Oops...I'm late to the party but Happy Birthday, Dale! It's hard to imagine this board without you! Thank you so much for all the incredible knowledge and experience you share with us all. Now go out and get some more!by DavidK42 - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Thanks for the TR, Kevin. Bryce is such a fascinating NP. Only been there once (for a few days) and, IIRC, Under-the-Rim was the only trail that I did NOT get onto so nice to see some of it from a hiker's perspective (even with the copious fog!). Glad you enjoyed the trip.by DavidK42 - General Discussion
Quotequmqats Which brings up another point, DON'T go down Mist trail if your lower legs are tired out, the stairs will kill you. Up Mist, down Muir is easiest for most people. Not just easiest but safest...a slip on the stairs going up (as long as you're not too close to the outside) is unlikely to do you much more than a scrape or maybe a sprain...a slip on the stairs going down could literallyby DavidK42 - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
It's quite a while since I was in SEKI but I do recall that Muir also has one of the most perfect circles of mature sequoias Ive ever seen...far from the biggest trees you'll see (Grant Grove is much better for that) but in Muir, we're talking (IIRC) 16 very sizeable trees in a giant circle. Lay down on your back and stare up at that and it feels like you're ready to be teleported to a higher plby DavidK42 - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
Sigh...sounds like another classic section of old road moves onto the endangered species list.by DavidK42 - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
Another thumbs up on Pinnacles. It's tiny but rich. The High Peaks trail is wonderful and, when combined with some other trails, you can take it literally across the entire width of the park (which is only about 4 or 5 miles). If you're up for a moderately lengthy hike, the out-and-back is wonderful. I'd recommend going up from the east side and then, after descending to the TH on the west sidby DavidK42 - General Discussion
Quoterecycling1991 Thanks for all the suggestions. All sound wonderful. I may try and go for Canyonlands and Capitol Reef. We saw Bryce last year and sort of some of that area (we spent a couple of nights in Page). Thanks for the heads up on Arches. Not sure how much research you've done on Canyonlands yet but it's worth noting that it's effectively 3 distinct parks (the Green & Coloradoby DavidK42 - General Discussion
Quotechick-on I showed him what not to do. Yeah, I gather you've shown that to quite a few people...some of whom apparently start doing it regularly!!!by DavidK42 - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
OK, as a relative long-timer on this board, it just occured to me that I don't really know how OD & chick-on started hiking together. Did one of you get the other one interested? Did your paths just happen to cross? Did you meet over something other than hiking and then just discover the mutual interest? If that's a topic one or the both of you would rather not reveal on-list, that's fineby DavidK42 - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Happy Birthday, Mike. However you're spending the day and/or celebrating around it, I hope you're having a joyous time!by DavidK42 - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Happiest of birthdays, virtual friend! Here's hoping I get to join you and your co-conspirators on an actual trail one of these days but, in the meantime, keep up all the cheerful insanity and keep surviving to bring the tales back to the rest of us!by DavidK42 - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Some of the recent equipment-related threads have me thinking that I can't recall ever seeing much discussion of people's experiences with footwear. I know that the choice of a hiking boot is highly personal but I'm curious about what people consider to be a typical lifetime of a boot (probably better to estimate this in miles rather than time since some folks on this board hike more in a monthby DavidK42 - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
I've been to North Dome and to the top of the Falls but have yet to do the stretch in between so I'll let others opine on your route but, much as I hate to burst your bubble, there's no water in Yosemite Creek (and hence no Yosemite Falls) right now. Here's a timelapse of the Falls over the last few days (I think the video starts at midnight so it takes a few seconds before you see anything exceby DavidK42 - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
Thank you...that was fun!by DavidK42 - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Quotechicagocwright 3:37 or so might be above my pay grade... 0:01 to about 5:23 is above mine! Just watching the video almost required a change of underwear for me! I'm fairly sure-footed but that kind of exposure really freaks me out. I honestly do thank you for the video, though. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go dry off my sweaty palms.by DavidK42 - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
Quotechicagocwright I know it isn't all "downhill". Since today is Monday, this might be a bit late to be of any use to you but, except for the not-insignificant gain after you cross Illouette Creek (about 700' elevation gain IIRC), it is pretty much all downhill. The one other consideration is what to do when you get to the top of Nevada Falls. It's shorter to cross over the Mercby DavidK42 - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
Quotebasilbop Bonus question: in the PDF from the web site linked above, why is the "search area map" of the Glen Aulin area...? Isn't it obvious? That's where the aliens dropped her off for the government to conduct their secret experiments! I thought everybody knew that!by DavidK42 - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Several of the comments on the FB page (many of which are firmly in the whack-job/conspiracy-theorist genre) allude to a book (series of books?) by David Paulides called "Missing 411." I followed a couple of links on the FB page and came across excerpts from the book discussing Stacy and, at least out of context, they make it sound like when Paulides tried to get the NPS files about Stby DavidK42 - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Happy Birthday, Lily! May you have the grandest of daze (as a certain pink bird might put it) with lots of Yosemite in your present(s) and future!by DavidK42 - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
It's always tragic when these things happen, all the more so because it sounds like he got in a bit over his head on this route. Still, how wonderful that he was attempting something like this at 68 and, at the very least, there may be some small solace in knowing he died doing something he (presumably) loved. My condolences to those who loved (and will miss) him.by DavidK42 - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
There's only one person I know pretty well who works for them. He DID keep his job although was on pins and needles about it for several weeks (not sure how formal his re-application process was). Still, he's typically very outspoken and the last time we saw each other, I noticed he seemed to be defending DNC's position in the trademark suit (or at least pointing out that they're not the cut-anby DavidK42 - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Looks like a gorgeous trip, in spite of your altitude woes Glad you made it through generally unscathed. All the pictures are lovely (I'd love to do a hike through this region at some point) but I was especially intrigued by your shot lining up Starr King, HD & CR...I don't think I've ever seen them arrayed in quite this manner before...quite fascinating to me...all the more so because theyby DavidK42 - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
Quoteags I'd like to walk the entire length (in segments) of the original Old Tioga Road. Maybe we'll do the section from Tenaya to May Lake while we're there. Well that certainly merits a new thread! There are at least a few of us here who are pretty hard-core old-road junkies. Here are the road segments I've hiked so far: Old Tioga Road - because this crosses over the current road in sby DavidK42 - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
Quoteags Yup, I did a bunch of research and decided that we'd do the Gaylor/Granite hike and visit the mines there. Is it reasonable to hike down from the mine/cabins area directly down to the Bennettville ruins and adit? I've been to both Dana Village and Bennetville areas. In both instances, these were "filler hikes" (i.e., spent most of the day on much longer hikes and had a littlby DavidK42 - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
Wow! That's a really fascinating video. Thanks for posting this.by DavidK42 - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
We were planning on going in on Thursday morning and avoiding the Valley as much as possible until the end of our stay (after the holiday weekend). Unfortunately, there was an unexpected death in my family and we were in Connecticut for a funeral until Saturday afternoon. That meant we got into the park on Sunday afternoon. I considered going in at either Arch Rock or the South entrance but, fby DavidK42 - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
If, like me, you keep all your photos on Google's Picasa web service, you may have noticed that when they introduced Google Photos a while ago, some of the old ways of linking from this board to pictures there stopped working. I don't know that I can fully explain what's going on but I did figure out the following today: If you open the picture in Picasaweb and select the address shown underby DavidK42 - General Discussion
Figured out what I was doing wrong with the photo link (I'll explain in a separate thread for anyone else who might be having problems). You've both given me an alternate version for this hike which is to stay to the right (west) at (3) and just go back to Henness Ridge. Since we'll be staying at Yose West, that would save my having to co-ordinate a pick-up at Mosquito Creek. On one of my eaby DavidK42 - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
Thanks, gentlemen! Even though I've had the experience of VERY wet meadows before (the first time I went through Mono Meadow, some of the logs for crossing the wetter sections were actually floating), I didn't stop to think about Westfall being soggy (too focussed on what might be involved in getting past the Alder Creek fall area) so thanks for that little reminder! As for the brush on the fby DavidK42 - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra
We should be making one of our all-too-infrequent trips to Yosemite next week (the "should" part of it is a long story...let's just say it's not definite at this point). Since my wife is recovering from a broken ankle, they'll be at least one or two days where she drops me at a trail head and picks me up somewhere else several hours later. I'd like to connect two hikes that we did lasby DavidK42 - Backpacking and Hiking Yosemite and the Sierra