Who can resist the crisp cool air of winter in the mountains? That distinct tang or pure oxygen, pine trees and fresh snow. I know I can’t, so when my roommate mentioned that he was taking his parents to Yosemite on Saturday I pretty much begged to go with them.
The four of us piled into my dad’s SUV and drove up the windy mountain roads to the winter wonderland of Yosemite National Park. I have not been up there in the winter in at least 8 years, maybe longer.
The four of us piled into my dad’s SUV and drove up the windy mountain roads to the winter wonderland of Yosemite National Park. I have not been up there in the winter in at least 8 years, maybe longer.
It was beautiful, the contrasting white with the gray granite and green pine trees. Neither Jeremy or his parents had ever been to Yosemite before so I got to give them the grand tour. We started at Bridal Vail, because where else do you start in the park. There was a little bit of water still flowing from the falls but no mist.
The paved path had large patches of ice from all the foot traffic but it was an adventure slipping and sliding along the path. From there we headed to Curry Village, stopping briefly to check out the skating rink. We passed that up for some lunch over in the Curry Village. It was different seeing everything covered in snow, only the indoors eating was open. The other thing I have not gotten used to is the cabins being closed. I looked over there and spied the stone crushed wood of the cabin we stayed in when I did Half Dome.
After lunch we hitched a ride on the bus to Mirror Lake. We walked the mile to the lake, which is more of a large river basin. It was a easy hike other than trying to traverse the icy patches on the path. But the view was new, even for me. The trail brings you directly under Half Dome. It made the face look oddly obtuse, and added to the grandeur and mystic of the mountain.
After lunch we hitched a ride on the bus to Mirror Lake. We walked the mile to the lake, which is more of a large river basin. It was a easy hike other than trying to traverse the icy patches on the path. But the view was new, even for me. The trail brings you directly under Half Dome. It made the face look oddly obtuse, and added to the grandeur and mystic of the mountain.
I look forward to taking the trail further in the summer when it opens up and you can view Half Dome from the left side. After the stroll we made our way back to the car via the bike path instead of the bus. Then we drove to the Ahwahnee to see it all decked out in snow and Christmas decorations. It was super crowded in there, probably because everyone was trying to stay warm. After that we headed home. It was getting late in the day and we did not want to get stuck driving after dark.
The entire trip was a blast. We laughed most of the time as the Cole family recounted family anecdotes and crazy relative stories. And the most fun was just to get out of Fresno, even if it was just for a few hours.
The entire trip was a blast. We laughed most of the time as the Cole family recounted family anecdotes and crazy relative stories. And the most fun was just to get out of Fresno, even if it was just for a few hours.
By happy coincidence my dad booked us a hotel there without even knowing the significance. The guy who checked us in was a great resource. He knew all the great trails in the area and recommended some restaurants. He had to be around 70 and was telling us that he wanted to hike the Seven Lakes Basin one more time before he wasn’t able to. Now that is something to aspire to, backpacking at 70. After we checked in, us girls went to the local market to pick up dessert since Brandon had been promised some goodies. We decided to pick up some breakfast and snacks as well. However we discovered that the hotel room had no dishes or silverware so we ran to the local gas station and got plastic cups and spoons.
We came across several backpacking groups leaving the rainforest and most were just miserable with the rain, but one group was enthusiastic just to be hiking in the rainforest. We hiked a short while with a musician who was up for a few performances and we got to talk with him awhile. A lot of the trail reminded us of the movie “Romancing the Stone” because it looks like where they got stuck in the land slide. Our plan was to hike in for an hour and then hike back out for that amount of time in order to meet up with mom and Brandon. It worked out perfect.
Then she told us some funny things like, there is a disease the trees get called “Cubical Butt Rot” which we thought was awesome and used as a phrase when we hiked Rialto Beach. Then we got to The Hall of Mosses, which is a stunning area of trees and moss all over the place, hanging in all shades of green, yellow and brown. 
The beach was full of drift wood, but this isn’t your typical drift wood, it was whole trees upon more whole trees. The sand was a beautiful black coarse rocky shore and the fog hadn’t lifted when we started the hike, making the scenery (once again) stunning. 
About half way we came to a small river that we had to cross. Amy and I didn’t want to take off our shoes and we saw some drift wood making a helter-skelter bridge. We attempted to get across and it proved incredibly difficult as the wood was all slimy. It took us a significant amount of time to cross and some very dirty pants (here entered the Cubical Butt Rot). Let’s just say that on the way back we took off our shoes. All along the way we saw groups of backpackers on the beach, just waking up. However, after this short hike I told my dad that hiking the beach was not an option for next year, it was more tiring than any of the other hikes of the weekend. We reached Hole-in-the-Rock, which was beautiful, with a nice tidal pool at its base with all kinds of colorful creatures in there. 
We skedaddled back after that because we were running short on time. Not ignoring the wonderful scenery that was starting to show up out of the fog. We had hoped to attempt the Second Beach trail as well but ran out of time.
It made it really beautiful to come across an outcropping of bright white rocks. Then we got to the falls. It was more of a cascade but it was cascading over enormous boulders of white marble with huge pools of green river water. We immediately took off our shoes and walked through some water up to a place to put our feet in. It felt so good. It was nice and icy cold. 
Jeremy did some exploring while I sat in the shade and enjoyed the water and scenery. There was a really cool waterfall that fascinated me because it went through this split between 2 boulders and the water did a streaming thing (I don’t know if I can explain it to you so I will show you). 
After about 30 minutes we zoomed back down the trail. The closer we got to the car and further down we were the hotter it got. It was ridiculously hot by the time we met up with Callie back at the car. We decided to go over to the river by the car and put our feet in. We ran into a family from Hawaii in the river and there was this great spot right below a mini waterfall. The water felt like a Jacuzzi tub on the toes. Then we headed home. It was a pretty quiet ride home as I think we were all tired from the hike and heat.
It was right next to this great wall of water and had a nice fishing hole and lots of flat ground for us to put our tents on. We saw Marmots running around the hill all evening, they looked like beavers. We had a lovely dinner hosted by the Castanos’ of sausages and crepes with chocolate sauce and fruit. It was delightful! That night we put out bear canisters up the hill from us. We had a few last minute items to put away but Mark didn’t know where the canisters were so he went and put them up on a rock (butter and some camp soap).
We were kind of slow moving that day. Nancy and Courtney were looking for quartz. Kevin and Mark were stopping at every fishing hole to see what they could catch (11 fish in all). My dad and I were being awed by the scenery, the canyon seemed new with every corner that you went around. At 4pm we realized that we were taking a little too long hiking and needed to get at least another 2 miles before we set up camp so my dad and I busted a move down the trail. We suddenly dropped from granite passways along the river into a forest of trees, where the trail was all barky and soft. The mosquitoes started to get more abundant as we got further into the forest, I was spraying Deet like crazy. Then my dad saw a little rabbit trail heading down by the water, he went to go check it out for a campsite. That is where we landed for the night (about 6.5 miles). Now the ranger who gave us our permit told us to only camp at previously impacted sites, meaning places that others had already camped. My dad found one little burnt briquette at this site and we decided it looked good.
Not too soon after Nancy and Courtney joined us at the site. We all planned to get into the water to wash off, but then realized that Kevin had the canister with all the hygiene items in it. My dad dug out a tiny quarter full bottle of dish soap and all four of us used it. We went into the river with all our clothes on so that we could rinse the sweat off. It was very frigid snow runoff water. But Courtney and I got all the way under the water just to wash. It was so cold you had to let out a yelp when you got in. After that, us girls sat out on the rocks in the river until the last bit of sun was gone and then we went and stood around the fire. By then Mark and Kevin had joined us. My dad and I started dinner of chicken stir fry and the Wathens provided humus for an appetizer. We did not stay up late that night due to the mosquitoes and being dog tired. We actually went to bed just as the sun was really starting to go down, about 9pm.
It was really nice to cool down my feet in the river after the crazy up and down we had just done. Then we kept on blazing the trail. We were able to look back and see why we had to do the 3 mile leg, because the river carved a very thin canyon and there was no place for a path. We ran into several groups along the way 3 going the opposite of us and 1 group that was doing the same trip of as us. 3 miles more and then we came to a place where the trail had been washed out by the river. The only options were climb over the boulders or ford through the water, we decided it would be easier to ford the water because it only went up to our knees. From there it was only another mile or so to our campsite. The site was just before the bridge and away from the water (about 9 miles). When we arrived Mark had already set up the tents. Mark and my dad went to go refill water bottles and the rest of us pulled our soap out and dirty clothes and went down to the river to wash up for real this time. The water here felt great, it was still really cold but we were either too hot to really care or it had had a chance to warm up a little because it was bearable. It felt so good to get clean and smell like soap instead of Deet and sweat. The mosquitoes were not so bad at this location thanks to the bats. We had a wonderful meal of gourmet cheese, salami & crackers with gnocci and pesto for dinner and oatmeal raisin cookies for dessert. It was the best meal we had all week. That night we decided to head out at sunrise the next day so that we could hike in the cool of the day. So we went to bed early again and I had the best night of sleep yet.
We passed a sign saying 0.8 miles to White Wolf and then we really started walking fast. Suddenly we could hear a humming of the generator at White Wolf and soon after my dad turned to me and said, “Look, cars and tents.” Just past him was a bunch of campsites. I have to admit that my eyes got a little watery when I saw that. Then not far from there the trail ended in a parking lot with a great view of the White Wolf dining hall. We made it to White Wolf in exactly 3 hours. When we got there everyone was just sitting down with food from the breakfast buffet. We were talking to them and my dad realized that my pack was still on and helped me out of it. I got a lot teary eyed then because I realized that I didn’t have to put that back on again. They told us to go get our food. But there was a story, when they got to the restaurant they realized that no one had brought any money or credit cards so Courtney talked to the Assistant Manager to see if we could work out a deal. The gal was nice and said that she had come at the perfect time because they needed register tape from the Tuolumne Meadows Lodge. So the deal was that we had to leave a few people and backpacks, send someone on the bus to bring back the tape and money to pay for breakfast. That was the best breakfast ever. And I mean E-V-E-R! Eggs, potatoes, bacon, fresh fruit, biscuits & gravy, coffee and fresh squeezed OJ. After that we waited for the bus to come at 9:30. We emptied all our bear canisters and piled them up for my dad and Courtney take on the bus and the rest of us sat in the sun on the porch, talked, read and hung out until they got back with the car. Then we loaded back up and were on our way home.
It was a once in a lifetime trip. The views and scenery is stuff that few people get to see and I felt pretty well up to the trip. Actually the 9 mile day was worse than the uphill day. All in all it was hard but worth it with a great group of people to do the hike with.
I stopped and rested for a good while there. From there the trail goes up for a little while, then the dreaded thing, it went down quite a bit as the mountain had run out of dirt. So there was a granite wall on one side and a little bit of dirt on the other with a granite cliff below. I was cursing the path builders for this because I knew I would have to go back up that. Once you come down it brings you right to the base of Upper Yosemite Falls. This view is quite spectacular. I would recommend that if you are not in shape to do the whole hike that you go to at least this point. I think it is so great because most people don’t get to see the upper falls in the same perspective as Vernal Falls or Bridaveil Falls.
This point gives you a perspective of how far you have come up and how much further you need to go. So I kept plugging on. More switchbacks up and up and up, they take you along the side of the falls, so there is plenty of time to see and appreciate this huge wall of water. About ½ a mile from the top (but I didn’t know where I was in perspective of things at the time) I was really losing steam. A nice gentleman and his family stopped to encourage my by pointing out where the trail ends. On the left side, at the very edge was a little granite shelf with people standing on it. I kindly smiled and thanked them, then I thought to myself, ‘I am never going to make it.’ For a while I had been going one switchback and stopping to breath and then another, my glutes were fire (not just on fire anymore), and my energy was running low. But slow and steady I kept pressing forward. About 5 switchbacks from the top of the trail a couple of gentlemen encouraged me by saying I was only 30 minutes from the top. I got a little hopeful. At that point the trail went behind the granite face of the falls. I was so tired I was thinking, ‘It would be ok if the rest of the group has been up at the top for an hour and they turn around now, I would be ok with that, I’ve gone far enough.’ But I kept pressing forward. Soon I came to the top of the trail and took the hard right that headed to the edge of the granite wall and the falls. I had made it, despite complete and total exhaustion. When I reached the edge the rest of the group was there. They told me they had only been there about 30 minutes, so I hadn’t been that far behind them. They pointed me in the direction of the overlook. The overlook is a very thrilling decent to a granite ledge about 30 feet below the top ledge. In order to get down you come down several sets of stairs to a staircase carved out of the granite wall, where there is cliff on one side and a railing on the other. 
Once you are down the hair-raising stairs the view is breath taking… or maybe that was all the energy I just put into getting to this point. The only two thoughts on my mind at that point were, ‘It was worth it’ and ‘This is so beautiful. I am one of few people who get to see this view!’
It was really cold at the top of the falls so I didn’t spend a ton of time there, especially since the rest of the group had been there for a while. Phil convinced us to hike over to the bridge that crosses the river. That was worth the extra effort as well. Then it was all downhill from there…well mostly. I was once again cursing the person who had us go up and then down at the base of the falls. And the constant straight down was not feeling great on my thighs or knees but it was much more welcome than the uphill ascent. It did give us time to make friends with a group of hikers who were going at our pace. It was a dad and mom backpacking a kid in and their friend. We had lots of interesting conversations. I love how that happens when you are hiking, it doesn’t happen anywhere else any more. We eventually made it to the bottom of the trail with much rejoicing.
