Lake Vernon

The snow is melting, the weather is warming, the trails are becoming easy to traverse and I am a happy little backpacker!

Lake Vernon… what a spectacular place. It’s located north of the Hetch Hetchy Resovoir. You cross the dam and do two or so miles of switch backs to the top and you hike gradually uphill for about 7.6 miles till you reach the glacial lake. It is surrounded by the granite domes rounded perfectly and beautifully by glaciers. You fall asleep listening to the waterfalls crash down their smooth sides (at least this time of year you do).

It was a rainy day when we went but to be out on the trail again after a stressful week of work was amazing. As the season become more busy the more necessary it become to get out and do these treks. It’s the way we recalibrate and prepare for another week. It reminds us of the reason why we are here.

 

It was really foggy both the days we were hiking but it just made everything so much more mystical and amazing. I was waiting for the Ents to emerge from the fog and confront us grumpily.

 

We didn’t stay there nearly as long as we should have. It was too cold and wet to really stay long. But I will be going back when it warms up.

On the way there and back we counted Newts. They are just coming out now that it is warming up. I think we got to around 35 but they are mostly just around Hetch Hetchy, which was looking absolutely magnificent when we were there.

 

So that was my most recent adventure in Yosemite. I loved it. Lake Vernon is definitely a new favorite place of mine and I can’t wait to go back and explore it some more.

The universe still loves us!

The search for fun backpacking spots continues!

Last week Tessa and I sallied forth on our days off. We packed for the cold thinking that Glacier Point Road would be open so we could hike out to Ostrander Lake. First, being the responsible adults that we are, we asked at the entrance station whether or not the road was closed and they had no idea. Next, we drove an hour to the road and SURPRISE it was closed. We decided to continue on another hour to the south entrance of the park to try and hike out to Grouse Lake, past Chilnualna Falls.

Hiking up to Chilnualna Falls was incredible. An awesome, if somewhat arduous hike. Great views. And the waterfall at the end was amazing. See below:

The trail to Grouse Lake continues on past Chilnualna Falls so we carried on. Successfully crossing one creek, soaking my shoes, and then hiking to the top of a big hill we came across a raging river, much like the one we encountered on our adventure to Kibbie Lake. After staring across to where the trail continued on buried in snow a foot deep we felt deflated and totally upset by the idea of going back down the mountain to the car, defeated yet again. Our elation at the prospect of actually being able to get to a real campsite deep in the woods completely gone we started the 4.5 mile hike back down to the car.

We tried to keep each others spirits bright but by the time we got to the car we had conceded to buy ice cream and cheetos. We did, however, stop by Mariposa Grove to see the Giant Sequoias. First, we (and by we I mean I) finished off a pint of Ben and Jerry’s. Then we got out of the car and were greeted by some guy puking in the parking lot. Probably car sick. The hike through the grove was lovely. The screaming children and lazy adults dragging themselves around the paved trails took away from the experience a little but in the end the peace the emanates from those glorious trees prevailed.

After that we drove the hour.5 back to the valley and decided to stay the night at Camp 4 where the rock climbers like to stay when they’re practicing for the ascent up El Capitan. Watching the valley as the sun sets is stunning. The granite walls become ominous as darkness settles in. It’s hard to feel much bigger than ant and to not think about the existence of a God once or twice as the walls and peaks slowly disappear in darkness.

The next morning we packed up and had a disgusting breakfast at the Yosemite Lodge cafeteria. I’ve never been unhappy with a breakfast burrito. I was unhappy with that breakfast burrito.

There is a secret trail in Yosemite Valley that not many people know about and I don’t feel like making that secret known. It’s called the Stage Coach Road and it’s where highway 120 used to come into the valley. It is now overgrown and destroyed by rock slides. But it does have a historical marker and that’s how you find it. We walked up old 120 until it opened up and revealed incredible views of the valley and Bridalveil falls. It was a peaceful walk since no one really knows about there is no one to disturb you.

A couple miles up I remembered that the wildflowers should be coming out about that time. We had the whole day to kill so why not drive another hour in a completely different direction. Hites Cove was our new destination. To get there you drive out of the valley on 140 past El Portal, exit the park, pass Indian Flat about 5 minutes. You look for the sign on the right side of the road that says “Savage Trading Post” and park there. When we got there there were tons of cars already parked along the road. The trail is exquisite, even without the wildflowers. Add in the wildflowers and you have yourself an incredible 9 mile round-trip hike.

I forgot that water is usually a good thing to have when you’re hiking and I didn’t realize until too late that my water bottle was only partially full and I was completely dehydrated by the time I was done ecstatically running down the trail through the flowers. I also forgot that I was blessed with skin as white as snow and that the sun could fry me to a crisp, which it did. Needless to say the last four miles of the hike I was struggling to stay alive (definitely feeling the weight of a whole pint of ben and jerry’s in my belly) while I watched Tessa scamper like a gazelle miles ahead of me. I hate when people are ahead of me.

Anyways, the moral of this story is: even though glacier point road was closed and we couldn’t get to our original destination we saw a ton of other fantastic sights and were able to catch the wildflowers in bloom which we might have missed otherwise. Plus we racked up a good 23 miles or so of walking in two days. I say that is pretty damn good.

THe end.

Almost made it!

A nomadic lifestyle is difficult. It becomes an addiction that effects every aspect of my life from my relationships to my physical and mental well being. I long for a stable place, a home, and at the same time I find myself unsatisfied by staying in one place. I become unhappy in even the place I call my paradise. Not unhappy because I don’t have friends or because this place no longer interests me. There is no reason for my unhappiness, at least none that I can conjure. But every 4 months or so I feel the need to go. Go where? I don’t know. I just want to get in my car and turn a corner I’ve never turned before, my meager belongings stored in my trunk and my mind set on a new destination. I am beguiled by adventure, charmed by the bend in every road. I want to know what is around every corner. I want to walk to the end of every road, path, and dream. I have my reservations of course. I am shy and sometimes frightened by the prospect of riding buses in the city. But when I know something is out there for me to discover I find it in my own time.

I have spent many hours in airports, cars, buses, trains, walking. I’ve gone separate ways from my friends in order to go down the less traveled path. By doing this I have discovered and learned so many unique things I would have never known existed without taking so many chances and trusting in some pretty sketchy people. I have tried and tried again to share with the world my discoveries but have found myself talking to glazed eyes and uninspired imaginations. What I’ve learned is I’m not a story teller. So, I’m trying to be a better writer. Yes, there is a difference.

Yesterday my friend Tessa and I tried to go to Kibbie Lake. It’s only about a 7 mile hike one way to this gorgeous lake. We were real excited about it. So we started the day early and drove the hour or so down the crazy windy roads through the Poopenaut Valley to Cherry Lake.

Cherry Lake

The hiking is of course beautiful the entire way. It’s just a gorgeous area right on the border of the Stanislaus National Forest and Yosemite.

 

Newt!

And then we reached Kibbie “Creek” and decided we might be in over our heads, so to speak. The river was a bit high to cross and even though we made a valiant effort to cross it, it was just too damn deep.

 

So we had to hike back out, popping over to see Lake Eleanor.

 

Then we went back to Cherry Lake and Tessa went fishing and caught nothing because her fishing pole doesn’t work.

 

And I made dinner.

 

Then we went home and made cookies. It was a good day all in all. The hiking was beautiful and making cookies is always wonderful. I do love living here.

Working and living.

Working at a seasonal job is wonderful because you get all sorts of vacation time. Granted I don’t get paid for 6 weeks but it’s still a blessed time to recuperate and remember why I love the place I work. I wasn’t in as rough shape as some of my co-workers since I only started in October and our break started at the end of December.

Living outside of Yosemite is like a dream come true. I’m in the woods… like deep in the woods. Any sort of community outside of the lodge is an hour away. Nobody knows where I live except some employees but not even new people would know how to get to “Rush Creek.” I don’t hear cars at night. I can see the most brilliant stars. I step outside and can walk for miles and miles without seeing a single soul in any direction. I’m about 45 minutes away from some of the most gorgeous sights in the world, i.e. El Capitan, Half Dome, Glacier Point, Yosemite Valley, Bridalveil and Yosemite Falls.

It’s not your conventional apartment. I have to tote water from the lodge since the water here definitely kills gardens. I live in a cabin of a motel that has long since been abandoned. I can’t always drive up the hill to my house when it snows. But it’s warm, I have running water, I live in the woods and I love this place. Unfortunately, they will start tearing it down come September to turn this land into another lodge. I will no longer work here if I cannot live in this apartment. This is my haven!

This is why we can’t drink the water.

Working in the tourism industry is not a dream but it’s definitely well worth it to be able to stay here. And since the lodge is so far out in the middle of nowhere everyone that works there becomes a mis-match, weird, dysfunctional family. I love them and we all take care of each other, tease each other, hate each other sometimes, but always sit down and eat lunch and dinner together made by our fantastic cooks.

During meals sarcasm flows out of every well fed mouth. Sometimes uncontrolled and embarrassing, sometimes eloquent and hilarious. We tell stories about our day and our interactions with guests. We yell across tables to get other peoples attention if they are not near us. Most of the time we praise the delicious food in front of us because we are all obsessed with food. Then we go back to work or go home or go smoke a bowl in the woods.

There are some pretty great conversations that go on any given day at the lodge. Most of them I cannot repeat due to the sensitivity of the subject, the level of profane language or gestures, etc. But here is one I particularly enjoy:

Conversation between waiter and porter/housekeeper in low tones at the bar:

Waiter: Hey did you leave me the stuff?

Housekeeper: Yeah I left it where I always do, in a plastic bag under that tree (or something like that).

Waiter: Seriously? Shit… someone might have picked it up already.

Housekeeper: Shit… really? Well I can get more for you if you can’t find it.

Waiter: Well I will go look for it again.

Waiter leaves and I turn to housekeeper:

Me: What the hell was that!?

Housekeeper: Yeah, sometimes I leave him toilet paper to take back to his house.

Hahah… still cracks me up.

I realized today that I still have so much to learn about the lodge. Today a guest asked me if the restaurant was open at that moment and I had no idea. Then they asked me how much a small cabin costs and I told them to ask the front desk. Then they asked me if I actually worked there. I felt like an idiot. I fill my mind with other information! Like how in mid-February Horsetail Falls looks like it’s on fire during the sunset. No, I’m probably pretty terrible at my job and no one is telling me because they feel badly about it. People have a tendency to do that to me because I look so pathetic. I don’t try… my face does what it wants.

We have a pretty diverse group of people working here. I never would have guessed some my co-workers life stories. Not everyone can survive here. We’ve had people come for a week and freak out and leave. Or not stop in for their interview freak out and leave. It’s absolutely incredible where people come from and how they find themselves here of all places. Some people have no family to speak of while others would be homeless and living on the street without their job here.

But I love them all and I’m glad I’m here. Working at the Green. If you don’t like it you can go somewhere else.

View from my back window

Sacramento Airport and stuff…

I’m going to write a blog post now.

I had to sleep in the airport overnight which never turns out well. So now I feel like pulling these words out of my brain and stringing them into coherent sentences is an accomplishment all its own. Unfortunately for me, the blogosphere is a little more complex than that and I have to be witty or hilarious or something. So good luck me!

I flew in yesterday from Hawaii and arrived in Sacramento around 10:30pm. The flight went well. I had the same flight attendant that I had on the way to Hawaii, which was fun. When he smiles or talks to you, you feel like the sun is shining directly out of his face and you’re soaking up all the vitamin D. I made sure to compliment him on his microwaving abilities. My chicken was warmed to perfection.

We had an inflight movie called ‘The Mavericks’ which was about Jay Moriarity (awesome last name, I know) and how he became an amazing surfer. I might have teared up towards the end while feeling suddenly inspired to conquer the world. Does anyone else get overly emotional or zealous on planes? I think it’s the feeling of a near death experience every time we hit some turbulence that makes me feel the need to make some awesome plan for my life if I survive the flight. Five hours later we landed in Sacramento and immediately people started to complain about how cold it was. The 45 degree air was just to chilly for these sunburnt tourists. Inwardly I rejoiced.

At the baggage claim everyone swarmed on one end where the luggage comes out, craning their red necks to see which black suitcase is theirs. I meandered over to the other side to wait, and luckily my pack was easy enough to spot. Orange, dirty, large, not a suitcase. It wasn’t until I hoisted it up onto my shoulders did I realize that it so perfectly dug into my sunburn causing searing pain and certain death. That was lovely.

Once I had my pack it was time to claim my lair. Airports are horrible places to sleep, but I must say that Sacramento is by far the easiest place to lounge in relative comfort. They have cushioned benches in a quiet area that do not, I repeat, do not have arm rests! I thought it was a rule for airports to have a ridiculous amount of armrests on all of their sitting devices in order to keep everyone perfectly separated and uncomfortable. For some reason there were a lot of people in this area waiting for their people come in so I had to mill about and sit and wait until slowly, one by one, everyone left.

Silence is a beautiful thing. I had about five seconds of it before they started cleaning and polishing the floors. The guy had ones of those ones you can ride around on and it goes pretty fast. For some reason my corner needed to be gone over about ten times before it was perfect in this guys eyes. I may not have had my eyeballs in (by that I mean my glasses or contacts, I am blind) but I could have sworn I saw him laughing at me, knowing he was inflicting some kind of torture.

Finally he went away. And I slept with my hand protectively draped over my backpack. For an hour. At which point I woke up again to the lights brightening and people walking around like this was a normal time to be awake. I can tell you, 4am is not a normal time to be awake. The next few hours after that are kind of a blur of groggy, pointless movements.

I went in search of sustenance, again hoisting my pack on my sunburnt shoulders, more carefully this time, with my smaller back pack on backwards like a pregnant belly. I had a “breakfast burrito” at the restaurant that wasn’t the bar (although I was tempted to use the “jet lag” excuse). I barely gagged that slimy mess down. Then I sat and tried my best to ignore the guy with the sunglasses that was faced directly toward me. Not in the mood for socializing this morning. But to my horror he was. He awkwardly ambled over and stood next to me for a good 3 seconds before I realized someone was there… staring at me and startled the crap out of me. He had to be in his 40s with piercing blue eyes and a teddy bear sort of build. He asked the usual creepy questions; are you traveling alone? Is that your pack? Do you do a lot of hiking? Did you ever hike the PCT? Are those hiking boots? Okay the last few are not that creepy. Then as quickly as he appeared he darted away as if he just realized he was late for his flight.

I bought glasses online. I don’t know why. They were cheap.

My friend is not going to be here till 9pm. I’ve been listening to random podcasts, stalking people on facebook, writing unnecessary emails, people watching. Lugging everything to bathroom every time I have to pee. And now I am writing a blog post. But I still have 5 more hours to go. My butt print is permanently and perfectly molded into this seat cushion. Airport employees are starting to give me weird looks. My eyes are probably blood shot from all this dry air that keeps blowing into them. And I cannot stop day dreaming about getting back into the woods and mountains. Back to real silence, away from all these people.

5 more hours and counting. Surviving with my sanity is proving to be difficult.

I have to pee.

Hiking around Yosemite

Working at the Recreation Desk at Evergreen Lodge means I should really know about the hikes in Yosemite. This means that I should really do the hikes that are in Yosemite so that I know what people should expect. This means my job is awesome.

The other week on my days off I went with my new dear friend, Tessa, and hiked North Dome. It is one of the most popular hikes in  Yosemite because it is fairly easy and only about 8.8 miles round trip. The view at the end is hugely rewarding and gorgeous.

Not quite North Dome.

Clouds Rest and Half Dome.

It’s a beautiful place.

After that we decided to continue on to Mammoth because we did not feel like going back to the Green. So we rented a hotel room and drank wine and watched TV and drank took baths. It was a good weekend. I needed it.

Now back at the Green, working and spending my days off hiking and trying to figure out my next step. January is going to come quickly and I need to figure my shit out.

Massage Therapy? We shall see.

Living at the Green

I am still alive!

I’ve driven from one side of this continent to the other in a matter of weeks (way too fast for me) and I am now working at Evergreen Lodge which is right outside the gates to Yosemite National Park.

I love it.

The past two weeks of work have been very fun. I was welcomed with open arms to this family of co-workers and friends and have already forged some great friendships with some amazing people. I took the traditional rumpies shot (a peppermint liquor) my first night with my new family. It was disgusting but well worth it.

I work in the Recreation Department with some great people and have learned a lot about Yosemite so that I can give our guests good information about what to look for and where to go. I greatly enjoy the interactions that I have had with guests. I think so far playing bingo at night with all the guests has been the most entertaining. People really get into it and I like to rile them all up.

I’ve done a couple really awesome hikes in Yosemite so far. The first one was an overnight hike that I did with some of the girls I met at Evergreen Lodge and my good friend Andrea. The hike we did was to Vogelsang. It was seriously amazing. Only a 7 mile hike in at around 10,000 ft. It snowed on us… heavy fluffy beautiful snow. I felt like I was back in Michigan and it was wonderful. Despite my lack of gear and the fact that my feet were soaked it was a wonderful hike. It even cleared up toward the end of the 7miles and the sun came out and the skies were a beautiful blue. It was really gorgeous.

We camped that night under some gorgeous peaks next to Fletcher Lake. It snowed overnight about 3 inches and I woke up to frozen shoes and numb feet but I was happy to be in that fresh mountain air! We hiked 12 miles out and the snow cleared the lower we went. It was gorgeous. Apparently the night we stayed over under the mountains Tioga Road (the road through the Sierra highlands) had closed. But by the time we came back it was open again. Apparently everyone at the lodge was worried about us. Here are some pictures from Vogelsang.

The Californians had never licked a snowy rock before… I told them they had to do it because that is what we do back in Michigan… hehe.

I’m the hobo on the right without any gear…

The peaks we camped under.

I also did a hike called Clouds Rest which probably one of the best in Yosemite. It’s about 15 miles round trip with about 3,200 ft elevation change. It was incredible. Almost surreal. I did the hike with one of our guides and some guests. I didn’t know if I was going to be able to do it because I don’t think I have ever done 15 miles in one go and definitely haven’t done anything with that much elevation change (maybe machu picchu but I don’t know for sure). But I did it and it was not as hard as I thought it would be. Plus it was incredible. Take a looksy.

Bryant telling us about the flora and fauna

A dizzying view into the canyon.

ABOVE half dome!

Tenaya Lake

Anywho… I don’t like being on the computer anymore. Or the phone. So I’m done writing for today. Love to all. Come visit me at Evergreen Lodge and we can make some s’mores and play Bingo.