Yosemite Part 6 - El Capitan

After our hike at Hetch Hetchy (though easy) we were not ready to head home but didn't want to do anything strenuous. It was a really hot day after all. So we decided to drive into the park and just hang out at El Cap Meadow and see if we could spot any climbers on El Capitan. I could see us lounging in the soft grass, speculating on whether we were looking at climbers, abandoned gear left hanging off a rock, or just a spot that was a different color than the rest. We'd munch on dried fruit and hope a bear didn't happen past. They do like to hang out in the meadows too.

But instead we spent most of the night walking. On a road.

We parked at Bridalveil Falls knowing that El Cap was right across the river. Of course we had to hike a bit because we had to find a bridge to cross the river. John and I were in flip flops because we are idiots. Always be prepared. Even if you put on your flip flops for a short stroll across the river, bring the glorious feet-keepers that are hiking boots. You will need them when 1 mile turns into 5.

Turns out the trail was much longer that we thought. We had to go past El Cap, all the way around the backside. And then once we crossed the river we should have followed the road to the meadow. But we went into the woods some. Still, we had some great views of El Cap (including the heart on the surface and a waterfall right next to the rock) and DID make it to the meadow eventually.

Once at the meadow we were simply amazed at how tall El Cap really is. And how small the climbers look from the bottom. Seriously...ANTS! The boys were good at spotting people on the rock and we used our cameras to zoom in and confirm. Mostly the looked like ants, or just black spots on the rock. Binoculars would have been nice.

We also watched this little guy push pile after pile of dirt out of his hole.

Then we had to find the car again. We decided the way we took was too long so we'd go down the road to the other bridge. Big mistake. Took forever. But I managed to get some nice shots of Bridalveil Falls from the long road trip. Then once we crossed the bridge we weren't too far from the car. But John and I were tired of walking on the road so we took a little trail than ran alongside the road. Full. Of. Mud. And we had to take a short meadow stroll back to the road to get to the car. Swamp! My legs were a little dirty. So while we ended up with waaay more miles than we wanted it was a grand adventure. And I'm glad it happened.

Oh, we also passed this cool spot:

Sweet Caroline

I love how something as simple as a few hours with a baby can make life good again. I've been wanting to post about a few things that have been bugging me but have not been able to find the right words. And really, life is great right now, so I don't want to complain. I'd rather fill the blog with my happiness and not focus on the negative. So even though those things are still on my mind, yesterday I didn't think of any of it.

John came down Sat night after I'd been home in bed all Friday night and Saturday morning fighting a cold (seriously...airplanes are evil germ chambers). As long as I took massive amounts of day-quil you could barely tell I was sick so we stuck with the plan of going to his parents' for the day.

Of course John's parents were happy to see me again. His mom was very grateful that I brought vacation pictures. But as much as I love them all, seeing Caroline made the day that much more amazing.

When we arrived she went straight to John and begged to be thrown in the air.

When she decided I was safe she pointed out all the "pink and yellow" jewels on my shirt (which were pink and gold but those are also just really the main colors she calls everything) and then shouted "cute!" The 2 year old thinks I have good style.

I thought she was really smart when she gave me a play-doh stamp of the number 8 and said "Eight!" But apparently she thinks all numbers are "eight" right now.

We made play-doh snakes that she insisted have eyes (which kept falling off) and would then attack each other with them.

John kept pretending to eat the play-doh pancakes so every time he picked up a piece she would say "eww, yuck" and give him a "you crazy fool" look.

Her favorite TV show is Scooby Doo and she says all the characters' names in one long breath "ScoobyShaggyThemaFredDaphneScooby...."

When I handed her back to "Nana" when John and I were trying to leave she started crying and reached back for me and then for John, then back to me, and finally back to Nana. Poor girl did not want to say goodbye.

Yosemite Part 5 - Hetch Hetchy

The Hetch Hetchy Valley was described by John Muir as "one of nature’s rarest and most precious mountain temples." We had an amazing day hiking the trail at Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. Although the trail is a total of 13 miles out and back we stopped at the 2nd waterfall and went back for a total of about 5 miles. The rest of the trail is popular with backpackers and is full of bears. I would have liked to do a bit more but 13 was too much. And we made up for the lack of miles later in the day (see next post).

Hetch Hetchy Reservoir used to be a beautiful valley, which many compared to Yosemite Valley. I'm sure it was beautiful but I just don't see how it can compare to Yosemite Valley. It's just not the same. But that is beside the point. I almost didn't visit the area because I was kind of upset that they ruined such a beautiful place by putting in a dam. Yes, the construction of the dam created a water source for places such as San Fransisco, but it seems to me there are plenty of other options. Yosemite is such a spectacular place and having a big slab of concrete in the middle of it takes away from the appeal of the wilderness. Some people are trying to get the area restored back to a valley. See Restore Hetch Hetchy. Of course many of the great things about this hike was because of the beautiful water in the reservoir and the pretty great rainbows from the water rushing out of the dam. I don't know what the answer is in this controversial reservoir but I tend to go for the more natural.

Anyway, our hike started at O'Shaughnessy Dam where we got to see rainbows as water rushed out of the dam into the Tuolumne River.

Right after crossing the dam you have to go through a dark tunnel. After being in intense sunshine it's really hard to get your eyes to adjust. It's not a super long tunnel so you do get some help from the sun at each end, but in the middle I couldn't see a thing. And with all the snow melting there were puddles everywhere. I had a split second where I thought of the crazy water monster that pops up in Lord of the Rings. But everyone made it out safe and dry. Really, it wasn't that long, I'm just paranoid.

The day was absolutely beautiful, as was the entire trip. But it was also very hot! If you weren't in front of a waterfall the sun was scorching. Of course there was no humidity so we loved it. I hiked in my bikini top a lot of the way and getting wet was fun instead of horrible.

We stopped for a picnic and cool down time by a little pool. Kevin took advantage of the natural water slide. The water was freezing so I only stayed in long enough to cool off. I thought my peanut butter and banana sandwich was the most delicious thing I'd ever eaten.

The trail is very rocky and with all the sun I was certain there'd be a rattle snake sunny itself somewhere along the way. But we only saw one little lizard.

The first waterfall was Tueeulala Fall.

The trail right after Tueeulala to Wapama Falls was very wet. With all the snowmelt there were many places where little waterfalls had formed and washed out the trail. So we hiked through the pools. Don't worry, the water was not rushing enough for it to be dangerous.

Then we got to Wapama Falls. This was one crazy waterfall. There's a bridge that crosses the falls, well actually it's more like 3 bridges. We weren't going to continue on the trail after this point but we did want to get sprayed by the falls so we walked across the bridge and then turned around and walked back. Right before the bridge you can feel the mist and it's so fucking cold I unknowingly held by breath so a second. John and I decided to strip...back to the bikini top/base chest and shorts and took off our hiking boots to keep as much stuff dry as possible. I imagine if there was a hurricane of ice cold water it would be like crossing that bridge. The falls were insanely powerful and you were hit from the top like a ridiculous pressurized shower and some water crashed against the bridge and rushed over your feet. John held my hand the entire way so it was pretty sweet. Though maybe he was just trying to keep me from blowing away. Overall a pretty thrilling experience - one of my favorite moments from the trip.

Sadly 2 hikers got swept off this bridge and died just 2 weeks after we were here. It rained and was so hot starting the week we were there that there was more melting snow. And the rapids were flooding the bridge. We would not have crossed if it were worse than it was. We weren't continuing on the hike so we actually had the option of deciding if it was safe. These hikers were returning from a backcountry trip and had to take the bridge to get home. And one of the guys had proposed to his wife at the bridge years before. It really hurt me to read about this because it was such an awesome hike. I'm glad it wasn't too dangerous when I was there but have a big "too close for comfort" feeling about the whole thing.

We stopped at the waterslide/pool on the way back to cool off again. It took us a long time to do 5 easy miles but sometimes it's not about covering a lot of miles but what you see along the way. And lounging my a natural mountain pool is a pretty great way to pass the time.

On the way back we were told there was a mama bear and cubs down the trail. So Kevin starting singing Day-O "Come, Mister tally man, tally me banana...." and John grabbed a stick...but we never saw any bear.

Also, it was on this hike that John and I drank from a small waterfall and did not get sick! You really should purify any water and we didn't. I was certain that with my luck I would spend the rest of the night puking. But all bowels stayed healthy. Take that Giardia!

Tomatoes Coming Soon

I promise more Yosemite posts and then a Vancouver post (yay birthday trips!) when I'm not so tired. But for now, more garden pics. I have about 15 little tomatoes and I can't wait for them to get big and red. I have to share with John though. He's a big tomato fan. But I will certainly be adding them to my salads soon.

Yosemite Part 4 - Rock Climbing and Yosemite Falls

The boys were itching to climb and I only wanted to do a small 3-4 mile hike so we decided to climb then hike. Well it took so long to find something to climb I didn't really get to hike but we'll get to that.

It took a long time to get into the park due to construction. I was really hoping it wasn't that bad ever day (it wasn't). We parked at Curry Village and took the shuttle to Camp 4. Kevin led but that was just a silly idea. We ended up in some crazy woods and got completely eaten alive by mosquitoes. No words for how many there were in this one fallen tree. John saw a snake but I did not get the pleasure. Woo! We finally back tracked to a path and followed that and what do you know, we found rocks! Kevin chatted with a woman who was teaching this kid to climb to try and find good spots. Of course this rock face was very popular so it was full. But the boys wanted to start easy so we found a crack and went to set up anchor. I enjoyed a book, food stuffs, and became their photographer.

After awhile it became clear that I was not going to get to hike because it took too much time to find the climb and get set up. So I decided to wander around the Valley by myself while they kept climbing. I did the lower Yosemite Falls trail (2 miles, paved and flat) which was just down the road from where we had set up "base camp" for climbing.

The trail is short, easy, and crowded since all the tourists want to see these famous falls. But I enjoyed the quiet stroll through the woods. The temp keeps dropping as you get closer to the falls. And then you cross a bridge and get soaked by the mist. It was a great day for this as it warmed up quite a bit in the Valley. All of the falls in the park were insane this year because of the record snowfall Yosemite had this winter. And Yosemite Falls were spectacular. I also managed to wander down the road a little more and get some great shots of Half Dome.

I wandered back to the boys, watched them climb more, and then we all wandered over to the Falls again, to catch the shuttle, not to do the entire trail. I drove home that night and as I'm going past the spot where the guys had been climbing John yells "Bear!" Of course I was not at a place where I could stop so I had to keep going. But there was totally a bear on the trail right in front of the rocks. A trail I took by myself! Just about 30 mins after we left. Of course I was really disappointed that I was driving and didn't get to see it :( In the car is the perfect time to see a bear. Glad I didn't run into it on the trail but very sad. John's report is that it looked like a giant sloth.

Also, on the way home we stopped to see the sunset.