The Big Trek

Yosemite (Monday, Sept 27)

Ade cooked me the best breakfast imaginable and packed me a couple of “wraps” for my journey and I departed at exactly 9:00 am.  The first part of the hike was to Vernal and Nevada Falls.  These falls are beautiful, as they cascade vertically over granite walls that are at least 100 ft tall. 

The temperature by 11:00 was well into the 90’s, and I was thinking that my one litre jug of water and a container of juice might be a little tight, but I headed on to the longest leg of the hike.  This went 11 km and dropped 1,000 ft before rising another 2,000 ft to a spot called Glacier Point.  Along the way the views were spectacular of the valley floor.

I had two big surprises on this hike.  First was that once you got past 5 km, there was not a soul on the trail!

 When you consider the several thousand people that were in the valley, this caught me off guard.  The second surprise was that at 11 km, on the trail I surprised a smaller rattle snake (about 18 inches long).

 He spooked and headed for a bush on the side of the trail, coiled and sat there staring at me from behind a small bush.  I really did a double/triple look.  After the surprise of the moment, I decided to stop and get a picture of him.  This proved a bit of a challenge as my camera kept focusing on the leaves of the bush, rather than the snake, so I had to take about 10 shots before I could get one that was reasonably clear.  About this time, I was also thinking that I had better not get too close because a bite in this isolated area might be a bit of a problem.  However, after the picture, I was on my way.

Eventually, at 2:00 pm, I made it to Glacier Peek (elevation 7,900 plus ft). 

I do not know how it got its name, as there was no glacier to be seen.  However the spot was so dramatic in its view of the valley below that the parks branch built a paved road from the valley bottom that takes ¾ of an hour to drive to this location.  The spot is packed with tourists who can get a breath-taking view of the surrounding mountains and valley below.  You almost feel that you are on top of the world, as you look around at the panoramic view and the valley bottom.

In the next picture, if you look closely, you see Yosemite Valley (the actual little village where we were camped)

Two of the waterfalls and the village are also visible in the next picture:

I was starting to get a bit bagged, and with the heat of the day I had used up my litre of water.  The first thing I did was to go to the beautiful log and granite building that housed the restaurant so that I could get a coke—but guess what—in my wisdom I decided not take my wallet on the hike!!  What a disappointment!!  However, I was able to drink from the water fountain, and also able to fill up my bottle for the finally 6 km hike that took me straight down the hill to the valley bottom.

It was almost 3:00 pm when I left this gorgeous setting and headed down to the valley.  2 hours later, I was on the valley floor and catching one of the shuttle buses back to the campsite.  It was a long 21 km, but truly worth it—as I took over 75 pictures on my journey!  Each picture has a unique “awe” of its own as you get set to squeeze the shutter button on you camera.

This is El Capitan in the background