Life In Yosemite

I stopped on my way to work yesterday morning and took a picture of Le Conte Gully. Like 2 years ago, it is filled with beautiful yellow bushes, that, if you were to go up there, would provide a splendid foreground to Half Dome from a unique perspective in the Valley. The light is a little wrong to see the dog leg in the gully where the boulder came loose, but I was late for work, and this is what I got.

All this makes October 22 a good time each year to contemplate being alive, be grateful for what I have, and to think about how far I’ve come in the intervening time. It’s my Boulder Day. My back is doing great. It aches sometimes, but for the most part it is the lack of strength and flexibility that holds me back these days. Although I’m not really doing much climbing, that has more to do with lack of motivation than inability, and I’ve started doing some running. At one point this summer I did a half-marathon distance. I’m still god-awful slow, but today, on my typical out and back from Curry Village, the distance that usually takes me 20+ minutes, took only 18. So, I’m getting a little faster and feeling a little stronger. I’ve started (just barely) trying to get back into the weight room more regularly too in preparation for the upcoming ski season. I figure if I’m also a little careful about what I eat, I’ll lose some of the extra fat that I’ve put on these last 2 years too.

This year Tom and I celebrated quietly. Tom returned from a few days’ visit to WI to visit Dr. Kingdon in the hospital the night of the 22nd, so we went out for a nice romantic dinner tonight and he even got me a couple of small presents on his way back through Fresno. I’m such a lucky girl!

Once upon a time, a reporter asked a long time Yosemite Interp Ranger where to find the best fall color, and the ranger replied, “About 3000 miles that way” and pointed east. Ok, so we’re not Vermont, when it comes to fall color. Most of our forests are coniferous, but Chris and I managed to find a few splashes of color today on our way from Yosemite Valley to Tuolumne.

The largest, most impressive display we saw were the oaks right at the 120/140 junction. There are splashes of color along the road as well - a couple of red Dogwoods, and some aspen groves, mostly below about 7000 feet.

The Valley is just starting to come into its own. In addition to the oaks at the junction, the roadways are overhung by increasingly golden leaves, and the dogwoods are getting pink. I haven’t been past the Maple near the Chapel, but it was starting to turn about a week ago, so I expect that it’s beautiful. Chris and I made a mental note to keep an eye on the river by Housekeeping Camp over the next few days. There is usually some nice foliage to be seen there when the leaves turn. LeConte Gully (MY gully) is becoming golden again with those narrow-leaved Golden Armada bushes. That isn’t the proper name for them, but Stavast has an amazing painting of them with that title, and it has stuck in my head that way. I remember those bushes provided a stunning foreground for a spectacular view of Half Dome when Tom and I were in that gully 2 years ago. [Note to anyone not familiar with my history with this gully: if you go up there watch for loose rock.]

At home in Yosemite West, the dogwoods have just started taking off. Although the trees in our front yard are only tinged with pink, there is a big bush near Bruce’s house that has gone brilliant in the last few days. The other neigborhood displays are getting there, but still need a few days to reach peak.

Driving up to Tuolumne a week ago, my neighbor noticed some nice golden color around Tenaya Lake, but by this weekend, it had gone mostly brown, or blown away. We did find some nice reddish ground cover around the small lakes/ponds behind Pothole Dome, which were beautiful in their own right, but I’m betting it was more impressive a week or two ago. Of course, Tuolumne is always beautiful in its own right, and every time I’m up there, I wonder why I don’t visit more often.

Hans and Yuji did it again! Another fantastic record, this time cutting off 6.5 minutes off their previous record. The final time was 2 hours, 37 minutes and 5 seconds.

Tom and I sadly missed the record-setting effort, and the cheering and hoopla in the meadow, but I couldn’t resist mentioning it here. An amazing effort, just got amazing-er.

We got back from this trip September 8, but there has been so much going on in the interim, that I haven’t had any chance to post anything until now, and there’s so much to do still, that I’ll keep this short.

We flew from Fresno, CA to Logan airport in MA in a long and painful trip that was accidentally extended at 1:30 am when I locked the keys in the car in the middle of nowhere VT while changing drivers in the middle of nowhere VT. Keys, phones, money, everything was in the car. Fortunately, there was a pay phone nearby, and not knowing the AAA phone number, I dialed 911. They were surprisingly efficient, and called a tow truck for us.

Our time in Stowe was really wonderful. It included an outdoor concert with Tom’s parents and his sister’s family at the Trapp Family Lodge (the family of Sound of Music fame). Although I had been there many times for XC skiing, it was the first time I’d seen in without snow. Unsurprisingly, it is still beautiful. Sitting outdoors, enjoying some music, and watching the sun set made for a great evening.

During that week, we spent time with Tom’s parents, enjoyed conversation with Mary, Steve and Mariana (they persuaded me to join Facebook), as well as Denis, Pat and their kids who came up for the long weekend. We took walks with Tom’s mother, Maria, along the Stowe Recreation Path. Ate out at many fine Stowe restaurants, and went for a run along the Recreation Path which has measured distances. This is the first time I’ve really run a measured distance that I have any faith in. I’m slow. I averaged something like 11+ min miles over the 4 miles that I ran, and suffered to do it. One morning we hiked to the top of Stowe Pinnacle with Tom’s bro, Denis. The hike was beautiful - like a temperate rain forest wet and with beautiful roots, and brightly colored lichen and fungus everywhere, and so unlike the drier and dustier trails of California. I took a bunch of pictures, but they didn’t really turn out. I blame the camera.

We also went to Doug’s new house in South Hero, VT, and visited with Doug and Bridget. It’s a beautiful old farmhouse, on an enormous property that has necessitated a driving lawnmower to care for the sprawling green lawn. Bridget has started working for a local apple orchard that Tom used to work at when he was young, and they are thinking about starting a Bed and Breakfast at their home to take advantage of the extra space, and earn some extra cash. We tried to convince Doug that he wanted to run just a Bed, because the breakfast part really creates so much additional work, but neither Doug nor Bridget seemed much convinced.

On Friday, we drove down to MA for the second part of the vacation. Our friends, Rachel and Garrett got married in Salem, MA, a short drive from Tom’s sister, Tracy’s, house in Acton. Their wedding was beautiful, set outdoors on the coast, and we met many of their other friends, and family. I took a bunch of pictures of the wedding which also mostly didn’t come out. More and more momentum for the Canon dSLR and nice lenses on the wish list that probably won’t actually improve my photography. Fortunately for the bride and groom, their pro photographer got some great shots.

We also enjoyed lounging at Tracy and Ron’s house in between wedding events. Caroline and Julia are growing up so fast. We applauded Caroline’s interest in nursing, and tried (unsuccessfully) to get Julia to start a million-dollar Cell Phone Website. We strolled with Tracy, Ron and Dori to the dog park, and photographed the interesting mushrooms that grow in the park near their home. It was exceptionally wet from the rain brought by Hurricane Gustav, which is such a pleasure after the extra dry season that we’ve been having in Yosemite.

Unfortunately, the wonderful, relaxing vacation was capped by another marathon airplane journey back to CA. This time our flight arrived shortly after 5pm, and we managed to do a small amount of grocery shopping in Fresno before heading back to Yosemite.

I even managed to drop off a few of the Girls on Granite brochures that I’d brought with me. It’s late to get printed materials out for the September sessions, but there it is.

There’s been a great deal of excitement and story-telling about the new speedclimbing record on the Nose, recently obtained by Hans Florine and Yuji Hirayama. 2 hours, 43 minutes, 33 seconds. In addition to the details from Hans, ElcapPics turned in an entertaining and suspenseful narrative on Supertopo. It was very exciting, the media was there, even The Big Hats, like Superintendent Mike Tollefson, were out in the meadow. There were multiple champagne celebrations, and I cheered until I was a hoarse.

A couple of highlights for me:

On the Sunday attempt, someone reviewing video of the King Swing made a comment about how the guys made the monster swing look something like Bandaloop’s vertical dancing, and Hans joked about throwing in a move. Who would have thought that in the middle of a down-to-the-minute record breaking attempt, Hans would actually go through with it? Could it be that he was actually having fun up there?

Sean Jones brought a posse of local El Portal kids out to the meadow to watch, and cheer. I loved the energy that they brought to the meadow. Afterwards, they gathered around Yuji to congratulate him and one said that they hoped the Hubers wouldn’t break their record. When Yuji replied, “I don’t care. The Hubers are my friends,” I hoped it would be an attitude toward competition and sport that the kids could carry with them for a while.

There was inspiration everywhere I turned that day. I met a guy who works for Architechtural Digest who came up from the Bay Area for some climbing, and to film the event. He’d been in a car accident that left his left arm hanging by the skin. Although he thought he’d never climb again, a short session at Swan Slab convinced him otherwise.

Tom Frost, at the age of 72, did the 4th class scramble to the base of the route to see the guys off… after sleeping on the floor at our place because it was too much trouble to pull out a futon. (I wasn’t there, and take no responsibility for that decision.)

And lastly, although I could go on and on, I was impressed with the number and diversity of people that came out to support these guys. From Hans’ posse of friends drove up from the Bay Area for the morning, to the crazy-fit guys who filmed them on the route, to the locals who took time out of their day to swing by, to the guy who rode up for specifically to see Sunday’s attempt and stayed through the record-breaking effort on Wednesday.

I’ve promised myself that no matter how late it’s gotten, or how many other adventures I’ve had since then, that I would put something up about the amazing day that I had climbing with my friends, Bruce and Em, on Fresno Dome, the day after the Pano hike .

Fresno Dome is one of those places that is close enough that I should have gone there many times, but far enough away that I haven’t. Unlike Yosemite climbing, it’s a quiet little crag, with plenty of routes at my new not-very-hardcore climbing level (as well as harder stuff). Bruce and Em did the hard work - planning where to climb, scouring guidebooks and the internet for information. I just tagged along, and was treated to a perfectly wonderful day of climbing.

The Pano project was also the perfect excuse to go to a Yosemite spot that I’d never been to before. Plus, the prospect of hiking with strangers also provided motivation for prioritizing some ‘training’ hikes leading up to the end of the month.

Between the Fern Ledge hike, and the Pano hike, I took a couple of other relatively substatial hikes. The week after Fern Ledge, I hiked with my friend, Hope, to Yosemite Point and back. (Tom wanted some exercise, so he ran laps on the Falls trail while we walked.) Hope’s a great hiking partner, and I was entertained by stories and got some good advice on hiking in a sundress/skirt - what to do, and what not to do.

The week after that, tempted by reports of amazing Sugar pines, clusters of snowplants, and some potential climbing, Tom and I hiked out to Dewey Ridge. Hiking through the deadfall along the side of the ridge was difficult going, but exploring new ground is always interesting. We found some awesome bouldering - including a boulder even I was willing and able to play on. And the prize of the hike was spotting the tiny Steershead flowers, which aren’t exactly rare plants, but are uncommon to actually see.

My hiking partners for the Pano day were Scott and Eric from the Pano project, and Bruce and Em, who I’ve known for so long I don’t even remember exactly how we met. The best thing about hiking is the chance to chat with new folks and old friends, so this fit the bill perfectly. Although, I have to say that I missed Tom. At some point on the trail I was bemoaning his absence and one of the guys says, “Well, that must me nice. To be free and do your own thing for a while.” Huh. I guess so. Not really, though.

I managed to get a somewhat ruffled picture of a small yellow bird that was singing brightly in a tree just off the trail. I think, based on a quick look through a field guide by John Muir Laws’, that it was a Warbler.

Also, we were treated to a pair of hang glider pilots taking their sled ride down from Glaicer Point. I previously thought that launch time for them was around 7 am, so that they would have very little chance of any thermal activity, but these guys launched sometime after 8 - not that they found anything that kept them aloft. One guy flew into the Yosemite Falls amphitheater, close enough to get wet from the spray, which seemed a little risky, but it must have been an amazing view. It’s been such a long time since I was a hang glider pilot, but seeing one (even if it is packed up on a car) usually brings back such joyful memories. I wonder what all my old HG buddies are doing now.

Eagle Peak itself is a beautiful rock outcrop with the top of Yosemite Falls visible on one side, and looking down on the Three Brothers (or the humping frogs), and beyond them to Middle Cathedral on the other side. It takes a long time to take 376 images, even if there is a little gigapan unit doing the work for you, so we had plenty of time to hang out and have lunch there. It was more crowded than I would have thought for a place I haven’t visited until now, but the rim is long, and we did have long stretches of time to ourselves as well.

Bruce found a pair of abandoned eggs lying on the ground along the rim. I have no idea what sort of eggs they are, and sadly there were no parent birds anywhere nearby.

Fern Ledge is an amazing spot - one which John Muir thought was one of the best from which to watch a Moonbow, and which Ansel Adams immortalized with an image. Last weekend, we gathered a group of friends together and hiked up to revisit the spot.

The hike was just as spectacular as I remembered it. I thought we’d be too early for the wildflowers, but even this early in the season, there were plenty to stop and admire. The water was big - bigger than the last time we were there, and it got bigger the longer we stayed to watch. Tom crept out on a narrow ledge to get that ‘looking straight up’ view, while the rest of took pictures from the relative security of the bigger ledge where we had lunch.

The hike itself was harder than I remembered though, both in terms of the slippery decomposing granite and steep drop offs, but also just in terms of my fitness level. I haven’t been able to walk quite right for days. Still, that kind of sore feels good when I think about getting back in shape to do all the summer things that are on my list.

The company was magnificent. I wanted to include a picture of the crew. It’s a combination of old friends and new ones.

Inspired by a painting that a friend of ours did, and the stories that she told of a 130 foot Yosemite waterfall that neither of us had ever seen, Tom and I set out this weekend to hike to Alder Creek Fall. I’ll point you to YosemiteExplorer.com for full hiking trail details and descriptions. As always with a new trail, there were many discoveries to be made and we really enjoyed ourselves.

At one point, the trail crosses a ‘fire line’, with itchy, scraggly dried branches lying everywhere on one side, and the ash-filled open space of a recently burned forest on the other. Fire is so important to the ecosystem here. It’s amazing how far we’ve come from the days when fire suppression was the only management policy, but as with many things, it seems like the more we learn, the more we realize there is to learn.

There are several cool things about hiking through a recent burn area. One is the holes left in the ground where trees have burned into ash, leaving a pit and tunnels where the roots led out. Also stunning are all of the tree totems that are left behind – amazing charcoal sculptures that seem to defy gravity. They are difficult to photograph because they blend into the vegetation behind, but we were both stunned when we found one impossibly balanced burnt out trunk that still had living needles at the top. Near the end of the hike, we found a short stump that had been seriously undercut, and not only was it still standing, but it managed to support Tom’s weight as well.

At one point, the trail merges onto an old railroad grade, with the ties stacked neatly in piles in the center of the trail, or in some cases still buried in the ground. Tom even found a piece of track. The thought of a not-so-old-as-all-that railroad constructed specifically for the timber industry seems so incongruous with the current National Park designation, but it is a fitting reminder of how things change. How they have changed in the past and how they could change again in the future if we let it.

The Fall itself was more than worth the hike, as we rounded yet another bend in the heavily forested trail and were treated to open granite and roaring water. I thought it was 150-200 feet tall, Tom guessed more like 70, so our friend Kay, who estimated 130 is probably right. Usually is. We ate our meager ‘lunch’ of fruit and a few nuts, and then wandered along the river a short distance trying to find a safe way to the other bank. There were many places that would be easy to cross if the water was just a little lower, and Tom probably could have found a way anyway, but I was nervous, and willing to be patient, so we turned around. There was a wonderfully precarious glacial erratic on the far bank, and I hope it hasn’t toppled before we get a chance to return.

If the trailhead were a little closer, I could see visiting more often for a short run. The first uphill stretch, is too steep for me to run in my roly poly condition, but the trail itself is remarkably smooth and runnable. It would be a great run for Tom, and who knows – I’m supposed to be getting in shape after all.

When we got back to the car we calculated a rigorous 40 minute mile pace for our exploration – due to the fact that we stopped so often. We heard robins, mountain chickadees, Stellars jays, a “motormouth” robin that was probably a black-headed grosbeak, and dozens more that we couldn’t identify. Although we spent many long minutes gazing up into the trees trying to find the birds themselves, we had basically no luck. We photographed a bunch of plants that we also can’t identify, wishing that somehow we could get a direct feed from Michael Ross to get not only the answers, but the stories behind the answers, and wandered off the trail more than once to take a look at some promising-looking boulders in the trees. From the time that we left the roadway until we returned 5 hours later, we’d seen no other people.

There are couple of places that Tom and I have been meaning to visit for years. One of these, Ribbon Falls amphitheater, we managed to visit last week, and this week, we hiked up to Fern Ledge. Fern Ledge is located 400 or 500 up the upper Yosemite Falls, and traverses in from the right side under the water, allowing an intrepid explorer to get as close to that rushing water as they wish. (We kept a respectful distance.)

With only the vaguest idea of where we wanted to go, Tom and I set off with our friend Doug this morning to explore. After wandering up steep dirty slopes for a while, we finally stumbled upon the trail and started making good time. The ledges were filled with wildflowers (and we had to stop and photograph and try to identify them all), the views were amazing, and we found some other places that we are going to have to return for later.

I've been seeing an accupuncturist lately, and my left foot felt better on this hike than it ever has before. I'm still improving! Tom remarked that our next destination is going to have to be Ililloutte Creek - and I think Indian Canyon too. There are so many places to explore!

Tom has put up a bunch of details and photos about hiking to Fern Ledge over on Yosemite Explorer