Bittersweet Yosemite

Beth and I made our way from Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks on Monday morning to head into Yosemite National Park. For those of you who know much about Yosemite, you know that in all of America, no national park has quite the aura of wonder and beauty around it that Yosemite has. Yosemite is at the top of the list of national parks. It has been portrayed by Western America culture as a wonderous natural experience, a mythical place of beauty and natural wonders beyond descriptiopn - something perhaps close to Eden. Beth and I are both educated environmentalists and in our education we had heard of John Muir's words of description of the place, we had read about the battles for conservation that surround Yosemite, and we had seen Ansel Adams photos that strike awe in the heart. Needless to say, we were excited about encountering the grandeur and beauty of Yosemite.

Upon entering the park, we didn't catch any glimpses of any awe inspiring natural wonders but we still hoped. To make a long story full of dramatics short, Yosemite was everything and nothing that we expected. We visited Mariposa Grove, which is renowned for its Sequoias, only to find the trees set apart like museum objects, very sterile in comparison to our hike in Kings Canyon that brought us into intimate contact with such trees. Yet, we were blown away by the awesomeness of Yosemite Valley and nature's ability to create so many amazing geological wonders in one small space. Still, everywhere we went we were amazed at the number of tourists. They are nearly everywhere in Yosemite. On a busy day in the summer the valley can be visited by 25,000 tourists!! Shuttle buses and trams move tourists from one sight to the next. While the hybrid buses cut down on pollution, the guided tram tours make Yosemite out to be Disney World for Nature. People are allowed to be removed from the natural world that they have traveled to see. Where the tourists are the bears are also. We spent one night in the valley camping and had an extremely persistent bear bother the campground all night. When there weren't people in out campground yelling at the bear, there were people in adjacent campgrounds yelling at other bears!! How wild and urban all at the same time!

Even with all the tourists, we were able to get connected to nature. We spent a day and a half hiking away from most tourists and traveled to Hetch Hetchy Dam and Reservior to see one of the more remote attractions at Yosemite. The northern part of the park, Tuolumne Meadows, took our breath away and both Beth and I agreed that hiking in this beautiful area would be something we do in the future.

Overall, Yosemite was close to everything we hoped for and at the same time was everything we despise. Unsupassed natural beauty mixed with touristy, commercialism and luxury was basically what we got. The pictures below hopefully help to give you a sense of the experience!!

Where are we, Washington D.C. or Yosemite? You can hardly tell!! This was the bus ride from Mariposa Grove in Yosemite to the parking lot! We were crammed into a hybrid bus full of tourists from all over the world.

This is our first glimpse of Yosemite Valley. El Capitan is the large rock structure on the left and back on the horizon is Half Doom, beckoning to be hiked!!

We saw a gorgeous sunset the first night in the park. After the mad house that was Mariposa Grove, it was really refreshing to see something this beautiful as we drove to our campsite!!

Here is an awesome picture of Half Dome from the Valley Floor. No matter what view you have of the Dome, it is always awesome! After our big hike up Half Dome we treated ourselves to the best pizza I have ever tasted!! One thing that's nice about the touristy side of Yosemite is that the food, although expensive, was absolutely amazing!! Here are a bunch of tourists waiting in line for food or already eatting thier amazing pizzas!!

Here is a nice black and white of Yosemite Falls. The Falls are actually a three part falls that make up one of the biggest waterfalls in the world!!

Here is Hetch Hetchy. For those who don't know, Hetch Hetchy is a pretty big deal in the world of conservation. Back at the beginning of the last century, when Yosemite was already a National Park, the American Government decided that they would go back on thier word to conserve natural lands in National Parks and decided to dam the Tuolumne River (which is in Yosemite) so to provide San Francisco with a reliable water supply. The Hetch Hetchy Valley was flooded. This was a big hit for conservationists like John Muir who felt that natural lands protected by the National Park System should be left natural. The damming of Hetch Hetchy helped to spur on the modern environmental movement!! (Sorry if this is a bit of a biased historical account of the politics of Hetch Hetchy - I definately have my opinion!)

Hetch Hetchy Reservoir! It seemed to me that the Hetch Hetchy Valley would look much like the Yosemite Valley if it were not filled with water!!
The O'Shaughnessy Dam at Hetch Hetchy! Damn those dams!!

A beautiful shot of Half Dome from the Tuolumne region of the park. This area of the park was very High Sierraesque. It was beautiful and definately an area that deserved more time then we gave it!!

A hike to remember

For those of you unfamiliar with Half Dome, click here first: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half_Dome

ok ... now that you're all caught up, on to our Half Dome hike (this is long, so make sure you're comfy!):

As you've (perchance) already read, Yosemite was different than we expected. Upon entering from the south, we were shocked and appalled at how touristy it was, but by the last day (when we left from the north) we were sad to leave as we drove by backpackers heading in on what had to be AMAZING trips. Beth actually almost cried she was so sad, but Betsy was very consoling. Another time, Yosemite, another time.

When we arrived in "the valley" our first stop was the wilderness center in hopes of a backcountry permit - and we were rewarded with an all expenses paid (less $10, gear, food and a hell of a lot of energy) trip up Half Dome that included one backcountry night at Little Yosemite Valley and a site (for $10) at this special little place set aside for backpackers near the main (quite bear infested) campsites.

So, what day was it? ... Tuesday night we tried to get some sleep with Yogi wandering around our site looking for food (yes, Betsy - who is more ... alert, let's say, than Beth, slept in the tent where there are bears. Yay for Betsy!), awaking to a 4 a.m. (plus a couple snoozes) alarm in order to hike back to our car, assure we were set for our hike and head on to the trail. We'd heard horror stories of dayhikers clumping up at the bottom of the cables to the top, waiting their turn exhausted and exhilarated all at once, so we wanted to get there before the masses.

A note to all Minnesotans and New Yorkers: hiking in the Sierra Nevadas is different than back home, just so you know!

Before some pictures, a shout out is most definitely in order for the trail crew of the John Muir and Mist Trails. There are a shit-ton of massive boulders placed carefully as steps in order to provide backcountry access for humans with as little erosion and damage to the natural world as possible. We were impressed with their work, to say the least!

The Hike
By heading out pretty early, we had only a few fellow hikers and a nice, shaded trail for the first part of the hike (for which we were grateful, because the sun later was brutal!) because the sun was hiding on the other side of the mountain. There are 2 amazingly beautiful waterfalls along the first half of the trail: Vernal Fall and Nevada Fall. Based on our experience of Nevada, one might be tempted to ask:

"You mean, there's water in Nevada for falls to be named after?"

And the answer:

"Apparently. Who knew."

Here's the trailhead sign. Exciting, we know.

Ahh, the first waterfalls. Shaded (the sun's still behind the mountain) and glorious. Apparently during the earlier spring, there's so much water over Vernal Fall, Betsy would be getting wet. Amazing!


We've had the joy of watching the moon wax and wane. Who could resist this shot?


Turns out, heights aren't so much Betsy's thing and most of the way up the goat trail was about all she could handle. But here's a self-portrait of her as high as she made it:

What's the goat trail, you ask? It's the most underestimated part of the hike, in our opinion. The sub dome, or, "the part before you get to the cables," is made up of carved steps and a couple steepish walks up rocks. Here's a picture with the trail circled (not our picture, pirated from the interweb):


Can't pick out the goat trail? Not surprising.

The infamous cables ... & Beth, pondering oh so seriously whether or not it's in her to climb them solo.


Luckily, these three amazingly kind people came up behind her: Sarah, her dad Dan and a friend of theirs Lance. They let her climb with them (they've all done it before)! They also shared water with us. Remember back when we mentioned that Minnesotans and New Yorkers should be careful hiking in the west? One lesson: water sources aren't reliable. Nice people are, though! We rewarded them with freshly filtered cold stream water further down the trail.


Rumor has it, the top of Half Dome is the size of 17 football fields. For those of you keeping track at home, that's big. Here's a couple pics from the top including one of a marmot. How cute! (The pic of Beth isn't all that flattering but it'll have to do - it's the proof she made it to the top!)


At Little Yosemite Valley (aka, the campsite):

When the ranger came through to check for permits, we found out that we hadn't actually beat the masses to the top of Half Dome like we'd told ourselves. Instead, it seems that day there hadn't actually been masses! Be it the holiday (it was the 4th of July) or the heat, not many folks heard the call of the trail. Our guess: the heat - turns out it was 100+F in the valley that day!

(Brian: just so you know, the rangers liked the BA Seedhouse 3 & commented with great enthusiasm! :)

Here's a picture of Betsy packing at our bear box. It's a little blurry & she's not even looking at the camera. Really, this pic is for all of you out there wondering what you do with food (& toiletries & anything else that smells remotely good. Note: we didn't climb in the bear box!) in active bear country. Along with our packs, we carried this box to keep all the good smelly stuff safe. Kidding, the box was already at the campsite.


And here's a funny sign found inside the fancy-schmancy solar toilets:


Hiking out

The hike out proved to be just as gorgeous as the way up (not shocking). Some pictures. The first one was taken at the top of Nevada Fall. Yes, there was water, but this tree was way cool!


Probably not as cool to lots of you, but the trail signs were soldered (?) onto metal rather than painted on wood like we were used to. We found this cool.


A fairly famous view of Half Dome & some other big thing that has a name that is ... can't remember.


How do the rangers in the woods get the stuff they need? How is there always toilet paper in the outhouses? Why is there horse shit on the trails? The answer:


And back again!


Would we do it again? Hell, yes!

And we'll leave you with a famous Half Dome picture taken by the man himself: Ansel Adams. Any friend of John Muir is a friend of ours!

excuses, excuses

so ... those of you who check this lovely little blog frequently are probably wondering where we've been & whether or not we're dead. i can assure you that we're not dead (although death valley nearly killed us) & that there are a bunch of posts coming soon (or above, depending on when you read this).

a couple things:

1. we've changed the settings of the blog so ANYONE can comment without making a profile (sorry for not doing this earlier, mitch!). that said, please comment! we like to read what y'all have to say :) it's fun for us.

2. sitting in the car in 110+ degree weather in the parking lot of a motel stealing wireless internet isn't the most fun thing in the world, so we'll blog when we can but can't promise every day. i know you're upset, and it makes us very sad, too, don't worry. but here's the thing: if you're really wondering how we're doing, call us! we like phone calls as much as blog comments. and even if we don't have phone reception, you can leave a message!

3. we have a survey question (if you're even still reading this rather random post) ... does using air conditioning effect any of the following: gas mileage, wear and tear on a car, passenger morale? and evidence would be helpful. turns out, it's hot as hell in the southwest & we've thus far not used ye ole a/c. yes, we're a bit crazy, but we're trying to save $ in the long run. what do you think?

and ... that's all we've got for the randomness for now. here's a picture from sequoia that didn't make it that's kinda fun for your viewing pleasure (yup, that's a waterfall at the bottom).

Resolute, consummate, determined in form ...

"Resolute, consummate, determined in form, always beheld with wondering admiration, the Big Tree always seems unfamiliar, standing alone, unrelated, with peculiar physiognomy, awfully solemn and earnest."
John Muir

Pictures will not do our last 2 days justice ... but I will try. Our drive across California from San Francisco to King's Canyon/Sequoia (KC/S) was plastered with wind turbines, fruit trees and desert (I know, they don't seem to go together but somehow they manage to coexist). Once at KC/S, we found a campsite then did the tourist thing. The General Sherman is every bit as majestic as one might imagine and the sunset on our drive back to our campsite was absolutely spectacular!

But the real experience John Muir speaks of came Sunday. On a 10-mile hike away from tourists and paved trails, we found ourselves entranced by the groves of sequoias, the views of the high sierra mountains, the myriad wildflowers, the massiveness of the trees (not just sequoias), the color of the sequoias, the constantly changing terrain, the effects of elevation of our lungs and, did I mention the sequoias?

The tourist portion of KC/S:

Looking up a Sequoia. Apparently, a sequoia is to a 6-foot human as a 6-foot human is to a mouse ... that's quite a ways up!

Dirt-worshiping tree-hugger ...

One of these cones belongs to a sequoia and the other to a sugar pine. Any guesses?

OK - so I'll tell you. The sugar pine is the tallest of pine trees & has cones bigger than Betsy's head - they're really somethin'! The giant sequoia - the largest tree in the world (by volume) has cones that fit in the palm of my hand. Weird.

Ah, General Sherman.

Crazy as it seems, this "tree" Betsy is standing on is actually a fallen branch of the General!

Driving under a fallen tree ... but not the biggest fallen tree we'll see!


One of the most beautiful sunsets ever seen over the high Sierra of KC/S.

Some perspective. On our 10-mile hike we got away from crowds and fences and paved trail and found ourselves feeling quite small in the groves of sequoias!

Now for some wildflowers:






OK - so this is Fallen Giant. We are standing - actually, being dwarfed by - the base of the tree. Here's another one just for fun standing inside the fallen tree:


And one stitched photo of a sequoia:

Hope you enjoyed King's Canyon/Sequoia as much as we did! Now a quick stop in Fresno for food and fuel and we're off to Yosemite.

I Left My Heart in San Francisco

How right Frank Sinatra was about all of San Francisco's charming qualities. There is something very special about the city on the bay - the fog, the ocean, the cable cars, the hippies and general laid back nature of most people - it all creates a comfortable and kinda charming experience. Beth and I only spent one day in the city and one day exploring the Marin Headlands but I think we both agree that San Francisco is a town we would both like to explore some more! Here are pictures of our two day jaunt in and around the San Francisco area!







This is the view of the Golden Gate Bridge from the Headlands in Marin County. There were sea lions sunbathing on the rocks of the coast.

Beth and I ventured to Rodeo Beach at the Headlands so we could get up close to the ocean! This was Beth's first visit to the Pacific Ocean!!!

We camped one night at Bicentennial Campground on the Headlands. The wind and fog were magnificent! Finally, late in the evening the wind and fog settled and this was the view of San Francisco we were lucky enough to see from only a couple yards from our tent!!

We decided to leave San Francisco by driving through her first! Here is our drive across the Golden Gate Bridge!

We decided that driving down the curviest street in the world would be fun before we left the bay area. Here is a picture of Lombard Street from inside the car. It was really cool but you cannot really exceed 5 m.p.h.

The cable cars in San Francisco are definately part of the cities charm. The cables make cool designs at intersections as different routes momentarily collide before continuing toward thier destinations!