Yosemite Diary

I got to San Jose and headed off to the rental car counter. Amazingly enough it seemed to be staffed by people who were familiar with their own computers and I had my car in a matter of minutes. I cruised off down the highway. After a few misstarts trying to find the freeway in a construction zone I was on my way.

I made my first stop at Livermore and found a Chevy's for dinner. I called Jeannie to let her know my adventure had started in earnest. (She let me know she was having Internet problems, and I tried to troubleshoot them over the phone. I tried again after supper and finally had to give up. My pal Paul tried later and couldn't get it either.)

After dinner, I then headed out on the highway for Yosemite. I sped through the California groves for hours. I took a wrong turn in own town and went 20 miles out of the way. Unfortunately, this town had a Yosemite Ave. leading out of town that instead of going to Yosemite, goes to Fresno. Anyway, I figured it out, backtracked and got back on the road.

I started up the mountains. My ears popped. I was getting closer. Finally at 1:30 I stopped at a town some 37 miles or so from the park. The first place looked dark and expensive, so I just kept going. The second seemed just right. The proprietress suggested a trailer at 76 dollars a night. I blanched at the price. Then she suggested a Teepee. This was just right at 36 per night. She guided me out there and indicated which ones she thought might be empty. (evidently as the Teepee's had no lock and the local teens sometimes snuck inside.) I picked the one closest to my car and the showers. I brought in my backpack and set up my sleeping bag and hat and went to sleep, very tired. At this point I had been moving for 21 hours and was beat. Somehow I managed to set Aras' watch alarm and went to sleep.

Thursday:

I woke promptly at 7:00, showered and beat it out of town. I looked all over town for a non existent pay phone. The closest I got was a two non working pay phone. I backtracked down 10 miles to the last town and made another phone call to Jeannie, so she would know I was well and call Paul Jones for help. She wasn't there so I left a message.

I headed back up the mountains. It was a beautiful crisp day, cool but not cold. After about 40 miles I was at the park entrance. I paid and found a gas station to fill up at. I also bought stove fuel there, an item which I couldn't pack on the plane. I headed back on Hwy 120, towards High Country, Tioga Pass. Signs indicated that there were several fires in the park. A large area I passed through, had the forest floor swept into neat tidy piles of underbrush. It looked like people had come through with enormous leaf blowers and piled up brush, pine cones, and boughs. I presumed they were getting ready to do some controlled burning.

I finally passed my trailhead, Cathedral Peak. I went further down the road to the ranger station to get my permit. I was unable to reserve in advance as the trail I was planning to take had all the reservations taken. They leave 40% for walk up customers. I was in luck as there were 3 permits left for my trail. I also got a bear container, which is mandatory in certain parts of the park. It's a solid heavy plastic container with no hand holds. It has a recessed sort of lid which will only pop open after turning two small screws with recessed threads. You need a something like a quarter to turn it properly.

So I turned and headed to the trailhead. It was an area with about 50 cars along side either side of the road, right across from Tuolumne Meadows. It has bear boxes on the side of the road so that one doesn't have to leave any items of food or personal care in the car. This is to avoid bear incidents. Evidently, a motivated bear can break into a car with ease if they smell food or tooth paste or anything that seems remotely edible.

At the trailhead I packed and repacked everything and got into my foot wear for the hike. I love the feeling of slipping on my leather hiking boots with their dust from the last trail, two pairs of socks, snug but not tight.

I had worried about having too much food. Once I saw the size of the bear container, reputed to hold a weeks worth of food, I knew I had twice as much food as I actually needed. I pared down the food dramatically. I still had trouble fitting it in properly. I had a little bag of food that just wouldn't fit, not matter what. I decided to take it the extra and eat the big food first.

I put my leftover food and a deodorant into the bear container and walked into the woods. After about 15 feet I realized I didn't have my hat on. I headed back to the car. I couldn't find it anywhere. My luggage had been searched by the TSA folks, and had a written notice on the inside and outside, so I blamed my missing hat on the feds. So I headed to a little store a half mile away. I bought an ugly hat which barely fit and headed out. It was now after noon now.

The trail started ascending right away. I started out at about 6800 feet above sea level. The trail quickly headed up 800 feet or so before leveling off a bit. After it leveled off I saw a stunning mountain through the pines, which I thought was Cathedral Peak. I was going very slow. The altitude left me chuffing and puffing with each stride. The forest was mostly large pines, lodge pole, incense, and white pine, I think. The trail was easy to follow, and had decent switch backs. There were obvious signs of horse in the area. This was good in one way. Trails graded for horses are much easier on a backpackers knees as the trail can only be so steep and rought and still accomodate horses. On the other hand horses can wear trails and they leave plenty of horse apples to lend an aroma here and there.

At this point of the trail, I met a few people an hour. Most of the people were day hikers with very light packs. I don't mean they were unprepared as they appeared to be prepared serious hikers. Everyone was a lot faster than I was. One guy passed me up on the way to Cathedral Lakes and then returned back down before I had even gotten there. I stopped frequently for mini breaks usually lasting 2-10 seconds. Long enough to catch my breath, and look around, but not so long as to allow lactic acid to build up in me legs. I wondered if I was going to be fit enough to make my way to Yosemite Valley some 20 odd miles from the trail head. (I say 20 odd miles as I saw signs indicating my trip being 21.7 miles all the way to 31.9 miles. I think I'll call it a 24 mile hike.)

By 4:30 I made it too Lower Cathedral Lake below spectacular Cathedral Peak. I headed down a few hundred feet happy but tired. Aras and I figured I would overnight here and get used to the altitude. It had taken me 4 1/2 hours to hike four miles, so i was making slow progress. My feet felt good. I filtered some water and had a nice hot meal. I sat for a long time with my boots off and just enjoyed the scenery. At about 5:45 I decided that I would try for the next logical stop which was Upper Cathedral Lake. It was about 2 miles. It was at a higher altitude and very close to the 9700 foot pass I would have to get over the next morning. I accidentally got off on some sort of spur trail at this point. It looked like the trail at first and even had some cairns but it quickly petered out. Knowing I didn't have much daylight left, I took a few compass bearings and headed out cross country. The trail was between my location and a steep cliff below Cathedral. After about 15 minutes I finally ran back into the trail again. I was very happy to see the trail. Staying on trail is a big safety issue, especially when traveling alone. I hoofed my way up to Upper Cathedral Lake. I was feeling great except for a little hot spot on my right heel. When I had stopped at lower Cathedral lake, previously I had noticed some swelling in my ankles. I mistakenly laced my right shoe a little looser to see if that would reduce the swelling. (My left ankle had been hurting for a few weeks at home due to some minor injury probably caused by snagging my foot on a gate. It still stun a little on Thursday, but didn't bother me the rest of the trip.)

I got to Upper Cathedral with a little light left in the sky. As we were in the shadow of a peak, the sun disappeared long before daylight was gone. I scouted around the lake for a camp site. On the south side, I was turned away by a very noisy bunch of teenagers and went back around the counter clockwise. The leader of the group haughtily said something like "You best be going the other way" in some sort of aussie accent. Rude I thought. Later on I realized she probably didn't want to subject me to the loud yahoo nature of her teen age charges.

Sunset on Upper Cathedral Lake burned into my soul. I think I have never seen a natural sight so beautiful. The intensity of the alpen glow, contrasted with the dark blue skies and the green pines. so stunning that it was truly emotionally moving. I hope I never forget it as long as I live.

I went around the lake the other way and came upon some other hikers, already set up. I backed up a little bit and set up camp in a largish depression between a large rock out cropping and some boulders. The other hikers had already seen a bear. The mentioned that they wished "the bear would eat the noisy kids." I quickly set up camp and moved the bear canister 50 yards away. I must have done a poor job setting up my tent. Half the night it sounded like squirrels were scampering over my tent. It turned out to be a loose fly and some velcro causing the problem. It was cold that night, dropping down past freezing by a few degrees. The tent was frosty by morning, but I was warm inside. I had the mummy bag zipped all the way which is a rarity for me as I prefer having a free arm. I woke up cold a few times where my winter hat fell off. I wore my long under wear that night.

Friday:

I woke up around 5:00 when the noisy teen agers across the lake got up. They headed out quickly -- but loudly. By 5:30 they were marching down the way I came up. I got up, filtered water and had a nice warm breakfast. I got out of camp by 7:30 and filtered some more water watching the sun warm up Cathedral Peak.

I made it to the top of the pass in pretty short order, although I had to heed the call of nature and do a little foot care with some moleskin over what was now a blister on my right heel.

Once over the pass, the trail headed across a broad meadow between some peaks. The trail gradually sloped up and headed through some largish pines. Some time during the mid morning I was passed by two guys moving at a good clip. They really gave me a start as I hadn't heard them at all, except maybe some talking in the far distance. Anyway, the hello from 2 feet behind gave me quite a start. I asked them about whether they had passed many people. They said there was another couple a couple of miles back.

On I went. The trail kept going up, but not as steeply as before. The trees were stupendous. I especially was interested in the spiral patterns on some pines that were fallen and the bark had come off. I hadn't seen much wild life other than some large bird at lower cathedral possibly a golden eagle, a mule deer in the same spot, and a number of small squirrels.

I rounded the next peak and started down for some time past a nice stream. Here I saw a pair of horses, and a party of maybe 8, with at least two from Minnesota. The horses had stayed at a High Sierra camp which were closed for the season. I continued along for quite some time along this meadow. It passes a squat dome of rock and then heads to the right where the cutoff for Sunrise Lakes and the High Sierra camp mentioned earlier. I stopped here for a longish lunch. I spent some time fixing my heel which still hadn't popped but was huge and puffy. I headed out tired, but feeling like I had made pretty good progress. In four hours I had already covered the whole distance that I had to cover for the day and there were still 6 1/2 hours of daylight left. I saw a few hikers from Lower Cathedral Lake including Susan of the Green Dana backpack and her husband who I had met the previous day. They headed up to Sunrise for an easy day following a longish hike around Volgenslag on the way to Cathedral. They must have had a 24 mile day the previous day.

I headed down the JMT and didn't see anyone for a few hours. The trail was very rutted in some spots where the trail was 12-18 inches below the surface with some four ruts side by side. Some ruts would be filled in with timber in an effort to let nature reclaim that bit of trail. I didn't like the ruts as my stride sometimes would catch an edge. In places the granite dust was also loose and would slip a little as you pushed off. The next real obstacle was Sunrise Mountain. I met a few older guys from Scotland, who told me I had very nearly broken the neck of the summit and only had one more steep uphill to complete. They also told me of a camper who had their bear can stolen while cooking. Evidently some bears know that charging a camper while they are cooking with the bear can open is the best way to get food. Eeek! I wouldn't summit Sunrise Mountain, but would go over a crest at 9800 feet, the highest point of the trail as far as I could tell from the map. Once over, I hit a very steep down hill, that would essentially continue for the balance of the trip. It was a little tricky at this point as I was getting more tired and there would likely be no place to camp on top of Sunrise, and nothing on the steep shoulder. I made the top of Sunrise by 3:30 and rewarded myself with a long break. I sat in the sun, shirt off, relaxing on a huge slab of granite, feeling on top of the world. I was looking down into Little Yosemite Valley at this point.

I headed down Sunrise. It was soooo steep. I went down, down, down for some 1800 feet with very little reprieve. Looking up where I had been it practically looked like a cliff. This was OK for me, but looking back up the hill took all the wind out of my sails about trying half dome. It just didn't seem worthwhile. After all that was only 8800 feet, I had already been higher.

It was getting dark now and I still hadn't found a camp site. I was a bit worried. I passed the crook of the junction to Teoma Lake, which had an obvious site, but it was occupied by a dozen people. I passed a little stream and filtered enough water for camp and the night. At this point a couple of teenagers passed by. They said they had just gotten down from Yosemite a little late and had 6 1/2 miles left to hike. This was at 6:30 at night, a time where I was starting to actually worry about where to camp safely. I wished them well. They had no tent so were just going to keep going. No head light either. I should have given them my head lamp, but didn't think of it until they were too far away.

I finally found a decent camp a couple of hundred yards past the water. I was very happy about the progress that I had made this day. Number one, it was clear I wasn't going to be late for the awards dinner I had come to California for. Secondly, I didn't have to turn back in failure. I knew I was going to come out of the woods in time. The next day was a lower mileage day, so I thought it would be a snap.

I didn't have much time for camp setup. It was getting dark quick and I was in a very thick pine glade. You could barely see the sky before the sun went down. I got the tent set and and finally figured out how to make this tent look really sharp, after several outings with this tent. I think the trick I haven't been doing right is to make sure that the ground cloth is staked out very tight and then that the large pole is canted away from one's head at a pretty good angle. I made a quick supper, stashed my food away from camp and hit the hay.

I ate in the dark by my then dimming head lamp. I swapped out my battery for a dead one from my digital camera, which was three times brighter than what I had been working with. I stashed my boots under the fly and bedded down. I heard a few things creeping around. Once I even heard something that sounded like plastic on rock, like something was messing with my bear container. Once after hearing some noise, I peered out with headlamp and saw some yellow eyes peering back at my from the other side of the trail. It was low to the ground and could have been a deer with it's head down, a mountain lion (shudder), a racoon (the most likely really) or a bear I suppose. It was much warmer here and I didn't sleep in hat or long johns. The campsite, though dark and still, was nice in that their was a large log to sit on or lean against while cooking and lolly gagging around camp.

Saturday:

I got up early in the A.M. without my alarm, ate a quick cold breakfast and started down the mountain. I filtered enough water to make it for a couple of hours and headed down. It was very easy going. I passed a few ugly looking creeks where the water looked pretty gamy and was running at a slow trickle. Whenever I came to a clearing there were really stunning views of Quarter Dome and a little later Half Dome. I passed a few more campsites, which didn't look nearly as flat as mine.

I saw a few campers near the first Y leading to half dome. Then I reached the circus. Which is to say there is a final point where you go up to Half Dome. There were a lot of people taking a breather, as well as some mule deer nibbling at some grass. I got to this point at about 8:00. This seemed to be about the time the main crowd gets to this point. I saw one guy jogging up Half Dome. He was headed up a steep path without a huff or a puff. Of course, he didn't have much of a pack but still he was a freak of nature, who should probably be dissected and studied.

I headed down. It was a tough decision. At this point I could have gone to the top, stashing my pack somewhere close by. I am sure I could have made it, but then what? I didn't really want to stay in Little Yosemite Valley as that seemed to be bear central and is crowded and requires reservations, I think. I am not sure if physically I could go to the top of Half Dome and then end up in the parking lot in time to catch the bus. I had also been a lot higher in altitude on the shoulder of Sunshine mountain. The one thing that put me over the top was the climb down Sunshine. Looking up that steep hill the day before, lost the will and I no longer thought that I could make that I wanted to. I didn't want to hold people up either on the trail or on the cables. I left this one on the vine for next time. If I camped on the shoulder and started extra early before the crowds I could definitely have made it. Next time.

So I headed down. I said "hi", "hello", "good morning" to an endless stream of folks. It was solid people all the way down the mountain to the Little Yosemite Valley. I was one of the few people going down at this point. Some folks thought I had already summitted, which I tried to dissuade them of. Others seemed overly eager to chat. I think they were looking for an excuse to stop hiking for a few minutes. Asking me about where I had been was good cover. I was all too happy to chat. I hadn't talked more than a few minutes for the last two days. It also seemed like there were a few women hitting on me. I was invited to camp fires, offered rides to Toulumne some 40 miles out of the way. This seemed real strange to me. I mean I am probably friendlier to strangers in the wilderness, but this was over the top friendly crossing into flirtatiousness. I think there are a few explanations. Possibly it was pheremones, after all I hadn't bathed and had sweated for two days straight. Alternatively these women could have been lightheaded from the altitude and their own chuffing and puffing. At any rate it was strange to me. In fact judging by the facial expression of one womens hiking partner I wasn't the only one who found this flirty behavior aberrant. I mean I was stinky, dirty, and was coming out of the wilderness, I could have been a crazed maniac. Besides I was married, with a ring on my finger. Come on folks.

I was passed by a few other hikers going downhill, but not many. All of those had actually been to the top of Half Dome. Notably one women had a bunny in the back pocket of her back pack. I ran into her later in Yosemite Valley.

I got to the bottom and read the sign indicating that all the trees on Half Dome had been cut down for fire wood and that there was acres of poop under rocks; sad but true. I saw a bathroom and eager for the chance to sit down and relax and climbed up to the second story of this two story out house. It was a solar powered composting job, where the end result is packed out by mule and horse by the park service. Sounds like a job for the new guys.

I sat at the community fire pit by the campground and ate a bar and rested my feet.

I hiked along the Merced River to the top of Nevada Falls. I had some hikers from Japan take a photo. I also met a guy from Scotland who finally answered my questions about the metric ssytem, one meter equals 39 inches. I had to know as my watch was giving all elevation in meters instead of feet like my map and the signs did.

I stopped for lunch at the top of Nevada Falls. It felt so good to take of my boots and soak my feet into the cold, cold water. I sat there overly long. While I was sitting there a pair of women who looked like twins and their male hiking companion showed up. They talked loudly in what sounded like German. The male unexpectedly stripped down to very small speedos and jumped in the water. I was very surprised as the water was cold and their were warning signs about the danger of swimming so close to a waterfall. The women stripped down and jumped in to. They reminded me of a the "double mint twins". They were buxom and were wearing a very small bikini matching each other exactly. You would have had to have seen it to believe it.

After an overly long rest I headed down. Another hiker indicated that the Mist Trail was a lot harder on the knees and had a fair amount of jumping. This strongly suggested to me to take the JMT down the other side of the falls, which was a bit longer but graded for stock. So down I went. It was a couple hours of switch backs. Fortunately, they were punctuated with spectacular views of Nevada Falls, Half Dome, some other mountains. There still were not many people heading down at this point and I made rapid progress. A few groups of horse were heading up. I was amazed by the sure footed-ness of the horses. Even over rocky ground they didn't slip. Seemed like a nice way to travel, but I would have had a sore ass that's for sure.

At the bottom of the trail there was another water fall. At this point it was a mob of people. I was eager to get out at this point. I wasn't sure how I would get back to Tuolumne. I knew there was a bus to Mammoth that ran on Sunday afternoon, but I wasn't sure about where to get it or when it left. I suppose I could hitchhike, or bribe someone to take me up there. I figured another option was to go to camp #4 where the climbers hang out and beg for a ride or stay the night and go on the bus that I knew was coming. I also really wanted a shower. I mean I really desperately wanted a shower.

Past the water fall was a very brief uphill So brief, it wouldn't bear notice, if my hiking poles hadn't slipped almost causing me to puncture a ladies kneecap.

There was another rapids then a broad paved avenue leading out to the main park. Here were huge mobs of people. I felt like I could have been at the State Fair. I waited at the bus stop, not really clear where it went and adjusted to the sight of so many people. It was a real shcock to my system. I got on the bus which was packed. It was a full size city bus and all seats were taken and the aisle was full. It was a complete shock to my system. Of course, I felt a little embarrassed about my condition. I was so dirty and stinky, and all these city slickers were packed so close around.

I got off at the main stuff in the Valley. I looked around a bit helplessly wondering what I should do. I wasn't even real sure about where the visitors center was. I also wanted a shower and some grub. I hadn't made much lunch. I turned around and saw a lady in a backpack with a bunny. Backpacks were a bit of a rarity at this point in the park. Turns out she was looking for the same information about the bus and the shower. She at least knew where the visitors center was and that there was a bus expected. I walked with her and her husband to the center and found that the bus came in about an hour and where it would be.

I ate a nice sub while I was waiting for the bus, along with an ice cream bar. When you have been eating camping grub an ice cream bar is like nectar from the gods. I checked out a post card shop and got the bus with ten minutes to spare. On the bus it was all backpackers. The folks I had met were from the Adirondacks and were a doctor and nurse from a hospital emergency room. They had taken a similar route to me but had gone through Tenaya Lakes I think. They had gone at much faster pace, but had gone to little Yosemite Valley and then back up to Half Dome. It was then I realized this was the same lady I had seen earlier with the bunny stashed in her pack. We traded stories. One guy on the bus had lost his backpack to a bear. It was just stolen out of camp and no one saw the bear. I teased him and said the bears sold them on Ebay.

The bus weaved up to the high country. It was a long trip. The let us off at the cars and I packed away my food, pack, and gear and went to the store to call Jeannie and tell her I had made it out safely. My folks were at the house preparing to take care of the kids while Jeannie came out for the awards banquet. Jeannie was hardly listening to my adventures as she was too busy packing . My folks soaked it in though. I stayed at the phone booth until dark.

I headed towards the backpacker campground. It was plenty dark. I fond my site and set up totally in the dark. One nice feature, each site had it's own large and spacious bear box. This meant I could relax totally about food and animals. I set up camp, ate food. I had to find water which was harder than I would have figured. I also realized that backpacker campers who are welcome one night before and after a trip have to park their car across the road. I parked and walked back. It was a stunning night, with super bright stars. It was brighter than most night in Northern Minnesota.

The camp was also weird as there were RV's with satellite dishes and all the modern conveniences. I had to find water which was over difficult. The "Story Teller Ranger" had no idea even thought she was about 30 feet from the water spigot. She wouldn't tell me a story either.

I got up in the A.M. and took after a well deserved and much needed shower, breakfast, and rehydration, I took off for Mono Lake. Mono Lake is a weird place. It is briny and has shrimp and alkaline flies. The salt, fly larvae, and dead shrimp make interesting formations on the floor. To get their from Toulumne one has to go over Mono Pass which is quite high and dramatic looking.

I spent a little time at Mono, but for some reason didn't feel patient enough to slog through the smelly shoreline to find the best photo. I think probably sunrise might be a better time. I was there about noon and it was just hot and glary.

I went back over Mono Pass, and stopped beside the road to just spend some quiet time under a tree by a river. After that it was back to Toulumne to take a walk to the Soda Springs. I got there and it was interesting to look at, although I just didn't want to drink it. I'm sure it was healthy and all, it just didn't look too appetizing with all the bright red rust ringing the little shack over the spring. There was a beautiful lodge there, built by the Sierra Club. It's kind of strange for me to eralize the Sierra Club to some degree wasn't just a lawyer/political action group, but was a band of adventurers. I associate the Sierra Club with protesters and court room battles, more than people who actually spend time enjoying the wilderness. Probably a false perception I know. Anyway, they build a fabulous lodge. Seems like a good spot to worship Muir.

I then took started driving back to San Jose. I stopped at Toulumne Grove, which is close to the exit of Yosemite. It was a shortish trail with RedWoods at the end. There was a crude warning in the gat to the path indicating mountain lions had been seen in the area and that hiking alone was inadvisable. I thought about it abit and decided I would take one hiking pole, so I could put up a fight at least and headed down. It was a long downhill, paved path. It was a pretty wood, but there weren't a lot of HUGE trees below. There were some big ones though. Evidently these were a different species than the Coastal Redwoods, which are bigger. There was one dead one where they had cut a very large hole in it. The huge one standing had a deck built around it to prevent people from tramping on it's roots. It was a redwood deck, in a ironic twist. Some people seemed to be praying to the tree, which was a good reminder that I was indeed in California.

Heading up was a good reminder as to exactly how much I was hurting from the hiking. Although it was a treat to hike without a pack, my legs were still plenty sore.

I left the park, sad to go.

The best memory I have of being in the park was seeing the sunrise and sunset on Cathedral. That site was pressed into my soul. I hope I never forget it.