For regular readers of this forum, there was nothing remarkable about this trip in terms of where we went, but they were almost all new spots for WS, and there were a few new wrinkles for me too. So if you think descriptions and photos of some of the popular spots are passe, you can skip to the last paragraph of this TR.
We arrived in the US on August 2 and flew to SFO from Chicago on an early morning flight on August 6. Thought I recognized Mt. Starr King and Horse Ridge from the air, after seeing the photo found Half Dome in the foreground.
We picked up gear and left some stuff at relatives in the Bay area, getting to the campground on Sunday night. Early Monday morning we drove to Glacier Point, stopping by the bridge over Cascade Creek for a photo (Cascade Creek running in August?!) and for less than 2 minutes at the tunnel view parking lot to fulfill our obligation as tourists to be amazed. (Bridalveil Falls running in August?!) As I explained to the WS, just because everyone wants to stop there doesn’t mean it’s not a spectacular view. And in truth, I’d never been there at that time of day - just as the sun was coming up over Half Dome.
I also explained to WS that if you’re willing to walk for a few minutes up the Pohono trail from the parking lot, you’ll get the same views with fewer people around you. As will be explained shortly, he grasped that idea quickly.
Got to the GP parking lot when it was less than half full, and hiked up to Sentinel Dome (Illilouette Falls flowing in August?! Moon out at 9 AM?!)
.After each of us looked around (including me going farther down the west side than I’d done previously)
,we hiked via the SD parking lot to the fissures and Taft Point (water running down the gulley by the fissures in August?!)
.Lazed a while in a shady spot, poked around a bit
,then hiked back to GP via the Pohono Trail
As the trail was pretty crowded, by this time GP had the usual throngs one would expect at midday in the summer, plus it was warm and WS was tired and didn’t even want to bother going to the actual GP itself. So we drove back to the campground, rested and ate a bit, and then late in the afternoon went to the Tuolumne Grove. WS had seen giant redwoods before but never sequoias. As far as I can recall, they’d redone the path through the grove since the rest of family visited years ago. At any rate, far fewer people late in the day than when the sun is higher up.
Tuesday we drove to Tioga Pass. The amount of flowers still in bloom along the road, and the water still flowing, blew me away. For example, there’s a whole hillside below the road shortly before the gate by the South Fork Tuolumne River (which was still flowing!) that was covered in lupines (at least I think they’re lupines). I explained WS that every time we come around a bend in the road and see something spectacular, we have to yell “WHAAAAAAA!!!!!”. There was a lot of yelling.
From the pass we hiked to the Gaylor Lakes.
I had been up here in late July 2010 (what was considered a heavy snow year, but nothing like this year) with WS’s oldest sister and brother, and that time we had a snowball fight at the snowfield that remained by the upper lake. WS was thrilled to find snow on the south side of the saddle (the last time he’d been in snow was in 2016 at Badger Pass)
,and we could see that the aforesaid snowfield near the upper lake was much bigger than when I’d been there with his siblings in 2010
,but then as we descended and admired the views of the Cathedral Range
,the lad found that nature called, and as I hadn’t brought a trowel he decided to run ahead of me back to the trailhead. I caught up with him a few minutes later.
We then drove sloooowly back toward TM, pulling out at just about every pullout there was – we were in no rush to go anywhere and the views are…well, no need to explain to this group. At one point we crossed the road and just hung out by the Dana Fork for a while. Ain’t nothin’ like this where we live.
View of Almost Geezer
View from Almost Geezer
As we appoached TM, WS said he had a headache, so we parked in the shade at the edge of the TM Wilderness Permit parking lot, ate lunch, and then rested in the car listening to Bach and Mozart as we let the ibuprofen kick in. After about an hour WS was up for some more walking, so we started eastwardly on the loop toward the bridges over the Dana and Lyell forks
and we hung out by the Lyell fork bridges for a while
As we neared the now-closed TM campground, we saw a mama bear with her cubs – not the first time I’ve seen bears in YNP but the first time while on a trail
.We mistakenly turned into the off-limits campground (which of course shortened the walk), but luckily for us there they’d knocked off work for the day so no one was there to issue us a fine.
We then drove to the end of TM and walked up Pothole Dome.
I’d been up this rock with some of the other kids, but for some reason we had never gone all the way up. WS did so, however, looked around and said the magic words that melt a parent’s heart: “Can we come back here tomorrow to explore?” Of course I agreed. (Did I mention how green the meadow was?)
We went back to the car, then sat by Tenaya Lake as we ate dinner and watched the colors change on the rocks and the snow still nestled in some spots.
Camera 1412, 1417Then we went to the Olmstead Point parking lot, crossed the road and walked up the slabs, with the WS noting that we were apparently the only ones there.
.As it was getting darker, we drove on a bit, then parked next to Yosemite Creek, and lay on some rocks by the creek as we watched the stars come out.
Wednesday was Elizabeth Lake day. Hadn’t been here since 2010 either with oldest child (just missed it on a descent from Obata lakes with older son in 2018), and it’s one of my absolute favorite spots anywhere – I recommend this hike to any friends who are visiting YNP as one the most bang-for-buck hikes. Unfortunately, because of the closure of the campground, we had to start by the newly-expanded (at least since I’d last been there) Cathedral Lakes TH/(closed) visitors’ center parking lot and walk along the JMT to the trailhead. WS was under the impression that this would be a flat hike, which was why he had agreed to this one (as opposed to the Dog Lake/Lembert Dome combination), and so was a little miffed when we started ascending. The mosquitos also weren’t welcome (mosquitos in August?!), but as long as we kept moving, the 40-year-old bug repellant I had seemed to do its job, so I didn’t feel so guilty for forgetting to bring our bug nets. Once again, greenery and water like I’d never seen in Yosemite in August.
,WS complained a bit but kept up
,and eventually we got there. And then the kid did it again: seeing the snow chute coming down below Unicorn Peak, he said, “Let’s go to the snow”. We made our way through a bit of wet over to the north side of the lake, then instead of following the use trail, traversed west on slightly higher, drier and woodier ground.
We eventually realized that we’d likely need to navigate a fair number of boulders to get to the snow
,so we ate lunch, headed back to the trail and down to the car. Saw this funky-looking boulder along the way, anyone know what causes this appearance?
Since the Crane Flat store had inconvenient hours (10 AM to 6 PM, who the heck starts their day that late or ends it that early?), and there’s no TM store this year, and since I had only ever been through Lee Vining Canyon once (entering YNP from 395 in 2010), our afternoon siesta consisted of driving to Lee Vining. Wow, that canyon is impressive. I’ve been through similar things in Colorado and British Columbia, but still… In Lee Vining we got milk and ice, and then on the way back up we drove to Saddlebag Lake – sort of a scouting trip for future visit. I don’t know how that canyon descending between Conness and White Mountain normally looks in August, but this year? Again, wow, just wow.
Then it was time for playing around on Pothole Dome. WS led the way. We saw the foot of a deceased ungulate on top of the dome
,lots of erratics
,a pond with a gazillion dragonflies and thus few mosquitos
phone 830,amazing views to the north
,a fissure to rival those by Taft point, more erratics
,a tree that seemed to defy the laws of gravity
,and we almost made it to the top of the dome to the northwest of pothole
.Schaffer in his book describes how you can follow Pothole Dome around to the river; that trip will await another visit as WS and I were happy just playing on top of open granite.
We enjoyed a nice sunset on the drive back
,but for reasons I won’t go into, we got to bed late and thus had a slightly late start the next day, our last of this trip, starting our hike to May Lake only at about 9 AM. This was another one we’d all done in 2008 (what family with young kids *wouldn’t* do the hike to May Lake?), but 15 years later I was able to identify the peaks we saw on the way up. And this time, we kept going up the side of Mt. Hoffman. More snow (and evidence of avalanches)
,more views of the lake backdropped by the mountains in the east
,more running water, more green meadows tucked away where you can’t see them from the road, and a few spots where you have to figure out how to go up, but WS was up to it.
Saw two grouse in the meadow
,and lots of pink flowers with bee-looking moths pollinating them
.We were somewhere above 10,000 feet when WS decided he was tired
=,so we headed back, but that view south – pretty much the whole southern side of the park, from Mt. Dana in the east to the top of El Capitan just visible in the west. WHAAAAAAAAA!!!!! One huge granite playground.
In addition to being Yosemite enthusiast, I’m a Mahlerphile. The last movement of Mahler’s third includes a theme that sounds like it was copied by the person who wrote the song, “I’ll be seeing you in all the same old places…” In that sense, this trip reminded me of Mahler’s third – for the most part, we went to places that I’ve been before. But Mahler’s third is also the longest symphony in the standard repertoire, clocking in at about 100 minutes, written for an expanded orchestra. With a symphony that long, no matter how many times you’ve heard it (and I’ve listened to dozens of recordings many times), any time you go to a live performance there’s going to be something different about it. And that was this trip too – seeing different aspects of what you think is familiar. And finally, Mahler’s third is a symphony that, if done right, leaves the audience in reverent silence when it’s over. Which is pretty much how I feel with many of the views in YNP. It’s why I keep coming back to both.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/17/2023 08:15AM by Not quite The Geezer, but getting there.
