Don’t Go Chasing Waterfalls

I wasn’t really planning on going to California on this trip. I just found myself crossing the border in my ongoing effort to avoid Las Vegas.  But there I was, staring at the Eastern side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and Mt Whitney with Yosemite beyond. How could I turn around now?

But first I had to get past the Highest mountain in the Lower 48 states. Mt Whitney is on the left of the photos. I took one of them and then I found out that Ansel Adams framed up almost the exact same shot.

 

Ansel Adam’s View

My View

 

 

It was still a day’s drive to get there so I ended at a Lake Side fish camp for the evening that was hosting few other campers for it being Labor Day Weekend. The lake is actually reservoir and due to the drought not much of one. Just enough water to keep the mosquitos happy. They drove me to bed early.  

Early to Bed and Early to rise though. I was up and out early. Just in time to get stuck in the Yosemite Labor Day traffic jam. It was the first time I had come into the park from the East side. A much different experience since there are no views of any of the famous Yosemite sites. Not a lot of grandeur just pretty high mountain lakes and meadows. A bit of traffic but that didn’t really kick in until I made the turn into Yosemite Valley. Dead stop and there was still 10 miles to go,  I think it took me 2 hours just to get to the park entrance. By the time I got to the valley, I decided to bail on the crowds and head out of the park to find a campsite for the night and get an early start in the morning.

I didn’t want to get too far from the park but ended up driving about 100 miles around the outside of the park without luck of finding an empty campsite. It was way past late and pitch dark when I found myself coming into Yosemite again. The good thing was that the day tourists had long gone and I easily found  parking in two of the now empty roadside parking space for the night. I was expecting to get that dreaded middle of the night knock on the trailer and and the 1000 lumen cop flashlight shining in my eyes but there wasn’t much choice. Next thing I knew, daylight was streaming in and I the trailer was gently being rocked by passing cars eager to get ahead of the impending congestion and limited paring.

 

How it looked after a long day of driving

Not a Bad place to wake up though

 

As I really hadn’t planned to be in California, let alone Yosemite. So I hadn’t looked into what there was to do or how to do what there was to do. I only had the little map that the ranger gave me at the entrance gate the day before  Since it was still the holiday weekend, it was still going to be crowded and I had prime parking so I decided to just leave the trailer on the side of the road and walk to the nearest trailhead. Which was to the top of Yosemite Falls. I had heard of them and I think I heard they were pretty good.  Good enough at least to get a National Park named after them.

Off I went, following the signs through the woods, It was still about a mile to get to the actual trailhead from where I parked but it was a nice flat park like trail so more of a warm up than

anything. The falls are 2400 feet high which doing the simple math meant that I had 2400 feet of elevation left to go. It is a nice wide trail up to a turnaround point at about 1000 feet where there is a nice panorama view of Yosemite Valley. I kept going and soon realized that my simple math didn’t factor in the downhill section half way up that had me climbing another 400 feet all over again. And those second 400 feet were the beginning of one of the hardest hikes I have ever done. Lots of rocks in the trail and very slippery from the fine dust that had accumulated all summer long without any rain. 

I kept trudging up the steep trail. One foot in front of the other for 3.4 miles until I reached the top of Yosemite Falls just short of 3 hours after I left the trail head. Success!!! The only thing is Yosemite Falls had dried up from the California Drought. The forest fires were still in full burn leaving a hazy view of the valley made worse by the Eastern view with the Sun washing out any chance of a good picture. Nothing to see here.

 

 

There were additional trails past the Falls that I could have taken but I only had a Clif Bar in my pack and no Breakfast in my belly. There was no water beyond what was in my camelback, I thought it best to head back down to the Labor Day crowds.

Its the same trail down, it just feels steeper facing the downhill direction with gravity speeding up my steps. Same slippery rocks. And now I am tired, hungry and wondering if my water is going to hold up. My feet kept slipping out from under me and I was for once not cursing my lack of will power around Pizza and theater sized boxes of Candy. The resulting ass cushion I had accumulated over the years came in handy a couple of times..

For me, the worst part of a hike is that last mile to the trailhead. It just seems to take forever and by the time I hit the last mile, I am usually a mile into being done with the hike. It is just physical and mental drudgery to finish up. I am not even glad when I do get to the trailhead. I don’t start feeling good about the effort until I am back at the car to drop the pack, lose my boots and eat something that isn’t the consistency of gooey sawdust.

Looking back now, I still would recommend the Yosemite Falls hike only if you are in pretty good shape and sure of your footing due to the rocky and slippery trail conditions. Timing is important too, the morning sun and smokey air from the summer fires took away from the view once I did get to the top. Next time, and there will be a next time, I’ll do the Four Mile Trail on the other side of the valley. The end of that trail is Glacier Point with an amazing view of half dome.  Something to look forward to.