Hey I had a baby! …18 mpnths ago. There are lots of photos of that elsewhere. Some five and a half years ago, however, I drove up with Nathan and his parents towards the mountains. Man, I miss the California mountains. This was one of our last few trips before moving to New York.
Hey! Happy Halloween. It’s a good Friday to finish up a post, right? We had maybe 15-20 trick or treaters tonight – I don’t know if being on the corner and thus “far” from the bulk of the houses, or it simply being a drizzly evening kept the kids away, but who knows. Next year I’m pondering lighting the heck out of the house…or at least the walkways. Might as well have fun occasionally. Other than that…yup. Leaves and weather falling. Travelling a bit coming up in December. Getting some new basement windows next week. Oohyah! I mean, it’s good, I guess.
Anyway! As I say, let’s talk about a trip I took, way way way back when, in September 2011…..
I drove up to Yosemite, did a brief backpack, drove back through Mammoth, had a, well, diversion, checked out Devils Postpile, and then eventually got myself home. This is the trip up to Yosemite, and the backpacking part of the trip.
When I initially drove into the park, I first had to drive past the very recent aftermath of the Big Meadow Fire, after which I got to the Valley, and went and set up at a campsite. The next morning I got up, and after seeing the beautiful mist-shrouded Valley, I set off on my backpack, detailed in my previous post. After getting back, I mostly spent an evening dithering around the Valley, playing in the river, reading, having a drink, writing some postcards, and generally relaxing and putting myself together. After a very frightening nocturnal mammal visit, I had a great night’s sleep.
The next day, I picked up Jeff, and we drove up towards Glacier Point to meet up with Andy and Sara, and their toddler son Alex. We then went and hiked the short trail to Sentinel Dome, which is about 2.2 miles RT, and maybe 450′ of gain from the car. So, not a terrible hike, and with some really spectacular 360′ view from the top. Upon getting back down, all of us proceeded go our separate ways to get ready for the wedding that afternoon. The wedding was absolutely beautiful, taking place on the lawn behind the Ahwahnee Hotel, with all the glory of Yosemite’s walls rising around us. Eventually, the wedding wound into dinner turned into the party and eventually I turned into a pumpkin, heading off to get another night of sleep before heading off to drive home very early the next morning.
As part of a trip to Yosemite for a wedding (with the rest of the trip to be written up next), I took the opportunity to go on a two night overnight backpack, since it seemed a waste to go all the way to Yosemite without having some time to enjoy it. I scheduled my research proposals exam to be a week and a half later, such that I was able to turn in my props just before leaving, but would have enough time to worry about them when I got back.
For this trip, I started in Yosemite Valley at Happy Isles, and took the John Muir Trail up to Nevada Falls. From there I continued to Little Yosemite Valley, and beyond to Sunset Creek, where I camped the first night. I made an unsuccessful effort after pitching my camp to go summit Half Dome, but was defeated by sunset. The next day I left my camp as it was, and did a loop trip up to Clouds Rest – an amazing viewpoint 5900′ above the Valley floor (and 1100′ higher than Half Dome, only enhancing the view). From there I continued north on the trail towards Tenaya Lake and the Tioga Road, turning off to rejoin the JMT and loop back to my campsite. After another evening there, I packed up and heading back to the Valley..with some pretty chewed up feet! Total for three days was about 26 miles, and 5900′ of overall gain, though there was more climbing than that.
I did a drive down from Seattle to LA from May 30 – June 1. It was pretty pleasant, but really rather a lot of time in the car. However, I had a good travelling companion, and the scenery was mostly good, so , yay.
But then, and more to the point, I did a two-night backpack in southwestern Yosemite National Park, dropping south from Bridalveil Campground and doing 30 miles in 3 hiking days (1 afternoon, 1 full day, 1 morning), with about 2300′ of total elevation change, though a bit more up and down on the route itself. My issue of Sierra North (8th ed?) refers to this as the Buena Vista Crest, and I think the current ed refers to it as Royal Arch Lake (ed. – Sierra North has the similar area as Royal Arch, Falcon Guide Hiking Yosemite lists the route we did as Buena Vista Crest). Dave, Gretchen, Erin, and Amittai came along for this sucker. We spent the night before at Summerdale Campground, just south of the park, which I only managed to snag because of a weirdness with it only being listed via direct search on the reservations page. I win, I guess!
We then went north, picked up our permit at Wawona, and then drove up to Glacier Point Road and Bridalveil Campground, where we parked, and began our trip.
Erin and I went to Yosemite Valley for the weekend of December 8-10 (for her birthday).
