Yosemite 2024: Mirror Lake Loop

 

The forecast was for rain and snow but it got moved back to Monday afternoon from Sunday night! Driving into the park was saw notices that both Tioga Pass and Glacier Point roads would be closed from 4pm that day. Because it was the last day of the long weekend, we could park at the Happy Isles parking lot with no competition.

Just the walk out from the car to Happy Isles was beautiful, with leaves on the ground. At Happy Isles, we saw a crane on the river. And then walked past the Mist trail trailhead onto the Mirror Lake trail, eschewing the road even though the road was shorter. This quickly proved to be a wise move, as we saw a bobcat! This one was bold, walking out onto the road eventually and out of our sight.

The trail went up and down but was well paved, and covered with leaves. Every corner the fall foliage would get more and more impressive.

When we got to Mirror Lake, sure enough the lake was completely dry. We stayed on the trail to do the loop anyway, and were rewarded with occasional places where the views opened up.

On the return, we started to feel raindrops, and hurried back towards the car. Once at the car, Boen complained about being hungry so we ate a bunch of snacks before heading into the car for what would be a long drive.

But Yosemite was not done with us yet! On the way leaving the park, we saw a huge patch of gorgeous trees and had to stop the car for 20 minutes to get out and take photos.

It actually snowed on us as we exited the park via the Big Oak Flat entrance, but the snow didn't stick to the ground so I didn't have to deploy snow chains. By the time we got down to 3000' the snow had turned into rain. We had lunch near Manteca and stopped at the Costco there to refuel. Driving back over the windmills near Patterson pass we saw beautiful sunset views. It was great.

Yosemite 2024: Sentinel Dome, Roosevelt Point, Taft Point

 

On the way to Glacier Point road, the GPS on the phone announced that Glacier Point Road was closed. I kept going, assuming that there would be warnings all over the park if that was true. We stopped at the tunnel view point for a very cold morning shoot before driving straight to the trailhead.

Following the signs to sentinel dome, we hiked around the dome itself before climbing it on the gentle side. The view from the top was nice, we got a nice view of half dome as well as El Capitan.

From the dome proper, we descended down towards Roosevelt point, passing a generator driven cell tower along the way. Indeed, we got very strong 5G internet there, and this was the best cell reception I'd ever seen in a National Park. Roosevelt point itself had no marker, but the trail along the way granted us plenty of views.

When we got to Taft point, the crowds had increased. This was clearly well known. Lots of people were posing on top of the point for dramatic photos and we did not resist.

After the hike, we drove down to Washburn Point and Glacier Point for the views and more crowds. To my surprise despite the traffic, we never actually had trouble finding parking. Then we drove down to the Yosemite Valley Lodge food court for a late lunch/early dinner. The food court was an example of excessive automation. There were kiosks where you had to order food from a touch screen. However, all but two of the touch screens were broken, and all it took was a couple of parties who were slow at making up their mind to gum the whole works up. Somebody thought that saving money on cashiers or order takers was a good idea and forgot that electronics failure would be difficult to service in a National Park!

After dinner, we walked to the swinging bridge for sunset views. Unfortunately, we couldn't get any good shots of the half dome in Alpen glow from where we were, but the Merced river was still as a mirror and we got some good pictures before returning to the Cedar Lodge for the night for more swimming (proving once again that kids have infinite energy!)

That night, I searched in vain for an alternative to the Mirror Lake hike we were planning to do tomorrow, since the lake itself was all dried up in the fall! But everything would involve a lot more driving so we opted for sticking to the original plan.

Yosemite 2024: Mist and Vernal Falls

 

For the Veteran's Day long weekend this year we decided to visit Yosemite National Park, having never been there in the Fall. On Friday night, we drove out to Oakdale, staying there for dinner. I'd forgotten my belt and ended up paying absurd prices at a local Tractor Supply, but it saved time hunting for a belt.

Arriving at the park at 9:45am, we flashed our Every Kid Outdoors printout and exchanged it for a plastic card for the free entrance. We were told that the parking lot for Happy Isles might be filled up, so we parked at Camp Curry instead and walked the extra 0.5 miles. Getting started at 10:30am, we were immediately impressed by the fall colors in the valley leading up to the Vernal Falls footbridge.

Past the footbridge, the trail climbs along side the falls. In the spring and summer there would be mist from the falls, giving the trail its name. In the fall, the waterfall is but a shadow of itself, and the trail was completely dry. It was crowded though, and frequently we had to pause to let hikers past us from both sides.

At the top of Vernal falls, I took out my stove and we made lunch --- instant noodles. After lunch I made the mistake of showing Boen the top of Nevada Falls and told him we were headed to the top. He immediately threw a temper tantrum and refused to keep walking. It took quite a bit of cajoling and bribery to get him to keep moving. The thing is, the top of Vernal Falls is already more than half way up to the top of Nevada Falls, so it actually wasn't that long before we got to the top.

At the top, we got good views of half dome, Mt Watkins, and Clouds Rest. From there, we would descend the John Muir Trail down to Clarks Point. It was already getting pretty dark, and we were already in shadow at this point.

By the time we got to the car it was already past sunset, and we headed straight to our lodging for the night, Cedar Lodge, which had a restaurant serving mediocre food, but had a heated indoor swimming pool that Bowen and Boen had a great time playing in before bed.

I'd wanted to do the Four Mile trail up to Glacier Point and back, but then realized that we'd done enough elevation today that I was likely to be met with protests the next morning. I did some research and realized that Glacier Point was open, so we could do a loop I'd never done before, which was Sentinel Dome, Roosevelt Point, and Taft Point loop. It was a short easy loop and would give us time to explore the valley before sunset.

Yosemite 2024 Index Page

 We visited Yosemite for Veterans Day. It was our first time there in the fall.

Photos

• Mist and Vernal Falls
• Sentinel Dome, Roosevelt Point, Taft Point
• Mirror Lake Loop

My Covid 19 Excursion List

With COVID19's shelter in place in effect, our vacation plans were needless to say, all cancelled. Rather than sit home and mope, I decided to try to make the most out of it and explore trails and places that I'd neglected and ignored prior to the crisis. When you've got semi-frequent trips out of town (or better, out of country), you can get into a rut at home because the breaks don't make you feel stale. It goes against my instinct to publish these on my blog, since I don't really want these places to become over-crowded, but with only 300 regular readers on this blog if you're reading it you probably already know about these places.

Rocky Point: This is part of Mt Tam state park. The most famous hike, of course, is the Matt Davis/Dipsea/Steep Ravine loop. But at the Steep Ravine/Dipsea intersection, if you ignore the trail that goes to Stintson beach and keep going on the Dipsea, there's a nice trail segment that's nothing short of gorgeous. Rocky Point's campgrounds are closed, which means that the place is isolated and has gorgeous views:

Mindego Hill:  I somehow lived in the Bay Area for many years but never came here. It's a very exposed hike, and you can make it easier by using bikes to get most of the way there. Don't attempt this in the summer, but in Spring it's stunning, with lots of wildflowers and gate traversals that the kids had fun with. The views from the top are unique and clearly different from anywhere else in the Bay Area.

Berry Creek Falls: You can do this as a long hike from Big Basin HQ, but with 2 kids it's far better to drive out to the coast and ride in about 10 miles to the bike rack where you can lock your bike. During the week, it's very isolated, and very pretty. It's also mostly shaded so good for hot days.

Esteros Trail in Point Reyes National Seashore: This trail is 4 years old, relatively new, and traverses a part of Point Reyes National Seashore that look so much like Scotland, except that it doesn't rain on you. The trail ios very easy, but the last segment to sunset beach is not worth the trouble, though of course once you're there you might as well go. An easy relaxing bike ride.

Maple Creek Falls in the Forest of Nisene Marks: I made this hike much harder than it had to be. You can actually drive into the park most of the way and then it's only a 3 mile hike, but the website for the park hadn't been updated to reflect that the parking was now open, so we hiked into through the Vienna Woods entrance instead. The last half a mile to the falls is strenuous, with lots of river crossings. Of course, that just makes it more fun for the kids.

Rodeo Beach to Tennessee Beach: The Marin Headlands is overly visited, but I saw a much smaller beach with easy access from Rodeo Beach. Well, laying out the Garmin route misled me into doing it the much harder way, with a descent that required hiking sticks (which we had), and even then the kids fell a few times. Tennessee Beach is surprisingly busy. I think I should have reversed this hike.

Garrapata State Park/Sobranes Point: Unlike Point Los State Preserve or Big Sur, this park has suffiicient parking for the visitors it attracts. You can explore both the ocean side and the redwood side, but do not ignore the tide pools, which are a great source of wildlife viewing.

Yosemite/Hetch Hetchy Ranchiera Falls

Yosemite just re-opened with massive numbers of restrictions, including reservations required for day-entry, which meant that for the first time in ages, I would consider a visit in the summer. The drive-in permits are first come first serve, but I had my eyes on the wilderness permits, which are available only by lottery.

I submitted 2 applications, one starting on the 3rd (which was a holiday), and one starting on the 4th. For each one, I listed Cathedral Lakes and Sunrise Lakes as my first two choices, and Ranchiera Falls as my second. My application for the 3rd was denied, but my application for the 4th came through for Ranchiera Falls in Hetch Hetchy, a place I had never explored in Yosemite National Park. I hurriedly made arrangements to borrow a bear canister, acquire backpacking equipment for Xiaoqin, and reservations for a hotel on the 3rd, since she didn't want to stay at the Backpackers Campground the night before.

Photo Album Link

The Wilderness Permit actually lets you enter the park the day before your stay. We drove from home to the park entrance, getting there around 11:30am, but then discovered that the line at the park entrance was more than a mile long. What happened was that they're indeed checking everyone's permit against both a computer database and a photo ID before you're even allowed to buy your entrance permit.

Once in the park, the experience was wonderful compared to previous visits. Vistas like the tunnel view and Bridal Veil falls had plenty of parking, though attractions close to park lodging like the Yosemite falls were still full of people.

We stayed in the park until late and then stayed at the Yosemite West Gate Lodge, buying awful take out from the diner next door. After so long in shelter-in-place order, it felt strange to see a restaurant with indoor seating, so we opted to eat in our hotel room, after the requisite 20 minute airing out of the place.

The next morning, we woke up early put everything in the trunk, and then drove out to Hetch Hetchy. The drive through the National Forest was pretty, and one location was so stunning I had to stop for a few pictures.

I expected to be one of the first people waiting at the Hetch Hetchy entrance when it opened at 8am, but there was already a line there with 5-6 cars ahead of us. When the gate opened we all drove through but there was still a 10 minute wait, with the rangers checking on our permits even though we already had our paid for entry-permit hung on our windshield. The number of wilderness permits handed out hasn't changed despite the situation, and the backpackers parking lot was full so we had to use the overflow parking area.

Knowing what I know now, I should have just driven my family down to the dam, unloaded the backpacks, and then driven the loop back to drop off excess food at the bear lockers before hiking back down myself. It would have saved about half a mile of extra walking with packs on, which everyone complained about., Even I felt the load, since I was carrying 3 sleeping bags, 2 tents (my plan to use the hammock for camping was derailed because REI's expedited shipping option for the mosquito netting for my ENO doublenest didn't live up to its promise --- one of many reasons why I feel punished every time I buy from anyone not Amazon), Boen's sleeping pad, clothing for both kids including wet suits, and all the other sundries including the hammock and straps, which Bowen had volunteered to carry but whined so much about that I took it off him by the time we got to the dam.

Despite starting by 9:30am, the day was already warm when we crossed the tunnel onto the trail proper. I'd started everyone on relatively little water, reasoning that the waterfall was only 2.5 miles away. There were patches of shade where we could rest, but the wide exposed areas had the best views and we all ran out by the time we got to the waterfall. I dug out the BeFree water filter out of my backpack and filled everyone's bottles and brought my camelbak bladder up to 2 liters for good measure. A woman came up and asked if I felt safe drinking the water straight out of the falls: apparently the BeFree looked so much like a water bottle that she didn't notice the filter.

Past the waterfall, the climbing started, taking us over the ridgelines that characterized the area. The view of the dam started retreating behind us until it disappeared completely. The number of hikers had also dropped by a lot. When the elevation started dropping I thought we were close and was heartened by the sound of running water but it turned out to be Tiltill Creek, about a mile but some elevation away from Rancheria Falls. The trail passed through a heavily burned section, which added insult to injury as our shade was taken away from us during the hottest time of the day.

By the time we got to the view of the Rachiera Creek apron, we'd all run out of water again, but fortunately the campground was shaded. A lot of spots were taken so we had no choice but to take one within sight of the main trail. With shade, the pressing need for water was not as urgent so I setup the hammock, pitched the tents, inflated most of the pads, and then we got everything ready to go visit the river, which was full of backpackers soaking to stay cool.

It was cold as a Sierra creek could be, but with wet suits the kids could stay in there far longer than I could, and I started setting up for dinner. Once the kids saw me setup they suddenly became hungry, and we ate all the backpacking dinners I brought with us, my favorite flavor being Sweet and Sour Pork, which is sadly now out of stock and available only at exorbitant prices.

After dinner, Bowen went for another swim while Boen couldn't wait to play with the tent and went back, but when he came back and saw Bowen in the river again he insisted on joining Bowen, and what could I do but put on my swim suit and join them!

It was surprisingly late by the time we went back to the tents but now the mosquitoes were out in force, so we completely our evening setup, with the sight of bear poop on the trail making me super paranoid about putting the bear canister far away from the tents, and went to bed. Despite opening the fly on the tent to the maximum extent it still felt warm and I tossed and turned a bit before dozing off with my CPAP machine running off the battery. (I'd thought about leaving it behind and saving the 1100g, but then realized that after I was done with the trip I'd have to drive for 4 hours to get home and decided it wasn't worth the risk)

I woke up at 6:00am the next morning seeing mosquitoes gathered on the mosquito netting on the tent, justifying my decision to bring 2 tents. We ate a quick breakfast, and quickly tore everything down as fast as I could for an 8:15am start. Despite that start we still felt warm in the burnt area, but once back in the shade it felt nice, and we could feel a nice headwind blowing towards us cooling us off. It had taken us 6 hours of walking to get to Ranchiera Falls the day before, but we were going at a far faster pace today with the slightly cooler temperatures and the mostly downhill walk. I slipped on a rock and skinned my knee, but it was a minor wound and I'd luckily brought a first aid kit with antibiotic cream.

At the falls again we still had sufficient water, and so pushed on, getting back to the tunnel at noon. Being smarter than the day before, I left the backpacks, wife and kids at the dam in the shade of a tree and walked back unladened to the car to drive down and pick everyone up.

Strangely enough, the mileage yesterday was more than the mileage today, and my guess was that spending a lot of time resting in the shade causes GPS jitter that grants you more miles for the same distance.

If I had to do it all over again, I'd stay overnight at Hetch Hetchy at the backpackers camp so I could get an earlier start, and also drive everyone else to start at the dam to avoid the extra half a mile of pack hiking. I would also avoid giving Boen the Camelbak --- he'd done so well with it on the previous trip, but this time I ended up carrying it awkwardly. Nevertheless, as a 5 year old he's now already done tougher hiking trips than his brother ever did at ages 6 or 7. This was a challenging trip because of environmental conditions, and there really aren't any easier hikes in the Hetch Hetchy area, so we probably won't revisit until the kids are older.