We just returned from a fabulous trip to
Yosemite National Park with our dear friends Anu and Mona. I just love road trips during the summer. And camping. The long evenings and bright sun call for all kinds of outdoor celebration. What a perfect spot we picked!
We set off on Friday afternoon, hitting only the usual patches of traffic. A couple of pit stops later, we wound our way into Stanislaus National forest before entering Yosemite national park. John Muir called Yosemite "the grandest of all special temples of Nature." It's blown me away every time. Picture this cameo appearance: Half Dome, framed squarely amidst competing towers of granite, stands blushing in the amber pink of dusk. With a wide smile and swelling hearts we promised to make it to its top the next day. Before long we chanced upon hordes of cars pulled over to the side and eager cameras trying to capture a preoccupied bear. We were more busy wondering how that lady in white capris with 6-inch leopard print sandals was planning to handle the rough terrain of the valley. Come to think of it, she was probably headed to the Ahwanee!
It was dark by the time we checked into our tent cabin at
Curry Village. Is it possible to find one near the parking, toilets, and lockers? We didn't do so badly, except maybe in the parking department. During dinner, we stared temptingly at the martinis we couldn't even smell if we ever wanted to wake up at 4am. So with that goal we hit the sacks early. Sleep might have paid us all a visit had Anu's sack, er mattress, not scared the begeezes out of it with all that racket. All night long. Anyway, that resulted in four wide-eyed but hella sleepy peeps getting on the Happy Isles trail by 6am.
Hiking Up To Half Dome
We lost Anu and Mona during the first half hour of the hike. Nagulu was at his grumpy best huffing in sheer disbelief at the 5 litres of liquid I had forced him to carry. That irritation dissipated somewhat with each new surprise along the John Muir trail and completely when every drop was gratefully sucked up along the way. Oh yeah, we ended up not taking the Mist trail, quite by mistake. John Muir trail is two miles longer but a lot easier on the knees. While we squarely missed the waterfall soak, we still got magnificent views of the gushing Vernal and Nevada falls. The hike is both long and arduous. And the reward after some four hours of dedication is a sheer mountain paved with tall rocky steps and a gain in elevation of about 1000 ft. Welcome to Quarter Dome!
Half Dome looks utterly magnificent from its base. The people scaling the rock are mere specks clinging onto those cables. If it looks daunting from anywhere else, from this point it looks like madness to even be attempting the summit. But then the saving grace to Quarter dome is that it makes you feel like things couldn't be tougher. That's where you're wrong. The cables are brutal.
Now it would be different for descendants of Spiderman. Webbed hands and feet would really come in handy here. Hauling yourself up Half Dome has become even more trying due to the crowds on the cable. I kid you not. There are people trying to go up and down, both from the inside and (gulp!) outside. That's a lot of stuntmanship and it's not very funny when you're hot and tired and dizzy. While the cables seem strong, the wooden stepping planks are missing from several spots which puts pressure on the stakes that come loose every once in a while. All this coupled with almost an hour on the cables with your foot twisted at the weirdest angles and your shoulders threatening to dislocate, makes reaching the top the biggest frosting on the cake of life. It is sweet!
Post complete collapse, short nap, and a delicious pickle parantha lunch, we soaked in the breathtaking views of the valley and surrounding snow capped sierras. Amazingly enough the half dome still sported snow in patches, enough to go snowballing. We were on top of the world!
Only the long way home still lay ahead of us. That and the descent down the cables. We're not afraid of heights, so the view was absolutely thrilling. So was clinging to the cables and praying for a better fate than the odd water bottles rolling towards their doom.
The next four hours of downhill trek were spent marvelling at how much climbing we had accomplished that morning. And dreaming about the martinis and pizzas that awaited us at Curry Village. This time we took the stunning Mist trail down to the valley. The waterfalls are the gushing life of the valley, especially when they tumble forth with so much energy. The mist from the Vernal falls soaked us to the skin and refreshed our spirits. Rainbows danced everywhere. We could just reach out and touch them. Mona later said that she had been touched by a rainbow too. It's all about those fleeting moments of magic, isn't it?
The last stretch of road between the trailhead back to Curry Village is the farthest thing from magic. Every step is hell. But taking off those hiking shoes and freeing your toes after 12 hours is heaven. Sugar and spice. We had lived yet another delicious day!
This Picnic Rocks
The party was just beginning. After a hot shower (where someone dropped a 5lb bottle of shampoo on my left foot!), we were ready for cocktails and pizza. The sole restaurant at Curry Village was rocking. We were excited to be reunited with our friends who had been on a shorter hike that day. Anu and Mona were making us so jealous with their talk of sumptuous afternoon naps. I was craving a drink by now only I didn't have an ID to prove that I was drinking age. Sugar and spice. Didn't stop me from lapping up sips from everyone else's drinks. And the pizza was divine (anything would've tasted divine right now). Later, after about an hour of Texas Hold 'Em poker, we collapsed into a heap of sleep.
Turns out we all love breakfasts. Our first couple of waking hours on Sunday morning were spent wallowing at the breakfast buffet. Promptly after which we found a huge rock to re-establish our card game. After checking out, we payed tribute to the glory of life at the
Ahwanee, bought supplies for a mini-picnic, and drove out to our chosen spot: Glacier Point. Spectacular is the word. The entire Yosemite valley bloomed in front of us on this gorgeous day. We had never seen Half Dome from this perspective. And boy were we excited to see the entire half dome hiking trail (see 3rd picture) complete with its water falls and the forests. We had truly covered a lot of ground.
We soaked in the glory of nature with drinks, munchies, and more poker until it was no longer safe to let the very drunk Mona remain perched on those rocks. Then we lost a card to the wind and Anu went chasing after it with a cliffhanger stunt. It was time to pack up. We returned home with all the mouth-watering memories pickled and preserved forever.
What's Christmas without dashing through the snow in a 'two' horse open sleigh in open sight of Lake Tahoe surrounded by the Sierras. That's the advantage of living merely four hours away from winter wonderland. We can soak in the wonders and then trade the icy winter blues for warm sunshine within hours.
Our dear friends gave us an excuse to visit them at their cabin. The storm had passed by just the day before, leaving behind mounds of powder soft play snow. The kids at the cabin were thrilled about sledding down the run dug out by the daddies. We joined them for a trip to the ice skating rink where the 2 year olds impressed us with their balance and fearlessness.
