We Just Went to Have Lunch at Ireland Lake

It was another great walk in the park yesterday with Rojoio- this time with a suggestion from Kelly. Why not go up Lyell Canyon and have lunch at Ireland Lake 10 miles away? Then go up the ridge and drop down into the hanging valleys filled with little lakes above Volgolsang High Sierra camp. Drink a glass of lemonade and buy some postcards while there- then head back down the regular trail to the car parked at the Tuolomnee Lodge. Its the perfect loop for any day. The top postcard is Ireland Lake with Ameila Earhart Peak rising above to the left; the bottom postcard is the great Kuna Crest ridgeline that one day I will traverse. For fun we have each snapshot in only 3 colors....

Further On Up the Road

So there's a great Taj Mahal song called the title of this post. And my wife walked up to see me at work, and we then proceeded to walk further on up the road to get home. This shot is from the Panorama Trail tonight going home. Then a quick couple beers at the CV Bar. Then actually arriving home. What a good day in Yosemite- again. Enjoy folks.

A Grand View

So here's a few views that we encountered on Tuesday as we romped our way across some of the Yosemite high country. The beautiful light filtering across the trees as we left Glen Aulin; the grand view coming down the slabs from Sunrise Lakes looking across towards Mt Hoffman and all the terrain we would be covering in the following hours; and a great moon rising above as we exited Glen Aulin. Enjoy these views if you can't be there yourself today.

A Walk in the Park

An interesting day yesterday, with perhaps a better title being 'A Walk to Remember'- just don't mistakenly think this post is that similarly titled movie. After trying it last year and not completing the challenge, this year Rojo and I brought along Kate for round 2 of our mini High Sierra loop, and changed the order of camps attended. So with a home cooked meal by me handed out to everyone, we drove to the Cathedral Lakes trailhead and parked. A walk up Bud Creek and around Cathedral Peak via the climbers trail brought us up to Cathedral Pass and the trail to Sunrise. With mosquito dope on for the meadow stroll we passed people in head nets and stopped at Sunrise for a moment. The camp was vacant, but we passed the mule train coming in on the summit as it drops down into Sunrise Lakes. A romp and roll down the slabs brought us back to the trail to the road, with a quick stop to fill up water from a small stream that was literally on the trail. We had to stop so people could use the rocks in the water we were also standing on. It was a strange site to be filtering water as someone was walking in it a few feet away. Its also where we passed the gang of four drinking Corona's, carrying a cooler and smoking cigs, as if they were headed to Lake Havasu. The trail followed the road and took us up the old Tioga Road that leads to May Lake, and then we followed the short trail into camp. There we got a glass of Lemonade from Lacy and said hello to some friends coming down from Hoffman (Tracy and Brian and others) and began the descent to Glen Aulin. A couple hours later and we were tired and in Glen Aulin saying hello to Janet and Ben, refilling water, sucking down GU's and generally all around ready for the bar. A trip up the slabs brought us to Twin Bridges and the shortcut back out to the road where we found out we missed the last bus and would have to walk to the car, therefore insuring a car to car time of 10 hours 39 minutes- approx. 27 miles and 3 high camps. The goal was to make it to the Curry Bar for last call, and we did. 2 beers later ad I was home with my wife and Summer, having another cold one in the backyard. All in all, a good day in the park. A John Muir-type Day. P.S. The pictures are meant to look like its 1958- why not? Tomorrow, look for more postcards.

I didn't have to use my AK, It was a Gibbs Day...

Another work week done, and time to do something dramatic. After clocking my personal best time down the 4 Mile Trail after work Monday (42:45), and thinking I may be able with all the right forces lining up again, to get it under the 40 minute mark, I needed something big and fun to practice with today. A talk with my BFF at the Ahwahnee Bar, sparked the idea: follow what they just did and head up to Mt. Gibbs near the Tioga entrance station. Mt. Dana next to it gets all the love, and everyone I talked with today had also never been up it- see what I mean. The fun part was being the register entry right after Tracy and Bryan's ascent on July 11th, and mine now on July 14th. The top postcard is the summit, after many thousands of steps up the never ending red rock tiles that line the way. The bottom postcard was a quick stop on Hwy 120 after the tunnel for a nice river/Bridalveil view of the entrance to the valley. Soon I'd like to go back and work a better angle of this one- perhaps get the falls to stop flowing or the river to dry up- haha. Enjoy everyone reading this and those also not.

Snow Creek Airiel

Ever wondered what your getting yourself into on the Snow Creek Trail? Granite up the side of a cliff with little shade til the top. And Snow Creek Cascade over to your right where you never can see it. Still, its a good one to hike up and I've rarely encountered more than one handful of people on the trail. It takes you to North Dome, Tenaya Lake, the summit of Mt. Watkins, or over towards Yosemite Falls. All in all fun stuff. Wear some sunscreen and bring a water filter to fill up at the bridge over Snow Creek. Enjoy this photo taken yesterday. Today was less adventurous, with a trip to the dentist for a filling and a tooth extraction. Then off to Fresno where I could not actually eat any of its great food, missing the main reason to leave Yosemite- eat food! Oh well.

No Summit Today

So today I took a holiday from work and went hiking someplace I've been before- someplace most of us have been before. But, unlike all the other times, this was the first time I did not go up the cables at the end. As some say in climbing, the difficulties ended and the summit is not necessary. I don't know if I quite believe that, but I left the summit this year for when our friends come soon, and also a climb up Snake Dike. I thought hard (for ten minutes) about waiting in line, but the line moved one rung in those ten minutes. And the worst part is no one was really coming down the cables, people just weren't moving anywhere up the cables- not the lower part, the middle or the top. With permits needed on weekends, perhaps the park service should also station someone at the base and manage the now longer lines weekdays. If everyone simply started moving up every 15 seconds and didn't stop, the congestion would go away. I decided today that the time spent in line moving up and down the cables would take almost the amount of time it was going to take me to get back to my bicycle at Happy Isles. It probably was true.
It was a good 4 hours and 45 minutes spent today on the trail, bike to bike. Look out Rojo, next week its some High Camps for us.

Yesterday's Today...

I don't feel that good today, and it has nothing to do with beer or hiking. Mostly pollen and a runny, runny nose. So I spent the day cleaning our house and am posting some more photos from yesterday. There is still one more snapshot from the summit I'm holding out on, that will come in the future. Rojo and everyone is rafting today, Laura is at Disneyland and I am napping on the couch and watching bad television. As you can see the flowers are sprouting still and the base of Nevada Falls is flowing just as good as Vernal. See you on the streets of Yosemite soon.