Bristlecones in the White Mountains

Last weekend, I drove over the Sierra and then farther east up into the White Mountains.  Gil came up from Las Vegas and we adventured.

We camped Friday night in a most lovely campground.  The stars were spectacular and when the moon came up, it was so bright, we could see our shadows from its light.  It wasn't too hot or too cold so the fire and my sleeping bag felt cozy.

My dear brother got me an Eno hammock for Christmas.  I've taken it on my last two camping trips and have thoroughly enjoyed it.

 Gil, recreating the scene from "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers", waiting for his turn in the hammock.

I did share, eventually.

 Our destination for the weekend was the Bristlecone groves in the White Mountains.  I'd heard about the groves when I worked at Great Basin and Death Valley and had been wanting to explore for some time.

We were able to do the 4 mile loop through the Schulman Grove and the two short loops through the Patriarch Grove.  Magical!  I already have a deep love for bristlecones and this trip reminded me why.  They are magnificent trees.  Both groves were spectacular.  I took a lot of pictures of trees.

Deep purple colored cones.

This tree was huge!  We thought it looked like a gangster.  Gil following suit.

Colors in the bark!

 Beautiful, gnarled, staunch, solid, tough, graceful bristlecones!

 Becoming one with the tree.

Who is older, the bristlecone or Gil?  Probably the bristlecone, by about 500 years!

The Patriarch tree in the Patriarch Grove.  We decided visit again in 50 years and see how much/little the grove changes. 

 We had dinner in Bishop at a BBQ place that is quickly becoming a favorite.  It was a grand weekend with awesome views, wonderful bristlecones, and perfect company.

Half Dome

It was time.  It was past time.  I was well into my third summer in Yosemite and still hadn't climbed the most iconic dome in the park.  It was time to hike Half Dome.  

Gil hung around all week, I had Friday off, and we decided Friday was the day.

What would have been ideal would be backpacking up to Little Yosemite Valley and staying the night, then hiking Half Dome in the morning and hiking out.  We had one day.  We had almost 17 miles round trip ahead of us.  We were ready.

Our route is below.  We took the Mist trail to Little Yosemite Valley and then on to Half Dome which is marked below in red.  On the way down, we stopped in LYV to get water and then took the John Muir Trail and the stock trail down, shown in green.

 We started early.  We left my apartment at 5:30 and started hiking a little after 6am.  As you can see, when we reached the bridge just below Vernal Fall, it was just starting to get light.

 Vernal Fall.  If you hike to Vernal when it's still got a good amount of water, you understand why it's called the Mist Trail.  You can't tell in the picture, but we got rather wet.  It felt good.

Onward and upward, and upward, and upward to Nevada Fall.  Getting lighter!

The day was perfect.  The sky was the bluest of blue without a cloud in sight, the air was clear and hazy free, and the temperature was perfect.  Gil and I sang a few times as we hiked.  We tweaked the chorus of a church hymn ever so slightly:

Beautiful day, of peace and rest

Bright be thy dawn, from east to west

Hail to thine earliest welcome ray

Beautiful bright,

Yosemite day!

 The goal is in sight!  You can see the sub dome; the famous Half Dome cables start at the top of the sub dome and take you to the top.

I was very excited.  Oh my, was I excited.  This is my "holy-Hannah-I'm-actually-going-to-hike-Half-Dome" excited face.

We reached the sub dome a little after 11.  Five hours for a little over eight miles and significant elevation gains...meh, not too shabby I'd say.

 We had lunch and watched people going up and down the cables, seeing if we could pick up any techniques.  (And yes, it's really as steep as it looks.)

The hardest part of the cables for me was waiting.  There were people going up and coming down at the same time, people ahead of us who would stop to catch their breath... I got impatient quite a few times going up and coming down, simply wanting to just go!  I found the cables to be easier than I thought and I felt incredibly strong when I reached the top.

Going up!

At the top!  The views were magnificent.

 I doubt he used the cables.  

Yosemite Valley

 Can you see the little pink dot out there?  That's me!

 Gil's on the edge picture.

Cartwheel on top of Half Dome

 We did it!!

 A fabulous shot of Half Dome and Nevada Fall on the hike down.  

Check it off!  It's been done!  It was great!  Life is good!

Independence Day 2016

I think Independence Day is my favorite holiday after Thanksgiving.  I love feeling pride for our wonderful country and I love fireworks!

Gil came up to spend the holiday and I took advantage of having a hiking buddy to explore some new places.

We left early Monday morning, Independence Day, and headed for Tuolumne.  We found a place to park near Lembert Dome with the goal of visiting Young Lakes.  Below is a map of our route.  We took the west trail going up and the east side of the loop back.

 Getting into the spirit of the holiday, Gil brought matching socks for us.  We got quite a few compliments on them until we both, at the same time, decided they weren't thick enough for hiking and changed into better pairs of socks.

Beautiful Tuolumne Meadow!

This was all new trail for me expect the first part, and the views were breathtaking!  I'm including a mix of photos from both Gil's and my cameras.  His is a bit more fancy and took the panoramas.

 Near the western-most lake of the Young Lakes chain, the trees opened up into this lovely meadow with a spectacular view of Ragged Peak.  July 4th and there's still snow.  Speaking of which, the temps for the day were in the 60s; clearest, bluest sky; white snow; green trees; silvery, sparkling granite... gorgeous!

 Young Lakes: elevation 9850.  You can just see the lake through the trees on the left side of the photo.

The western most lake and the stream that feeds it with Ragged Peak in the background.

 Soaking it in.

We had lunch on the lake, then found our way to the other two lakes.  The mosquitoes got progressively worse so we didn't stay at those very long.

 As we were hiking back down, the trees once again opened up into the most magical meadow I have yet to encounter in this park.  The openness, the scattered granite boulders, and the views of the peaks all around were simply spectacular.  I'm running out of adjectives to describe this hike!

 We made a quick stop at Dog Lake, which was a pleasant surprise for me.  Most lovely.

We hustled down quick, changed back into our patriotic socks, and drove down into Lee Vining and headed north into Bridgeport.  We were able to get the Eccles' family traditional root-beer floats and some dinner, then watched a spectacular fireworks display.  It was a grand day!

Happy Independence Day!

Pate Valley

It's been a long three weeks.  I've had a work backpacking trip each week.  While I love this park, I love backpacking, and I love seeing new places, my last trip just about did me in.  I feel like I've been run over by a truck.  Fool me once, shame on you.  There will be no fool me twice!

One of the places we monitor visitor use is on the western end of the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne.  You can enter from the east end at Tuolumne Meadow and hike 20 some miles to the west end, or you can hike in only 10 miles from White Wolf.  Ah, you say, take the shorter route, of course.

Our route.

Don't take this route.  In about six miles you drop 4,000 ft in elevation.   It was hot, it was exposed, and I saw more snakes (the majority rattlesnakes, big ones) than you see in the reptile house at the zoo.  For anyone who knows me, I don't do snakes.  The mosquitoes weren't as numerous as last week in Lyell, but they were more aggressive.  We went down day one, put up our equipment, camped, and hiked out day two.  It took us about three hours to hike in and exactly six hours to hike out.  And we're both in decent physical condition.  Tells you a little bit about the grade of the trail.

Okay, now that I've listed the negatives... This was a new part of the park for both me and another seasonal, Martina.  It was beautiful.  We parked at White Wolf and made our way to Harden Lake.  I thought it was a bit puny, but it was still in a lovely setting.

Martina contemplating the view of the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne.

 The views were pretty spectacular.  Once we got down into the valley, Pate Valley, we were along the river the whole time.  We found a little stream that fed into it and used it to refill our water.  Some of the best tasting water I have ever had!  Delicious!

 You can see the east end of the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir as well from the trail.  Lovely!

 On the hike out we startled a mamma bear and her little cub.  The cub was coming down a tree and then the mom saw us and she sent that cub back up the tree.  It was pretty cute.  Mamma was pretty tense, but we told her we just wanted a quick photo and we were on our way.  She was a beautiful honey colored black bear.

Martina and I were thrilled beyond belief to see the car.  We were both really sore, really tired, incredibly dirty, and we both had multiple blisters from the trail, despite our tried and true boots.  I'm thrilled I've got a long weekend to recover.

A place to see, but if you come visit, Pate Valley will not be on the list of places I'll take you.  You're on your on with this one.