is the word 'diary' better than the word 'blog'? probably not.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yosemite!
Yosemite!
Evany Thomas is a gift to the world. You probably know that already from reading her diary. But, man, she is the best. And that is one reason among many why my trip to Yosemite was glorious. In addition, the cute little jeep-like tracker-car (that my dad bought and has now lent to me for the summer) is fun to drive and more than willing to stop for soft-serve ice cream, too.
When we stay in Yosemite Valley, we have some traditions we adhere to. When we go higher up in to the Sierras, to White Wolf, things are less settled, because we have not yet done that as often. This summer we�re planning to do both (however, the White Wolf vacation is in peril because there is so much snow in the high high sierras that the camp may never open this year. and so we wait�). Anyway, as tradition dictates for the Valley trips, Evany and I drove up the Glacier Point road to do the Sentinel Dome and Taft Point hikes on our first full day in the park. Both those hikes are easy-ish, and they are set at approximately 8000 feet (Yosemite Valley is at 4000 feet), so it's a good way to adjust to the altitude. We hiked up Sentinel Dome, which affords great views of most of the Valley. This year the dome was still covered with snow in parts, which made going up easier but coming down much more treacherous.
The views were fantastic because there is so much water in all the waterfalls, and so much water coming into the park in general, that there are waterfalls appearing where there are usually no waterfalls. Here�s a view of Yosemite Falls, followed by one of Half Dome, with Nevada falls, looking tiny in the distance, to the right.
We spent a bunch of time up on Sentinel Dome, talking and eating and laughing at what other people were talking about. Then we decided to get going over to Taft Point/the Fissures, since that is another one of our favorite places to look at the views, take naps, and read books. But. We could not find the trail. And that made us feel crazy. Because it is an easy and well-marked and relatively uncomplicated trail. And we hike it all the time. But we could not find it. It was hidden beneath piles of snow up to six feet deep. (Which makes it sound like we would be cold. But I was wearing shorts and a tank top, and feeling fine.) We were so confused by our confusion that we set out, returned, set out, returned, and again, four times. There was no finding the trail. And the tiny stream that we usually hop across early on in the hike was a much larger affair, which we weren�t sure we felt safe to cross at any identifiable point. So we walked back up to the car, drove to Glacier Point, hiked around there a bit, and then found a spot on some granite away from the tourists and read books and took naps.
I walked back up to the tourist area and bought a laminated bird identification pamphlet at the gift store to accompany my latest obsession with lone wood ducks and all creatures that fly. (I said to Evany, �this is the latest direction in which my aging crazy could go.� The next day we saw a cute bird and I said �that is a steller�s jay!� and she laughed a bit too hard.) Evany came into the store to buy an ice cream bar, and an intrepid employee gave her a lecture about wearing a baseball cap with the pricetag on it and made her remove the pricetag (which bummed us both out, since we were both fairly convinced that if she forgot her hat at home and thus had to pay $20 for a �go climb a rock� baseball cap, she should at least leave the pricetag dangling from its side Minnie-Pearl-style).
It was a good day, even though we didn�t do quite as much hiking as we had set out to do.
On day two we did the Vernal Falls / Nevada Falls hike. That is a perfect hike. It is beautiful and challenging and rewarding, and you don�t walk back the same way you came, so the scenery is more varied. Right now it is even more spectacular than usual due to all the water. I think this is the first time Evany got to do the hike when the Mist Trail really lives up to its name. The Vernal Falls portion of the hike, during which you have to stairmaster your way up the side of the falls, gets you drenching wet in ice cold water for like a half an hour of the climb. It can be rather unpleasant at times, but also kind of cool (and also freezing), and beautiful, because the mist coming off the falls not only freezedrenches you but forms rainbows everywhere.
And then you emerge on the top of a granite slab and get to lay in the sun like a lizard for as long as you like, before making the next climb up Nevada Falls.
We had a perfect day, with plenty of time for hiking, stopping, eating, reading and napping. Then we showered and went out to a fancy dinner at the Mountain Room in Yosemite Lodge, with a view of the lower Yosemite Falls. After Evany�s questionable Pina Colada, we had wine, and food, and dessert, and lots of good talktalktalking. (About the pina colada, she said, �TASTE THIS!� So I did, and I agreed it wasn�t quite right. She said, �YES, it has an aftertaste of plastic and manure.� I got the plastic taste but, thankfully, remained unaware of the manure. Anyway, usually the Mountain Room has excellent pina coladas, so I�m thinking that the new bartender needs to finish up his correspondence course, stat.)
On the third day we attempted to do what we would normally do, hike through McGurk Meadow to the Pohono Trail to Dewey Point, where the view is so beautiful that I find it hard to nap because it seems a shame to close one�s eyes against such a scene. But that trail was even more lost to snow than Taft Point. And, as the hike is in a wilderness area rather than a popular-hike area, it was probably true that bears were just waking from hibernation up there, so we got bearanoid and went back down to the valley, and decided to commit ourselves to getting at least to the halfway point of the Yosemite Falls hike. That hike is STRENUOUS. And RELENTLESS. It has an elevation gain of 3000 feet in thee miles, and the first 1.5 miles is straight up, through a pine forest (my tree allergies). I thought I was going to die, and I turned pink, and used my inhaler a bunch, but we made it to Columbia Rock. There we ate lunch and looked at the views, and then continued on up to the bottom of the upper falls, got some drenching.
We made it at least 2/3 of the way up, and we could have kept going, but we both felt that IT WAS NOT WORTH IT. And so we walked back down, which was equally relentless in its demands as was the uphill hike, due to the steepness and slipperiness of the switchbacks. We both felt that we had earned anything we wanted that day. So we drank a bottle of wine and then ate a lot of carbohydrates at the Curry Village all-you-can-eat buffet. The we watched Evany's downloaded season finale of Veronica Mars, and read more books.
We drove home the next day. We are already looking forward to returning.
Since then? I�ve been trying to work, getting some work done, wishing I didn�t have to work, hanging out with Sunny, eating lunch with Jeff, having drinks with Liz, watching lots of hours of Big Love with Caroleen, and tonight I�m taking Jeff and Caroleen out for dinner to make up for my freeloading ways. (Jeff said, �don�t forget deadbeat!� and I told him that for me �deadbeat� is implicit in �freeloading.�) I just heard back from my editor on the review of that book (Being and Event), and he said the review is great and I just need to approve his minimal changes. So at least the I got some good results from the last week I spent working and wishing I wasn't working because WRITING IS TORTUROUS....
6:56 p.m. - June 07, 2006
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
