This was taken 11/21/2010 in Yoosemite

A License to Eat

Robert and the North face Mountain 25.

The South Rim.

Chile at the Ahwanee.

The fireplace in the great room at the Ahwahnee Hotel.

Robert and Campfire at Camp 4, January 3, 2010.

North Rim of Yosemite Valley in the Blue Moonlight

Moonlight Sot to Rival Dave Kohr's.

Ravens

Skiing is interesting at least. It is work, real work, even as it gets easier. Cross country sking requires the body to do a bunch of unusual movements. Although we can't really ski very hard, I can see active skiing burning a thousand calories an hour.

I went to Yosemite (again?) this weekend. I've sorta decided to try to do something more formal with the photos I've take, or at least try to apply myself to taking them a bit more seriously. Anyway -- we drove up Saturday morning, taking the Mountain Tent on it's maiden voyage, made camp, and had a bowl of Chili at the Ahwanee.

We had a campfire, and I shot photos of the blue moon, to see if I could rival Dave Kohr's. I also shot phots of the moon lit North wall of the valley above Camp 4 while we stood around the fire.

The tent performed admirably. It was a bit wet ... after spending the night below freezing at Camp 4. The trade offs to keep the tent warm were to seal up the top and have it be a bit more drippy inside from the condensation. Mostly, my nose was cold. I finally put the neck gaiter over it ...

In the morning it was icy on the outside of the tent, we opted for coffee with breakfast over at the Yosemite Lodge, a decision I always regret. The food is kinda sucky, but the place was warm anyway. Then we went up to Badger Pass for a ski. We skied out the Glacier Point road for about two miles and back. We struggled with the wax for Robert's skis, slippy skis, slippy snow, sticky klister, sticky snow, I didn't have the exact wax for mixed corn snow with glisteny crap, alternating repeatedly. Welcome to California. Just a short side note ... Saul, those skis rock!! I had no problems.

The ravens followed us up the trail, looking to see if we dropped anything, any food, anything shiny. Maybe they remembered me from two weeks ago when I think I might have dropped some turkey jerkey. I keep waiting to see if they will lead me to some game. I've heard that ravens can tell when men are hunting, and pay more attention to them. It's all about the food for those ravens, it's like they have a license to eat. It's all about the food for me too.

Once back -- we broke camp and headed for food. We ate, a couple of times, and I'm stil hungry, I think I'll be extra hungry tomorrow too. Skiing is like ... a license to eat.

Skiing @ Crane Flat and Badger Pass

Saul at the Tuolumne Grove on Saturday.

Badger Pass looked fun.

That's me on the Glacier Point Road.

Me again!

Glacier Point Trail Map
Crane Flat Trail Map

I went up to Yosemite over the weekend. I stayed in a cabin in the valley, and it was sweet (you're jealous, no?). The weather was good, albeit a bit warm, and the food was good (thanks to Saul!).

We skied at Crane Flat on Saturday, but one, didn't have a map, and two, I forgot the wax for my skis. We went down to the Tuolumne Grove of the giant sequoias, and it was a bit steep so we walked a lot of it. We skied all of two miles.

On Sunday, we skied near Badger Pass on the Glacier Point Road and the old Glacier Point Road. Badger has well defined trails and and the road is groomed. So it went better. I found Nordic waxes and alot of advice at the Nordic Ski Center, but skied using some borrowed fishscales. We skied about 3 miles, some of it quite a bit more difficult than the road, mostly because it was loose, heavily post-holed, and heavily snowshoed old snow.

Moonlight Hike to Half Dome Version 2

www.flickr.com

Half Dome Full Moon Hike, Version 1

People climbing up the cables to the Half Dome summit.

My friends near the top.

Me at the top of the "Sub-Dome."

View of the cables and Half Dome Summit from the sub-dome.

The short version. My three friends and I went to summit on Half Dome in Yosemite on 7/8. We left San Mateo Tuesday night at 8 and arrived at the trailhead at 1:30 AM. We hiked the Mist Trail in the moonlight to arrive in Little Yosemite Valley at dawn. We only stopped to puke once. We proceeded up the trail. 2 of my friends reached the summit at some time around 11:00 AM, while my other friend and I aborted to wait at the base of the final climb. I sprinted up some one hour later reaching them just below the cables to let them know it was time to go.

We hiked out to have some really crappy food at the Curry taco stand, and managed to drive home without falling asleep or puking.

Half Dome 2, Hikers 2. 16 miles, 4600 vertical feet, 4 great stories.

My foot hurts.

Moonlight Hike to Half Dome

It looks like we have plan ... Leave San Mateo at around 7 PM om July 7 and drive to Yosemite Valley. At midnight or so start the hike to Half Dome from the valley. Photos at dawn from the top of Half Dome ... Hike down, nap and drive home.

Wet ...

Our lives can be easily represented by our accumulated stories, the stories we have to tell, good stories usually, since we forget the boring day stories, the dull lusterless grey stories. We live to accumulate stories. We can remember the good days and the bad days; the better or worse the day, often the better the story. I remember the first time I drove a car, Big Frank’s brand new 1971 Cadillac. I was 13. And it was really stuck in the mud on Airport road just west of Colusa, CA. Everyone else was pushing that car, me being the smallest person, I had to drive.

Sometimes, it’s hard to find a good story to tell, despite challenging environments and meeting interesting people, when nothing good or bad really happens. It’s not like I got frostbitten, I just got wet last weekend in a rainstorm because my tent failed. I have several stories to tell about getting wet …

When I was younger, my father used to say that if there was puddle within a few miles I would find it and fall into it. He wasn’t entirely off the mark. Once, when we went goose hunting, I stepped out of the car into a three foot deep post-hole (the only puddle for miles around), sending my right leg in that puddle up to my testicles. What he never knew despite all his story telling, was that I could set my tent up in it too, and usually I would. I have been every variety of wet in the wilds … in over my waders … nude swimming in the icy Couer D’Alene … showering under a hand pump in a desert campground … falling drunkenly out of a canoe … and genuine difficulties, like the plank bridge snapping below me over Rock Creek one cold April morning, or me in the water with a bunch of rattlesnakes swimming very near there later that summer. I’ve been wet so many times, for so many reasons it’s often been a joke to those that know me. There’s a whole other story about me and broken glass …

When I was younger and I got wet it was often a problem. When I was about 16, I went to Yosemite for spring break; with a few of my high school friends. Ron Kauk might have been there trying to unlock the famed Midnight Lightning. My friends all hitch-hiked to the valley. I wanted to, but my mother insisted I ride the bus. I went to Sunnyside (now Camp 4) where we were all supposed to meet and I set up my gear. My friends didn’t show. I set my tube tent (my first of many bad tent decisions) up in a wash between two trees, which, ummm … filled with water when it rained during the night.

I moved into the heated bathroom at Camp 4 with a wet sleeping bag and my aspirations; aspirations of being in the wilderness and being a naturalist and a guide and a savvy outdoorsman. Ron Kauk might have come into the bathroom and given me advice about how to dry out my bag. “Go to Housekeeping Camp and use the dryers.” I tried to stay in the bathroom, but it was busy and the Ranger threw me out repeatedly, and threatened to find me a “Warm place to stay.” It was impossible.

The next morning I was soaked. It was cold and getting colder. I tried to find a place to dry out my gear. By noon the snow level had dropped to right above the valley floor, and I was still struggling to get my gear dried out. By dark it was snowing heavily on the valley floor.

At about 9 or 10 that night I called my parents and they came and got me – I had had enough. I never got my gear dried out, and I never really found my friends. It was cold and I was starting to suffer from it. So much for my aspirations.

My aspirations. To be a savvy outdoorsman.

Here I am many years later, and I haven’t lost my touch. I set my tent up in what would later become a puddle, left the fly door open and was drenched by morning. Additionally, the tent failed miserably. It leaked through the floor and ceiling. I was seriously wet. There’s one small difference. I was warm. I was wet, but warm. These days I can afford a lot better gear. Soaking wet in Patagonia Capilene base layer and a North Face Snowshoe 0 degree bag, in 35 degrees winter wetness, and I was toasty warm. Mostly.

Setting up my tent in the yard to dry it out, I realized that the paint that said “Sierra Designs” on the side was wearing off, indicating the obvious age of the tent. It has been through a dozen rainstorms, several windstorms and several snowstorms. It’s seen better days. So now I am looking at a new tent.

Rain ...

... Still isn't that much fun. I got a bit wet last night.

You Remind Me of ...

Fire Damage near the North Entrance to the Valley

Tenaya Creek

Half Dome from the Meadow

Mirror Lake

Mirror Lake

1 March 2009. Yosemite Valley
It’s threatening to rain as the daylight fades and I am cozy in the Great Room at the Ahwahnee, curled up by the big fire listening to these sounds from the 20’s. It wasn't easy to find an internet connection here in pardise, but if you spend enough, you can connect in the lobby of your hotel for free, even in paradise. I'm not staying in the Ahwahnee, mind you, but I am enjoying the pleasures of the lobby.

It's been fairly grey here and threatening to rain for days, but I did manage to take a few photos of the fire damage up near the old Big Oak Flat road on Friday.

Winter Badge -- Yosemite Valley -- Day 3

Lone Oak in the Meadow

Monday was characterized mostly by snow. It was all snow, all the time. Sunday night's dumping, snow all Monday, and snow all of Monday night, and well into Tuesday. Snow fell from the sky in huge 2" diameter clumps, drifting in the sky even before hitting the ground. Literally, several feet of snow fell. Roads closed, Badger Pass was a "total whiteout," according to one gentleman I met, everyone scrambling to get out of the valley in the morning, and looking for shelter later in the day.

Shuttle Bus Front Window


Snow Covered Pines


Yosemite Oak

Photography was hard, if not impossible, driving was still possible, if I could have gotten out of my parking spot. My truck was pretty much buried, so I rode the shuttle or walked everywhere. I took a hike in what I think was Leidig Meadow. It's not that I don't know where I was it just isn't clear which meadow I was in from looking at the map. I started at the Village and walked across the meadow to the river and then back across to Yosemite Creek and Falls. I carried my snowshoes in the Nashbar Backpack Pannier with the camera in the waterproof drybag, and used them a few times to stomp around in the meadow.

Nashbar Waterproof Pannier Double Duties as Daypack

They plow the bike paths around the valley and the sound of little Bobcat snowplows destroyed whatever calm or serenity the meaodow may have had to offer .

Meadow Close-Up


Me, At the Falls


Yosemite Creek


Yosemite Creek


Near Lower Yosemite Falls
Eventually, I made my way back to camp, to find my tent buried in the snow.

Camp

...

I was in yosemite for a few days. ...