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.
Traveling Serendipity 