Yosemite Adventure!

For years, Letizia and I have been going to various and sundry parts of the world to hike. We were supposed to hike Kings Canyon for our most recent vacation, but the park was mainly closed because of the KNP Complex Fires. So, we (and by "we" I mean Letizia) altered our plans, and we headed to Yosemite instead. It was a great decision as far as hiking was concerned. As far as fine dining and strong internet, it wasn't our best choice, but nobody goes to Yosemite for those things anyway. During our stay, we hiked many, many, many miles. I feel like we got to know the park really well. :) 

🗻🗻🗻🗻🗻 - This was a five out of five hiking vacation. 

Wednesday: Panorama Trail to Nevada Falls. 

Distance: 11.4 miles. Elevation gain: 2,857 feet. Date hiked: Oct. 20, 2021

We arrived at our trailhead around 1. The temperature and scenery were just perfect. We headed out to Nevada Falls. Although we have both hiked this trail before, we remembered about 1/8 of it. So, it was practically like hiking a new trail. For a majority of this hike, we could see a wonderful view. We also walked far enough to see the back side of Half Dome. From the back, it looks like an entirely different mountain. 

The waterfall was more of a dribble this time of year. But, it was fun to cross over it just the same. To the side of waterfall is this impressive chunk of rock. It is hard to capture in a picture. 

Me in front of the big rock. I don't know it's name. 

After hanging around the waterfall for a bit, we headed back to the car. We looked at the back of Half Dome for about half of the hike. Then, we got to see the front again. That was a fun transformation. We made it in perfect time as the sun went down around 6:15. 

 Thursday:Yosemite Valley to El Cap and Yosemite Point

Yosemite to El Cap to Yosemite Falls: Length: 18 miles. Elevation Gain: 5,230 feet. Date Hiked: Oct. 21, 2021.

This hike was a bit of a beast. The first three miles were up and up and up. First mile gains 1,200 vertical feet. Second gains 1,300. Basically, you feel like maybe you have been a smoker since birth. Everything burns as you go up. Lungs. Legs. Feet. After the first three miles, it is pretty smooth sailing. 

Although the up was a bit brutal, the views were worth the pain and suffering. On this hike, as you ascend, more and more of Yosemite opens up. And, the fall colors really added a beautiful texture to the scenery around. 

When we finished the first ascent, we still had about 4 miles to go to get to El Cap. This hike was through a kind of magical forest. The trail was full of pine needles and leaves. There were several sequoia trees along the way. Some of the trees were absolutely massive. It was really beautiful. 

This was part of the magical forest. It's really hard to capture. Some of the trees in this picture are just gigantic. 

When we arrived at El Cap we weren't overly impressed. Sigh. It just wasn't the view we were hoping for. It was a little anticlimatic. And, I thought we would come right to the edge of El Cap. If we were lucky we would see people rock climbing to the top. And, we weren't lucky! The top of El Cap slopes down for quite a bit until you read the drop off.

This very odd rock formation sits at the top of El Cap. Someone with extra energy and a lot of creativity put some real work into that.

On our way back, we decided to stop off at Yosemite Point. It was only an extra two miles. :) And, it was really spectacular. We could have saved ourselves eight miles of hiking and just gone here. We hadn't gone far when we came across this great looking bridge! Leti and I thought it was beautifully constructed. 

Leti on a bridge over Yosemite Falls. You get an idea of scale from this picture. 

This is at the top of Yosemite Point. You will note the rail to the side of the picture. There is a very steep drop off on the other side. Yikes! Half Dome looms in the back. 

This is looking over the edge at Yosemite Point. So vast! I love the fall colors throughout the valley and on the canyon walls. 

Yosemite Point again. Another angle. Side note: that was about as close as I could get to the edge. Fear of heights is strong with this one.

On our way back down from Yosemite Point, we decided to go to the Yosemite Falls overlook. There are some things that are in national parks that are simply not the safest! (Mom, there was a rail. We hung on with both hands.) You can go pretty close to the edge of the falls. But, you have to take sketchy looking stairs to do it. Yikes! 

These are sketchy stairs. Off to my side, there is a pretty serious dropoff. Yikes!

After we descended to get a closer look at Yosemite Falls, we headed back down the mountain. With great haste. The sun was setting. We did finish this trail in the dark, but luckily, we did not see a bear. Luckily, with one mile left to go, we got to see the sun set on Half Dome and the side of the mountain. It was the perfect end to our hike! 

Leti snapped this picture at sunset. Talk about beautiful. It was like Heavenly Father said, "Watch this." We went from seeing no sun on Half Dome to this. Alpenglow. It was just lovely. 

Friday: Mist Trail and Turtleback Dome

Mist Trail. Length: 4.6 miles. Elevation gain: 1,690 ft. Date hiked: October 21, 2021

Turtleback Dome. Length: 1 mile. Elevation Gain: 200 feet. Date hiked: October 21, 2021.

Leti is at the base of Nevada Falls.

After our intense hike the day before, we decided to have a "rest day". Leti's idea of rest is a hike between 5-7 miles. :) The Mist Trail is an extremely popular hike. Which is annoying. So many people on the trail. But, we endured. #firstworldproblems. 

This trail takes in views of both Nevada Falls and Vernal Falls. Even though there wasn't a lot of water coming off the falls, I thought they were still very striking. 

Leti at the emerald looking pool just above Vernal Falls. 

Some nice British fellow snapped this picture. Vernal Falls is in the background. 

Here I am a few hundred feet lower at Vernal Falls. I thought it was pretty marvelous! 

In theory, the above part of the trail was closed. Here's the deal. This is a loop hike. There is only a sign at one end of this "closed" section of trail. The other section of the loop didn't have a closed sign. So, we took it as a sign that we should hike there. It worked out great. We didn't see a soul. :) 

After our slightly illegal behavior, we headed to Turtleback Dome, which I thought was, well, lame. Sorry to say it like that. I was expecting a big, cool turtleback looking dome. Not so. But, the pictures were great at the top. 

Picture from Turtle Dome.Half Dome is half cloud. :) 

At the very end of the hike, we came upon this nice deer family. They froze as we passed by, which seems unintelligent to me. But, maybe it works for them in the hunt or something. I don't know. Anyway, I was very grateful they didn't decide to cross the road when they saw us.

Saturday: Dewey Point from Tunnel View

Length:9.3 miles. Elevation gain: 3,500 feet. Date hiked: Oct. 23, 2021

On our way to this hike, as we left the valley floor for the last time, we saw: 

Happy day! This charming mother bear was out foraging for food. Before we arrived on the scene, there were two little cubs wandering about. It is always a good day when you see a bear from the safety of your car! 

We hit the trail a little later than expected because of the bear sighting. This seemed like good luck for us actually. It was a stormy looking day, but we hoped (and prayed) to see a beautiful view from the top, and as luck would have it, we were able to time it just right. This is yet another steep hike. We huffed and puffed, or rather, I huffed and puffed up to the top of the mountain. The colors on this hike were beautiful. Falls leaves all around. The trail was a nice pine needly type. And, when we arrived at the top the skies were relatively clear. Yay!  

Here's one really thrilled Leti. :) 

I like this picture because of the parking lot. It really is there. Very small. About half way down that rock wall. 

Here's a closer view of El Cap. We are looking down on it. Fascinating. 

We stayed up at the top for about twenty minutes, eating snacks and enjoying the vast view. It was so beautiful. Just as we were leaving, fog rolled in and started covering up the view. And, the fog stayed with us for a majority of the downhill. The tops of our heads were damp with fog dust. :) (Fog dust is not actually a term you would find in the dictionary. I just made it up.) 

This was taken close to the top. The fog is starting to take over.

Me hiking in the fog. This made our hike somewhat magical. We also became very bear aware. A bear would be really hard to spot. 

In the fog, it is difficult to tell just how bright the fall colors were. But really, the colors were beautiful! 

And, like that, we made it back to the parking lot. There were people everywhere and the view was ... well, very cloudy! We jumped in our car and miraculously made our flight. It was another great hiking vacation in the books!