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Day hikes, Yosemite high country, July 1999
OK, so I've fallen behind a bit on my trip reports (just
having too much fun this summer). I finally finished the
writeup of my early July trip. Next: Off to King's Canyon
this weekend (Thurs-Mon.) Spent a few days camping with family, at Fallen Leaf Lake Campground (7/2-7/5), just south of Lake Tahoe. Very nicely laid out, and quiet (except for the fireworks audible on Sunday night) considering how close it is to the zoo that Tahoe becomes on a holiday weekend like this. Way too windy on Friday through mid-Sunday, but perfect weather on Monday. Saw a bunch of the bright orange-black-yellow Western Tanagers, including one whose nest was on a rafter in the entrance to the bathroom. On our little inflatable raft out on Fallen Leaf Lake on Monday, we saw a big Osprey soaring overhead. Deb, MaryBeth, and the kids had to head back to the Bay Area on Monday, but I had a bit more vacation planned. Stayed overnight with my parents in South Lake Tahoe, then on Tuesday AM, I drove down 395 toward Yosemite. Lots of bicyclists on the roads, maybe preparing for the following weekend's Markleeville Death Ride (10,000 feet of climbing over 120+ miles, crossing five passes), or maybe these were the folks who didn't get their applications in on time. (They have reduced the number of riders this year.) Headed up that awesome canyon from Lee Vining to Tioga Pass, had to stop and meditate a bit at Dana Meadows; got a campsite at the huge Tuolomne Meadows campground. Put my ice chest and other food-related stuff into the bear box, and drove the 8 or 10 miles down past Tuolomne Meadows to Porcupine Creek. Hit the trail about 1:40. This afternoon trip was supposed to be a 10-mile round trip down to the top of North Dome and back, but a short intentional side trip and a longer mistake probably made it about 12 miles. Drops from 8000' or so down to 7200, but with some climbing interspersed. Most of the trip is in forest, but you can make out Cloud's Rest through the trees. The side trip climbs up to Indian Rock, a small natural arch with great views of half dome. I got some real nice photos of this arch, which I'll scan and put on the web once I get a chance to. One of the photos shows half dome through the arch, and one has a lenticular cloud, seen through the arch, whose shape matches that of the arch itself. Cool. The trail mistake I made was on the way down, within sight of North Dome itself, near the junction of one trail up from the Valley. I headed down the ridge instead of traversing and climbing a bit, and this led to about an extra half hour of clomping around in the sun :-( Finally made it back up to the traverse, and the rest of the trip to the dome was (thankfully) less eventful. When you're on North Dome, you can see the edge of El Capitan, Glacier Point (with binoculars, you can see people there), Illillouette Falls, Half Dome huge and right there, and the silvery ramparts between Half Dome and Cloud's Rest, huge spreads of granite looking like polished aluminum in the late afternoon sun. Mt Starr King, Tenaya Canyon, Sentinel Dome, and a whole bunch of other recognizable features, including one of the bridges over the Merced, down on the Valley floor. Just awesome. I got some shots of the recent rockslide below Glacier Point. The trip back up was less pleasant than it coulda been, since I didn't bring enough water. Back to the car by 7:30. On the drive back to Tuolomne Meadows, I saw a marmot on a rock by the road, and then three deer a bit later. The next day (yesterday, Wednesday 7/7), I got more water and headed off from the Glen Aulin trailhead just under Lembert Dome. Crossed along the north side of Tuolomne Meadows, then followed the Tuolomne River as it started the descent into the upper bits of its beautiful canyon. Each cascade and each waterfall was pretty astounding, as all of the snowmelt from the entire huge basin that holds Tuolomne Meadows flows over these narrow granite lips. The highlights of this trip were Le Conte Falls and the fact that I could get more water at the High Sierra camp at Glen Aulin. Lots of folks on the trail between Glen Aulin and Le Conte Falls. Somewhere along here, I saw a bird I later identified as an Alpine Bluebird. Beautiful light blue, sleek bird, much smaller and more delicate than the too-common Steller's and Scrub Jays that we see all the time around here. There are a bunch of waterfalls and mostly-unnamed cascades along this section, and there seems to be some confusion as to which one is Le Conte and which is Waterwheel. Everyone seemed to know that Le Conte was above Waterwheel, but many thought that what I think is Le Conte was actually Waterwheel. Seemed like an easy mistake to make, since it seemed to me that Le Conte had the best waterwheels (15 to 20 feet high this week), and that Waterwheel Falls (the lowest one) was a bit less impressive. One group came by and suggested that they thought the lowest one was Le Conte, and that Waterwheel was even farther downstream. In case anyone out there can help me figure out whether I have it right, here's what it looked like to me: Le Conte Falls has a small trail where you can walk out onto the rocks right next to one of the biggest waterwheels. From the trail even halfway down Le Conte, you can see the pool that's at the top of Waterwheel. walk on down to that one, and you can see that Waterwheel has a series of flatter granite slabs near its bottom, and quite some distance below it where the river's descent is much less steep. The trip back was slow but not too bad, especially after I was told that I could get more water at Glen Aulin. I had brought twice as much as yesterday (2 liters), and drank it all by the time I was back up to Glen Aulin. Refilled (two more liters) and nearly drank all of that on the rest of my return trip. Totals? Probably 16 or 17 miles, and 1300' of climbing. I think. Again, all between about 8000' and 7000'. Thank goodness for the four days of acclimitization at 6200' at Tahoe. Anyway, even though Yosemite in July is not a place to get away from people, I still had the trails to myself for most of the time both days.
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