Yosemite

Tuesday 8th December

It dawned fine but cold. We managed to do a laundry wash and dry in the time between getting up and leaving the motel in mid-morning. Highway 41 is the southern route into the Yosemite National Park and is generally recommended as giving the most spectacular entry to Yosemite Valley. The countryside was unlike anything we had seen for about six weeks - flat but productive, with large orchards and grapevines, or cattle on green grass. As we ascended into hills, mixed farming predominated. and snow lay on the ground. In the foothills of the High Sierras, snow accumulations increased on the fields and verges, but the road mostly remained clear. Quite suddenly, we reached a road block south of Fish Camp and had to fit chains. There were several enterprises ready to sell and fit them but we, of course, had our Walmart chains (as did most of the other motorists). Having never fitted chains before, we took a little longer than some others, but eventually we were on our way at the maximum 25mph allowed, hoping that we had done everything properly and anxious about the noise caused by the chains. Immediately upon rounding the next bend, we were on several inches of snow and ice. The sudden change was startling. Shortly afterwards we entered the Yosemite National Park. For the next 45 miles, we drove cautiously through a mountainous, forested area, mostly alone. As the altitude increased, the tall ponderosa pines became heavily cloaked with snow, which occasionally showered down in front of us. It was a very pretty scene. Eventually, we passed through a long tunnel and emerged to a spectacular view of the Yosemite Valley, blanketed in snow.




As the road descended into the valley, a stag walked across the road ahead of us. A minute later a pair of coyotes appeared on the road, hesitated to look at the car, then trotted off in the same direction as the stag. This was more wildlife than we had seen for several weeks! Finally we reached the valley floor and made way to the Lodge. The whole journey from Fresno had taken nearly five hours, so we were glad we had not continued on the previous night.

After checking in and putting our gear in our room, we walked to the Visitor's Centre, then to Sentinel Bridge in time to see the sunset turn the top of Half Dome a lovely pink.



The thick snow everywhere made the valley very quiet and beautiful. While on the free shuttle bus back to Lodge, we saw another coyote trotting through the woods. In the evening, we went to a rather sentimental and melodramatic National Park Service film presentation on a couple of features of the Yosemite National Park. We thought that visitors to the Park should be able to experience its beauty without the unnecessary over-dramatisation.


Wednesday 9th December

In the morning, as we were about to leave our room, a beautiful stellar jay alighted on our balcony. Though the bird is not uncommon in Yosemite, we were privileged to see one so close. We walked to the base of the Yosemite Falls which, at a total height of 2425 ft, over three drops, are the highest Falls in North America.



Our New Zealand relatives and friends will no doubt want us to point out that the Sutherland Falls have a far longer single drop than the Yosemite Falls (as, indeed, have other falls in North America and elsewhere). Still, the Yosemite Falls are quite spectacular, or rather they would be in the spring, with the snowmelt. At this time of the year, they have a relatively small waterflow. However they were attractive due, first, to the ice-mountain at the base of the lower falls and, secondly, to the regular thunderous crashing of ice in the falls, as the sun warmed the rock face. The noise could be heard all over the Yosemite Valley.

We walked along the valley for a couple of miles, through snow up to a foot deep in places, to Mirror Lake. Along the way, we passed close by several mule deer in various combinations of stags, does and fawns, which all largely ignored us, as well as a ground squirrel which abandoned sunning itself on a rock as we approached. Mirror Lake was peaceful and beautiful, though the ice allowed only a partial mirror effect.



As we walked through the forest, small amounts of snow intermittently fell from the trees, creating a beautiful sparkling veil when backlit by the sunlight.




We made our way back to the Yosemite village and visited the Museum, where there was an interesting display of Indian baskets. The Miwok/Ahwahneechee Indians in the Yosemite area were (and are still) renowned for their intricate basketry. An elderly Indian woman, sitting quietly and almost unnoticed in the museum, sorting reeds in preparation for fashioning them into baskets, was very happy to talk about her work. She also spoke, surprisingly without any hint of rancour, about her childhood in the Yosemite Valley after the white settlers and the army drove her forebears from their homes, murdered many of them and subsequently employed some of the survivors in menial work.









In the afternoon, we joined an excellent walk, led by a park ranger, with a focus on wildlife and habitats in the Park. He covered the three main types of tree, and fauna from acorn woodpeckers (which store acorns in holes they create in trees)...












...to salamanders (which opted to escape either to higher ground as the glaciers progressed in the last ice age, or to points far down the valleys, beyond the moraines left as the glaciers retreated, changing their colour to suit their new, permanent habitats). The delicate ecological balance in the National Park clearly remains precarious and it is interesting to see how, over time, the views of “experts” have changed about how best to preserve the Park in the face of human onslaught. Of course, it is interesting also to consider that humans are part of the natural world, and that our impact on the environment may be just a part of a natural evolutionary process. The ranger became quite emotional as he spoke of wanting to ensure that the Park remains available for his young child’s grandchildren in the future. In the evening, we went to “Yosemite by Ear”, a presentation by another park ranger, rendering his impressions and imitations of sounds in the Park in an interesting and entertaining narrative style. His only use of recorded sound was of a birdcall, downloaded from the web to his mobile phone!

The NPS rangers really are enthusiastic about their work!


Thursday 10th December

We had an early start this morning, taking the shuttle bus to the Happy Isles. After ascending the trail to the base of the Vernal Falls, we were surprised to find that the Mist Trail to the top of the Falls, which is usually closed in winter, was open.



The 1000ft rise was steep and somewhat icy, and potentially hazardous in places, but not too difficult. Despite the rather low flow, the Falls were quite dramatic, with large stalactites and curtains of ice surrounding the water. We continued to the base of the Nevada Falls, with some difficulty in following the trail in places, because of the deep snow and minimal trail-marking. There were no other hikers over nearly the whole length of the trail, so we were conscious of the need not to get lost or to risk injury. We made our way part-way up the side of the Nevada Falls, before deciding to retrace our steps, as we anticipated that we would need an hour more to reach the top of the Falls and return to where we were, and time was getting on.



While eating our lunch in splendid isolation by the river, a short way from the base of the Falls, we kept a watchful eye for bears, which have been known to try to share people's food. Unusually, the black bears in Yosemite apparently do not all hibernate in winter, specifically because the presence of people means that they can usually find some food. However, we did not see any bears, nor any other wildlife in the snow-blanketed conditions. As we approached the Falls we had heard ice falling from the rock face, but we did not see any falling when we were there. Frustratingly, as soon as we started back, the sound of ice crashing down the Falls echoed around the valley. As we did not want to risk a hazardous descent down the Mist Trail, we took the John Muir Trail back to the Yosemite Valley. Unfortunately, this involved a further 1000ft climb, in quite deep snow, before a long and quite steep descent to the Happy Isles trailhead. The trail was completely deserted and there were no animals to be seen, but Carolyn became very excited by the numerous animal tracks in the snow. As the afternoon went on, the snow and ice was starting to melt, but the steep trail was very slippery in places. Fortunately, we arrived at the trailhead just as a shuttle bus was about to leave. The bus driver got the passengers (all 5 of us) excited by saying that she had just seen a bobcat on the road. Bobcats do live in the Park, but are rarely seen in the Valley. None of us could see what she was pointing to, until a small Bobcat snow-clearing machine trundled by!

We got back to the Lodge shortly before dusk, giving us time to relax and update our log (the basis of this blog) before going to eat.