Yosemite - National Park of the Week #4

Yosemite celebrated its 123rd birthday this week and is one of my favorite parks, so it was the natural choice for this week's NPOTW.

Yosemite National Park
Location: Eastern CA.  190 mi. E of San Francisco, 100 mi. N of Fresno
Area: 748,000 acres
Major Attractions: Massive granite domes, scenic glacier-carved valleys, stunning waterfalls, sequoia groves
Miles of Trail:  750+
My Favorite Parts: High Sierra Lakes, Backcountry Vistas, Granite Domes

Getting There: From Fresno: 2 hours - Drive north on CA-41
From Bay Area: 3 hours - I-580 E, I-205 E, I-5 N (short!), CA-120 E
Website: www.nps.gov/yose/

Established as the third National Park in the country, Yosemite is one of our country's most iconic parks.  Its jaw-dropping glacier-carved valleys with their incredible waterfalls and huge exposed granite faces and domes are hard to beat in terms of sheer scenic beauty.  Besides the summer traffic, my main complaint about the park used to be its lack of wildlife, however, after my last trip there I can no longer make that complaint.  The most famous views in the park are in Yosemite Valley and from Glacier Point.  I think Hetch Hetchy Valley and views of Mono Lake from the eastern edge of the park are just as spectacular.  If you hate crowds and traffic, Yosemite has an enormous backcountry/wilderness area.  With the exception of the hike to and up Half Dome, my general rule of "once you hike two miles into the wilderness the crowds disappear" holds true.  For this reason the backcountry is my favorite part of the park.  Views often look better when you have to work for them (and when there are no crowds of strangers in the way); and for that reason I find the views around Ten Lakes, Parker Pass, Cathedral Peak, and Clouds Rest to be some of the best in the park.

Yosemite is beautiful year-round, but late spring is probably the best time to visit to see the waterfalls in their full glory.  If you are looking to backpack and want to avoid crowds, high temperatures, and walking on snow, the fall is probably ideal.

My other piece on Yosemite can be found at:
http://trailsofarkansas.blogspot.com/2013/06/hetch-hetchy-yosemite-national-park.html

Near Ten Lakes

Near Ten Lakes

Dome Near Cathedral Peak, Yosemite National Park, California

View Near Medlicot Dome

Waterfall - Yosemite

Cathedral Peak

Unhappy about Backpacking on Snow

Glacier Point

Hetch Hetchy Valley

Trail to Ireland Lake, Yosemite

Ireland Lake

Looking Towards Townsley Lake and Vogelsang from ridge near Ireland Lake

California Readers: Interested in getting paid to unplug your laptop or turn off a light for an hour? $20 just for joining OhmConnect, learn more at: https://login.ohmconnect.com/ref/30315

Yosemite in the Spring

I visited Yosemite once again last weekend, but for the first time since moving back to the Bay Area. It was my first time staying in Yosemite Valley and that made a huge difference in terms of getting on the nearby trails before the crowds. We picked a perfect time to go because the waterfalls were raging and the roads were clear, but you could still get in a snowy experience if you wanted. We also went at a unique and confusing time when many landmarks had been renamed as part of a trademark lawsuit, but they weren't renamed on every sign, map, or brochure, so we had to learn two names for some things.

We did a few hikes/casual strolls in the valley and a nice snowshoe near Badger Pass and I've described them below.

I've also written about Yosemite here and here.

Mirror Lake - 
There are multiple trails that lead to Mirror Lake and they range from wide and paved to small and somewhat rocky. Two or three routes start (or pass by) The Awahnee /Majestic Yosemite Hotel and another leaves from Curry/Half Dome Village.

It is about a 2-mile round-trip walk if you just go to the lake and back. A longer, 5-mile loop takes you to the lake, around it, and back. The paved trails are great for people with kids, strollers, or wheelchairs, but be advised the paved section ends right at, or right before, the lake.

One of the paved trails to Mirror Lake with nice view of Half Dome.

Mirror Lake being true to its name.

More Mirror Lake

Examples of two different types of trails leading to Mirror Lake.

Vernal Falls and Nevada Falls -
This spectacular and strenuous hike takes you up close to two amazing waterfalls. If you just go to the top of Vernal Falls it is 2.4 miles round trip via the Mist Trail and much of the trail is paved or stone. Nevada Falls is a bit farther (5.4 round trip) and the trail beyond Vernal Falls is more natural.

Don't take the Mist Trail (which is closed in Winter) if you have trouble with sheer ledges or walking on steep, moist, stone steps. On a separate trip I learned these steps can get really icy too! Taking the longer way may not take much more time since it is more gradually sloped, typically has less traffic, and has no bottlenecks. We took the Mist Trail up and decided to avoid it on the way back down by taking the John Muir Trail.

Vernal Falls has a large open rock area that is great for resting, eating, or waiting your turn to take photos close to the waterfall.

Looking over Vernal Falls

Vernal Falls

Nevada Falls

Badger Pass Snowshoe - It has been a goal of mine to one day snowshoe or crosscountry ski on Yosemite's many miles of machine-groomed snow trails. In the winter and early spring, much of Glacier Point Road is converted to a maintained snow trail with many more miles of marked trails often packed down by human traffic. I still hope to return and maybe backpack out to the Glacier Point Ski Hut for a night or two, but we did get in a nice snowshoe.
Our route left the Badger Pass Ski Area on Old Glacier Point Road, then turned up a steep hill to take in the views of the Clark Range from the Old Badger Pass Summit. From there we went back down the hill and on to Summit Meadow where we had lunch before returning via Glacier Point Road. My favorite parts were off the maintained tracks, but the machine-groomed sections definitely take less energy to travel on.

Valley Loop (parts of it) - 
As you may have guessed already, the Valley Loop Trail loops through much of Yosemite Valley. The full loop is 13 miles, but it can easily be done in smaller sections. While exploring the Valley, we frequently found ourselves on this trail enjoying its great views of all the waterfalls and impressive rock features. If you have the energy, this trail offers a fantastic alternative to driving slowly around the valley while stuck in infuriating traffic. It is quieter, more peaceful, and provides a more personal experience of the awe-inspiring scenery that draws so many people to Yosemite.

Check out my other Yosemite posts on:
Ten Lakes, Emerald Lake, Cathedral Pass, & more
Hetch Hetchy


California Readers: Interested in getting paid to unplug your laptop or turn off a light for an hour? $20 just for joining OhmConnect, learn more at: https://login.ohmconnect.com/ref/30315

Hetch Hetchy - Yosemite National Park

In June 2013, I hiked the trail along Hetch Hetchy Lake in Yosemite for the second time.  This fairly easy hike has little altitude change and tons of great scenery, making it a nice acclimatization hike before doing a more rigorous hike or backpack higher up in the park.  Unlike my first visit to Wapama Falls, 2.7 miles from the trailhead, this trip involved lots of unexpected excitement.  I've visited a lot of national parks and Yosemite is not one of the better wildlife ones.  On top of that, busy/easy/short trails are not the best places to spot wildlife.  On this day, the animals appear to have ignored those memos.  

To start things off, we nearly stepped on a western rattlesnake that was sunning itself in the trail.  That was rudely followed minutes later by an alligator lizard (San Diego Alligator Lizard?) doing its best snake in the trail impression for already frazzled hikers.  After reaching the fantastic Wapama Falls and soaking up the mist, we began the warm, dry hike back.  Here I will add that we encountered many groups of day-hikers, so the trail was not deserted.  While walking the familiar trail back to our car, taking in the gorgeous lake and cliffs to the left and the rocky, scrubby slopes to the right, I spotted a streak of brown that turned out to be a deer running uphill away from the trail.  While the word "Deer!" was exiting my mouth, I noticed a slightly smaller black blob running right behind the deer!  I have no idea what the explanation was, but we were witnessing a bear cub chasing (or running away from a waterhole with?) a deer.  I was too in shock to take a photo, but did get a video of empty scenery with me in the background explaining what we'd just seen.  While my wife was a little spooked by the rattlesnake/bear combo, I was disappointed I'd failed to get a photo of the only bear we'd be likely to see on our visit to the park.  Luckily, a few minutes later, with me in the lead this time, we came across another cub, not far from the trail and not running.  We watched it for a bit and continued on, this time clapping, whistling, and talking loudly in hopes of not surprising any mother bears that might be nearby.  With this strategy, we made it back to the tunnel and across the dam without further incident.

O'Shaughnessy Dam

Hetch Hetchy

Alligator Lizard

Western Rattlesnake

Newt on Trail on Rainy Day.

Newt on Trail on a Rainy Day. 

   

View California Hikes in a larger map

California Readers: Interested in getting paid to unplug your laptop or turn off a light for an hour? $20 just for joining OhmConnect, learn more at: https://login.ohmconnect.com/ref/30315

Sequoia/Kings Canyon - National Park of the Week #2

Sequoia and Kings Canyon are actually two national parks, but they share a long border, a website, and are managed together.

Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Park
Location: SE California in the High Sierras.  200 mi. N of Los Angeles, 70 mi. east of Fresno
Area: 868,000 acres
Major Attractions: Most massive trees on the planet, Incredible canyons, Beautiful alpine lakes, Mt. Whitney (tallest mountain in the Lower 48), Pacific Crest Trail, John Muir Trail
Miles of Trail:  800+
My Favorite Parts: Rae Lakes, Hell For Sure Pass, Giant Sequoia Trees

Getting There: Roughly two hours east of Fresno on CA-198 or CA-180
Website: http://www.nps.gov/seki

Taking your Dog to Olympic National Park

I recently had the good fortune of returning to Olympic National Park for the fifth time.  This time I took a dog.  I knew dogs aren't allowed on the vast majority of trails in most national parks, but I didn't have much of a choice and I knew we'd still be able to see a lot from the roads.

Before I get into the specifics of what we did, let me pass on a few pieces of advice for maximizing your experience at a national park with a dog.
1.  Visit the park's website and find their pet policy page.  It is often under "Things to Know Before You Come".  This page will detail the trails, campgrounds, and other places dogs are allowed.  Policies vary and this is a good place to get specifics.  For example, dogs are allowed on the PCT in Rainier NP, on paved trails in Yosemite, and on some beaches in Olympic.  Other parks, like North Cascades, conveniently contain/border National Recreation Areas with much looser pet regulations.
2.  Ask a ranger if they have a pets brochure.
3.  Ask a ranger at a visitor center where dogs are allowed or if they have any recommendations for good hikes with dogs.  Rangers who've been around awhile might also know of great, lesser known, hikes in nearby national forests or state parks.

Olympic National Park

Updated 8/19/2015: I'm going back to Olympic later this month. You can see more photos from other trips I took there (with a dog) at this link.

Pardon the off-topic post, but I just got back from a week at Olympic National Park, where I did lots of day hikes and my third backpack trip in the park.  Most major national parks are known for one or two things; Yosemite - huge, awe-inspiring, light-colored single-slab granite mountains and towering waterfalls, Yellowstone - wildlife and geothermal features, Grand Canyon - a big canyon, Rocky Mountain - mountains, Sequoia and Redwood - huge trees, etc.  In contrast to these places, Olympic National Park is spectacular for its great diversity.  The roughly 1 million acre park contains scenic foggy beaches, temperate rainforests dripping with dozens of species of moss, and high alpine peaks home to gorgeous wildflower-packed meadows and incredible glaciers.  It also has hot springs, amazing waterfalls, and its fair share of wildlife.  The multi-colored pebble and sand beaches are lined with massive logs and some are home to tide pools full of starfish, anemones, and other interesting organisms that can be explored during low tide.

All these features are within an hour or two drive of each other and provide endless opportunities for exploration for all ages as the park has a great balance of short, paved trails and longer more primitive trails. In my opinion, July-September is the best time to visit the park unless you love cold rain and mountains of snow.  Be sure to bring bug spray!

Right now, the Forks area is in a bit of predictable Twilight madness, which can be fun or annoying based on your feelings towards the movies/books.

The map and photos below show some of my favorite places and hikes.

Hole-In-The-Wall - Rialto Beach

Hoh Rainforest

Lake Crescent

Obstruction Point

Obstruction Point

Seven Lakes Basin

Hoh Lake

Tidepool at Rialto Beach

View Olympic National in a larger map