammer drill in the middle of the wilderness didn’t enhance my experience, although for Tom, ever the engineer, it was probably one of the highlights of the trip.  Although this was one of, if not the most remote hike we have done, it didn’t seem like it as we hiked.  Partly it was because of the number of people we encountered along the way, and partly because of the air traffic over the park.  Its proximity to populated areas meant there were regular flights overhead.  At the end of the descent, we saw the worker’s base camp.  It would be a rough way to earn a living.

Descending into Lyell Canyon

Lyell Canyon was one of the most picturesque scenes of the trip.  Unfortunately, my photography skills were not up to the challenge.  The pictures that I took failed to capture the magnificence of the peaks along the Kuna crest, the vibrant rush of the waters of Lyell Fork and the broad sunny meadows along the bottom of the canyon.  I don’t know much about trout fishing, but this seemed to be the archetypal trout stream.  The kind where you don’t mind if you aren’t catching any fish because of where you are and what you are experiencing.  This is big sky country.

Floor of the canyon

We met several interesting groups as we hiked.  We met two mule trains carrying supplies to the worker’s camp.  We also met a ranger on horseback.  He was an older man and looked like the kind of guy you would love to hear tell stories. I would imagine he has had more than his share of adventures.  He didn’t ask us for our permit, but did talk to us about where we had been and where we were going and gave us some good tips.  We also met a hiker who was doing the same path we were, just from the opposite direction.  We kept an eye peeled for bears as this would seem to be prime bear country, but, once again, did not see any.

Lyell river meandering through the canyon

The trail through the canyon was flat and fast.  Over time the traffic would compress the soil creating ruts.  When the ruts became so deep (like 6”), a new path would be created, and so on.  In some places there were four parallel paths.  Kind of like a freeway for hikers!  The problem with flat fast trails is they are hard on your feet.  I actually got a fairly substantial blister on the back of the foot, a first for me while hiking.  Part of our motivation for going fast was that we were approaching Tuolumne Meadows, which is probably the second largest campground in the park after Yosemite Valley.  We were looking forward to drying out, restocking at the general store, getting food at a restaurant and taking a nice, long, hot shower!  I know, that’s kind of wimpy after having only been out for four days, but it’s a lot easier to say that when you are in your home, dry and comfortable than it is when you are in the wilderness carrying your wet gear!  As we approached the Meadows, we met more day hikers.  Then we saw a sight that horrified me.  A guide was leading a group of 10-15 junior high age kids on an overnight hike.  Wow, what a hard way to earn a living.  Probably harder than building the trail at 11,000 feet!  There is no way you could get me to lead that expedition.  As if that wasn’t enough, he was carrying a huge pack.  No thank you.

Northern Yosemite

We finished our 12 mile hike arriving at the campground around 2:00, just as the sky was clouding over, right on time.  In addition to the other reasons, we also wanted to make sure we got a campsite.  Camping within 4 miles of the major areas is restricted, so if the campground had been full, we would have been looking at doing another 4 miles (mainly uphill) to find a site.  Fortunately at this time of year, there were many sites available at the campground, which was a mixture of trailer and tent campers in addition to a few backpackers.  Unfortunately there were no showers unless we went to the lodge before 3:00 and paid for them.  We decided to tough it out and skip that part, but did enjoy greasy cheeseburgers and soda at the campground store where we also resupplied for the rest of the trip.  I did take a sponge-bath and changed clothes which made me feel like about a one-fourth new man.  Tom bought some wood at the store so we could have a fire.  Rarely have we seen such green wood.  It took all his skill and several of his fire starters to get it going.  The rain didn’t help much either.  We did attend a ranger talk in the evening where we learned that the bears have been known to run off with packs and steal food right off the tables when the campers’ backs are turned.  There were large bear lockers at each campsite for us to store our stuff in.  Of course, we finished the day without having seen any bears.

Cathedral Range

Wednesday morning was typical.  With the comforts of civilization, we didn’t have to filter water or dig cat holes, so we were able to get off in good time.  I did acquaint myself with moleskin to deal with my blister.  It slowed me down a little, but wasn’t too bad.  Based on our early start and the fact we were heading away from civilization, we thought we would see fewer people.  While we were right, we wouldn’t have guessed what kind of people we would see.  We saw two guys wearing kilts.  There were two couples with young children.  Like 6 months old young.  There was also a couple where the woman had dreadlocks.  Very long dreadlocks.  And we saw another group of junior high age kids with a few adults.  It still sends shivers up my spine.  The first part of this day was uphill as we went through the Cathedral Range, certainly one of the most scenic areas we saw, once again serving as a reminder of how poor my photography skills are.  The pictures failed to tell the story well.  We camped at an established campground named Sunrise.  It had bear lockers and composting toilets, similar to what we saw in the White Mountains and the Smoky Mountains.  Once again it started raining around 6:00 and rained until 9:00.  We went to bed without having seen any bears.

Sunrise campsite

At this point I was starting to become a wild bear agnostic.  Maybe there were bears, and maybe there weren’t, I just wasn’t sure I believed in them and had certainly never seen them.  OK, MAYBE we had seen some at Glacier last year.  But then again, maybe we just THOUGHT we had seen bears.  Your mind can play tricks on you, especially if you want so badly to see them.  Then someone in the group sees movement in the woods and EVERYONE decides they have seen a bear.  So maybe we never really had seen any bears.  Maybe they were just big squirrels.  Sure, Tom had some video footage, but if the truth be told, it looked a lot like those grainy videos of Bigfoot.  Certainly not enough to provide conclusive proof.  And this trip with all the Bear Aware propaganda and bear canisters wasn’t doing anything to change my opinion.  I think it just a big conspiracy to help control the masses in the national parks.



Burned out area above Little Yosemite

Thursday morning broke clear and cold.  We had a good view of the sunrise, hence the name of the campground.  We had an early start, getting up at 6:30 and leaving around 8:00 and reached our next and final campsite before noon.  The trail here was different than much of what we had experienced.  Due to the elevation, much of our terrain was alpine with some forest, but even that was not very dense.  On this day, we descended through what had been the largest trees I had ever seen.  They weren’t sequoias or redwoods, but just massive pine trees.  Really massive pine trees!  It was beautiful.  We came across a burned out area, but even that gave us a tremendous view of what I think was Little Yosemite Valley.  We also met some other backpackers who had headed out from Yosemite Valley and were able to advise us of a great campsite.  We talked for a while as they were heading out on a loop staying at several of the campgrounds similar to Sunrise.  We soon realized that we were in the presence of someone who had an even greater disdain for dayhikers than I have!  Now maybe I overstate my feelings a little bit.  After all, I know a lot of dayhikers.  In fact some of my best friends are dayhikers.  I have even, at times of weakness, gone on dayhikes myself!  This guy, on the other hand, didn’t hold back at all in his critique of the inhabitants of the Valley.  I believe the word he used was “trash,” as in “dayhiking trash,” which I think is a little harsh.  It just goes to show you that no matter how strong your opinions are, you can always find someone who makes you look moderate.

Lots of deer, no bears

We had now passed a critical point in our trip.  At this point we were within a short day’s hike of completing our trip.  Even if something went dreadfully wrong, we were still going to complete the trip.  Did you hear that, Rick?  DID YOU HEAR THAT????  We were finally going to complete a backpacking trip just like we planned it.  At this point we were delirious.  Actually Tom was delirious the day before.  He had been talking about getting up at 5:00 so WE would be able to do Half Dome on Thursday.  That was just crazy talk.  Half Dome is one spectacular place, but to get there you have to ascend granite rock with a slope greater than 45 degrees.  They have steel posts with chains that you use to pull yourself up.  In the summer, a young woman was on the chains after it had rained when she slipped and fell off the side of the mountain to her death.  And Tom wanted us to go there?!  Ha.  I kept the keys to the car and told him if he wanted to go that was fine.  So he did.  After we had set up camp, he took a day pack and set off down the trail.  I made good use of the time by finishing the camp set-up, hung stuff out to dry and caught up on my journal notes.  Then I went over to the creek to filter water.  While I was standing there pumping the filter and just minding my own business, a large 8 point buck suddenly came crashing through the underbrush and leaped over the stream about 15 feet from where I was standing.  After my heart started beating again, I continued filtering water and then a smaller buck came through in like manner.  Being in this wooded area, everything sounds likes a bear approaching the camp.  So when it is perfectly quite and then here is a deer almost right on top of you, it can take a few years off your life.  Later some smaller semi-wild deer wandered up to the edge of the campsite.  We still didn’t see any bears.

Tom returned from Half Dome safely, proclaiming it stupendous.  I, however, was not persuaded that I had missed out.  In fact, his narrative only served to reinforce my decision.  I was more than satisfied with having visited it vicariously.  Tom used the last of his fire starters as we had a roaring fire to celebrate our anticipated success in completing our hike, even if we hadn’t seen any bears.  We had great hopes for seeing some the next day.

Half Dome

Friday, surprise, surprise, was a beautiful morning.  We had a relatively short hike, primarily down into the valley.  However we were anticipating some major elevation changes, because the hiking summary we had showed several thousand feet of both gain and loss.  There’s nothing like ending a hike with one final insanely difficult stretch.  So having packed up our tent for the final time, we set off down the trail.  We soon reached the trail leading to Half Dome.  I can honestly say that I was not tempted in the least to take a detour!  Soon after reaching that point, we began to see the dayhikers coming up the trail from the valley to hike to the top of Half Dome.  As Tom remarked, to have arrived at this point by this time of the morning, they had to have started in the valley at 5:30 or 6:00.  The turnoff is about 6 miles from the valley with an elevation gain of over 2,000 feet.  These weren’t your normal dayhikers.  OK, some of them weren’t your normal dayhikers.  I couldn’t help but silently pass judgment upon them as we passed them on the trail.  “That one should make it.  That one definitely is going to make it.  There’s no way that one makes it.  That one looks like his most strenuous activity before this morning was getting off the couch to get another beer.”  There were hundreds of people attempting this climb.  I wonder how many of them made it.

At this point, a very confusing and embarrassing event took place.  Tom had gone on ahead (fancy that), and the trail had a switchback, but almost looked like it continued straight.  As I started to go ahead, I realized the path had ended, but when I turned around, I became confused by the two trails and picked the wrong one, which was the one I had just come down.  To this day I’m not sure how that happened, but I blame it on the overabundance of dayhikers.  Not realizing what I had done, I started back up the path rather quickly so I could catch up with Tom.  However, I soon caught up with a dayhiker.  I thought it was strange that we were traveling in the same direction and she looked vaguely familiar, but who knows the mind of the dayhiking crowd plus they all start to look alike anyway.  I asked her if someone with a green pack (Tom) had passed her recently and she no, but she had met someone coming the other way who looked like me.  About that time I started to put two and two together and realized I had gotten turned around!  Having realized my error, I turned back around and headed in the correct way once again.  Eventually I did catch up with Tom who was wondering what was taking me so long.  Fortunately I had gone less than a quarter mile in the wrong directions, so it wasn’t too bad.  I was still concerned, however, as we had been hiking for several miles and had not hit a significant uphill which we were expected based on the hiking summary.  The farther we went, the worse the dread became.  At the beginning we figured we would have a lot of smaller gains and losses.  We now had less than half the distance, so we were expected fewer but steeper ups and downs.  The dread of what must be ahead was almost unbearable.

Nevada Falls

At Nevada Falls, the trail split.  We continued on the John Muir while all the dayhikers were coming up a different trail.  We stopped at the falls for a while and Tom in his usual reckless manner went RIGHT OUT TO THE EDGE to get pictures.  Being much more wise and prudent, I stayed well back from the edge so that if I accidentally tripped and slid on the rock, I would have a couple of hundred feet to stop myself before plummeting over the edge.  I don’t think his pictures were that much better anyway.

The end of the trail

At this point we were certain that the remaining trail would be nothing but straight up and down.  But we steeled ourselves for what would be the most rugged part of our hiking experience.  Strangely, the trail became asphalt.  Well, I should say it was asphalt at one time.  By now, erosion had reduced it to occasional sections of asphalt that was no longer being maintained by the Park Service.  We pressed on and soon came upon a descending switchback.  This went on for quite a while until it just kind of dumped us out at the bottom in the valley.  Evidently our trail summary was showing a total for some part of the trip, not for this section of the trail.  While quite relieved, we also felt somewhat cheated, but not so much that we wanted to go back and do more elevation gains.  We continued down the floor of the valley with its well-maintained asphalt trail eventually arriving at the gaging station where the John Muir Trail ends with no sign and absolutely no fanfare.  I didn’t need a big sign, but wanted to something like “Beginning (or ending) of the John Muir Trail.”  How can you take a proper final photo without a sign?  And we went the entire week without seeing a bear.  My bear agnosticism was growing.

Another view of Half Dome

Now that we had completed our quest, we had some time to just fool around.  We found our car and stowed our backpacks, returned our bear canisters, picked up some dayhiker packs and melted into the crowd.  Perhaps I should say we melted into the crowd as much as is possible when you haven’t been practicing personal hygiene for a week.  We had an overpriced lunch in the valley and rode the valley bus to the trail for Upper Yosemite Falls.  The falls were impressive from a distance even though this was September when there is little snow melt.  The previous winter had seen record snows, so I am sure the falls were magnificent in June and July.  As it was, they were still impressive in September.  We hiked up the trail for quite a while until we got to a good viewing point partway up the upper falls.  The hike back down took much less time as we were practically running.  In retrospect, that was not a wise thing to do as I irritated a tendon.  I suppose that’s what I get for going on a dayhike.



Awesome View from of the Valley from the lookout point

We left the valley, but stopped off again at the lookout point at Wawoma tunnel.  We got there just before the optimal time to take photographs of the valley.  There was a string of photographers set up with their fancy cameras on tripods, just waiting for the perfect lighting.  Suddenly, they began snapping pictures like there was no tomorrow.  I didn’t notice what had triggered this flurry of activity, but then again, I’m not a photography buff.  We also took a few pictures, not wanting to miss out on whatever they were shooting.  We also heard about a climbing expedition scaling El Capitan.  With Tom’s binoculars, we were able to see them, about a fourth of the way up.  I understand it takes three or four days to make the climb.  The first time it was ever scaled took 47 days, or something like that.  You would have to really enjoy something to spend that long dangling over the valley.  I’m not sure how they sleep, but it can’t be very comfortable.

As it was getting dark, we left the park heading to our hotel back in Fresno, stopping at a couple of outlooks for Tom to take pictures.  We stopped along the way at a Mexican restaurant and lo and behold it was karaoke night!  I could hardly restrain Tom from taking over the place!  You know how sometimes when you are on vacation at a remote place where no one knows who you are, you can just bust loose and do things that no one who knows you would ever believe you would do?  Well, we didn’t do that.  No, we just ate our meal and continued on our way.  At least that’s the story that we’re telling and there aren’t any videos to prove otherwise.

It was late when we arrived at our hotel and spread out all our stuff to dry.  I went to do a load of laundry, but someone just beat me to the one machine they had.  Tom volunteered to do it later as it was well past my bedtime and I was exhausted.  It did feel good to get cleaned up after a week.

The next morning we had breakfast at the motel.  A lot of breakfast!  Then we packed up and headed toward Sequoia National Park.  During our lengthy drive back up into the mountains, we made reservations for the evening at Kings Canyon Lodge.  We aren’t really into lodge life, but figured one night would be OK.  I was surprised they would have an opening on a weekend at what seemed to be a reasonable rate.  It was September, however, which is not peak season so why question a good deal?

"The Bear"

We entered Sequoia and went to the Giant Forest, home of the General Sherman tree, the largest living organism in the world.  I don’t consider this part of our hiking experience.  With asphalt trails and other conveniences, it is more of a tourist stop, but very worthwhile.  We parked and started walking down to the area with the trees when I decided I should have my jacket.  Tom waited for me as I returned to the car.  As I came back down, I saw that Tom had evidently continued on.  As I rounded the next bend, I understood why as there was a commotion up ahead.  I heard someone say something about a bear.  So after the entire week in Yosemite with no bears, I would now get a chance to prove once and for all whether there really are bears in the wild!  I ran up to Tom and the group as they all began to move backwards yelling, “Here it comes!”  But I was determined to see it and maybe even get a picture as proof.  I stopped as the rest of the crowd moved away, and suddenly about 15 feet in front of me, a head popped up between the trunks of two trees.  Yes, this was a black bear!  After years of searching, sometimes not very diligently, I had finally fulfilled my quest!  I fumbled with my camera as the bear began moving toward me.  Moving somewhat out of its path, I was still able to get a fairly close shot.  (Tom, being back a little further (and probably safer) shot a video of the bear, and me.

He later threatened to post it to You Tube as what not to do when you see a bear in the wild.  I don’t think he actually did, because then I would be forced to revisit the karaoke….well, let’s just skip that part.)  The bear was obviously used to people being around and just ambled across the path and up the hill in search of more private surroundings.  For me, it was a magical moment.  The bear wasn’t that big and you can get that close to them at the zoo, but there really is something about being that close to a wild animal.  And, more importantly, I could no longer be a bear agnostic!  I had become a believer!

After the bear incident, we continue down the path to see the sequoias.  The crowd was silent, almost like being in church as we walked among these magnificent trees.  Reaching almost 300 feet into the sky, they are unlike anything I had ever seen.  To think that some of these trees have been standing since before the time of Christ is just hard to imagine.  They just are.  Most have been scored by flame as fires would regularly sweep through the grove.  In fact, fire is necessary for the regeneration of the sequoias.  The cones containing the seeds do not open until the heat of the forest fire releases them.  Some of the trees seemed to be severely burned, but yet they will stand for hundreds of years like that.  It is a solemn place where you realize your own insignificance in terms of size and age.  The bark of the trees grows to be up to 30 inches thick, enabling the tree to withstand many of the fires.  And yet the bark is soft, almost spongy, and similar in texture to Styrofoam.  These are trees like no other.  Sequoias grow in a few groves only in this area of California.  There were an amazing number of foreign visitors to this area. We gathered from across the globe to pay homage to this incredible display of majesty.  For some of us, it was standing in awe of the creation of our Father and the realization that the combination of climate and seed does not happen simply by chance.  No wonder the visitors to an early World’s Fair on the east coast of the US thought the partial sequoia shipped and reassembled there was a hoax!  Until you stand in the midst of the grove and experience it for yourself, you can’t fully believe that these can exist.

Tom in the middle of a burned out section of a live tree

The Senate.  The sign in front is about 4 feet tall.

After lunch, we headed to our lodge to check in before we visited Kings Canyon.  Turns out the “lodge” wasn’t exactly what we were anticipating.  The first clue was the gas pump out front.  It was one of the old fashioned kind where you first pumped the gas into the glass bowl with measurements marking the gallons.  After you reached the desired level, the gas then is drained into your tank.  The rest of the lodge, really a collection of small cabins, was of similar vintage.  We had a cabin with a floor that sank as you walked across it.  There was not heat or air conditioning, just lots of blankets.  I was concerned that there really wasn’t anything but air under the linoleum in the bathroom.  I’m sure it hasn’t been updated since the 1950’s.  Perhaps that explained why they had vacancies.  Of course it was fine for us since we were used to sleeping outside.  But I’m not sure I would recommend it to those who are more discerning about where they put their head at night.  In retrospect, I should not have been surprised.  Kings Canyon is a nice place, but is definitely a poor cousin to Yosemite.  Plus it only operates a few months out of the year, so I don’t think they can justify the capital needed to turn it into a more modern venue.  (It called for a little financial analysis even if I was on vacation)

Kings Canyon National Park, heading into the canyon

Picturesque River at the bottom of the canyon

From the bottom of the canyon

After checking in, we continue down the road into the canyon itself, which was very nice and certainly worthy of National Park status.  However, we explored very little of it although we did a small hike in the bottom of the canyon itself.  The park is one of the most remote national parks, with no other vehicular access other than the one road which extends into the park for a measily 6 miles.  I am interested in seeing what the rest of the park looks like, but to see it would be an investment.  It is quite desolate.  I would imagine you could do a long multi-day loop and never see another person.  The John Muir Trail comes into the top of the park and follows the outer edge around down to Sequoia National Park.  It is possible that some of the thru hikers we saw that first day of our hike were entering the north part of Kings Canyon when we were there.

The next morning we left early to spend some more time at another sequoia grove and then headed back to Fresno to catch our plane.  We did stop at a roadside stand to get some fresh fruit.  They had an abundance of peaches and plums at a very reasonable price.  The fruit was good, but really very similar to what you can get in any grocery store in the Midwest, just a little cheaper.  We hadn’t had a lot of fruit on our trip, so we did buy some to eat on the way and to bring home.

And thus ends the trail tale of one of our longest and most successful adventures to date.  Stay tuned for news of our next excursion to the Grand Canyon in December as Bruce joins us in an attempt to completely implicate Rick as the cause of everything that has ever gone wrong with our previous trips.  Until then, happy trails!