Camp Hosts Go On Vacation

When these camp hosts go on vacation, they go camping.

Obvious destination: Yosemite

A little over 5 months ago when we thought we'd be leaving Samuel P Taylor State Park at the end of January we were planning to travel again beginning in February so we made reservations to visit Yosemite National Park March 22-29. When those reservations weren't canceled due to COVID we thought we might have to cancel them because of our new commitment to stay here in the redwoods through the end of April, but when we told our supervising ranger about our reservation he encouraged us to take a week's "vacation," and that's just what we did! Admittedly planning for Yosemite the last week in March is pretty chancy with the weather, and we were prepared to bail if snow was predicted for our travel day, but on Monday, March 22, the weather forecast promised little or no precipitation for the entire week and we headed across the valley to spend a full week in a beloved place.The last time we were there was in November 2015 when our daughter Sheila and family had come to California to celebrate my 65th birthday. We only spent about 24 hours in the valley because snow was on the way. It was amazing how much we experienced in that brief visit, but it also made me want to go back for a longer stay - took us awhile to get there, but we made it!

Our picnic spot on the way in a park in Livermore

The entrance sign to Yosemite National Park on Hwy 120

This was certainly a beautiful sign, but I kind of miss the old rustic, wooden, non colorful National Park sign. When we stopped here for the picture we had to wait for a family of four to take their pictures. It was pretty entertaining - like watching and waiting for the picture taking after a wedding. They had every imaginable grouping of their family, including some pictures taken with a selfie stick. We just took this one picture and a selfie of us in front of the sign.

Our first glimpse of the iconic Half Dome from our entrance on 120.

Once we were in the Valley we had to wait about 15 minutes for road construction so I got out to take some pictures and walk a bit along the Merced River.

A rock, reflected in the Merced River near where we stopped

The snow dusted valley wall across the Merced River from where we stopped.

It took us most of the day to drive from Marin County to our campsite in Upper Pines Campground. We left Samuel P Taylor about 10:30 and arrived in campsite 66 around 6:00 PM. We always stop a lot along the way - this time for gas, groceries, propane, picnic lunch and road construction. Upper Pines is the only campground open in the winter, and due to COVID, it was only partially open. The description on our reservation for site 66 was, "interior loop, crowded." Normally it would have been quite crowded, but due to COVID at least every other site in the area where we camped was empty so we had lots of room.

Our resting spot for the week

Tuesday morning I got up early for my usual morning campfire. The early morning temperature was 33 degrees - not very different than lots of mornings at Samuel P Taylor this past winter. Following my cup of tea by the campfire I headed out for a solo hike through Happy Isles and up to the Vernal Fall Bridge. As I walked I was trying to remember all the previous times I had been to Yosemite. The first time was when I was 12 years old and my two younger sisters and my parents and I stayed in a tent cabin in Curry Village for a week. I have lots of fond memories of that trip including watching the old fire fall over Glacier Point from the valley floor and at the top watching it be pushed over. For me, a kid who grew up in the country, living in the the little tent "town" was a novelty with being able to walk or ride a rental bike to the little store. Of course we did some hiking as well, and one night a bear came into camp and created quite the excitement as people, including my father, tried to get pictures of the bear. My father got a bit too close and the bear swiped at him, and my father swung his camera at the bear. Fortunately no one, including the bear, got hurt.

The Merced River as seen from the bridge at Happy Isles

A plague honoring Stephen Tyng Mather near the bridge at Happy Isles

Stephen Tyng Mather was the first director of the National Park Service, and I think we have seen a tribute to him in every National Park we have visited. I am sure that the last sentence on this particular tribute is quite true: "There will never come an end to the good that he has done."

The trail to the Vernal Fall Bridge

Vernal Falls as seen from the bridge

It looks a lot shorter than I remember it, but in reality the Merced River drops 317 feet over the rock wall - it's taller than it looks in this picture. This bridge is 8/10 of a mile from the trailhead, and the trailhead was about 1/2 mile from our campsite.

A puddle of water reflecting sky, trees and rock.

The bridge by Happy Isles

Rob enjoying the sun when I got back to camp Tuesday morning.

Elsie enjoying the sun coming in the back window of LesThora

After I had breakfast we packed our lunches and headed out to explore on our bicycles. The first destination was Mirror Lake.

Mirror Lake, looking more like the meadow the signs used to tell us it was becoming

Instead of saying that Mirror Lake is an example of a lake becoming a meadow, the interpretive sign nearby now says that based on more recent understanding by hydrologists Mirror Lake is most likely a "Seasonal Lake," that waxes and wains in its lake likeness due to changes in the volume and speed of the stream's water causing "sand to be deposited in and scoured from the pool in cylcles." The brownish coloring of the sand seemed quite a contrast to the white and dark grey granite surroundings.

A view of Half Dome from Mirror Lake

We left our bicycles at Mirror Lake and hiked a mile and a half up stream to a bridge crossing Tenaya Creek, the water source of Mirror Lake - a trail I'd never hiked before, but that was quite lovely and provided different perspectives on the surrounding rock walls. After eating our lunches along the trail we headed back to the bicycles and pedaled over to Yosemite Falls and stopped by the Visitor's Center to ask questions of a ranger. Because of COVID the Visitor's Center, Museum and Ranger Programs are not available, but Rangers are available to answer questions behind the Visitor's Center. It had been a beautiful day, but as we headed back to camp we were confronted by a bitter cold wind and when we arrived at our campsite at 3:30 there was no longer any sunshine. We said it felt like our campsite at Samuel P Taylor State Park, but instead of the sun being blocked by Redwood trees, at Yosemite it was blocked by the steep granite walls.

Wednesday morning it was 29 degrees outside when I went out to build my morning campfire. The sun had risen, but would not hit our campsite until much later in the morning. Glacier Point, the wall of rock to the south in front of me, reflected the sunlight that was still blocked from us. Following my journal writing time and cup of tea by the campfire I headed out to walk around Happy Isles taking my Canon camera with me this time. Happy Isles has always seemed like a magical name to me, but most of the time in the past we have just walked by it - I wanted to explore the short trails across and by the Merced River there where islands have formed. On the way I saw a number of birds and even a coyote. The wild life in Yosemite are much less shy of humans than anywhere else I've been.

White Headed Woodpecker

We also saw a Pileated Woodpecker on the trail near Mirror Lake, but couldn't get a good picture.

Robin

Stellar Jay

Coyote stopping to scratch not far from me

Squirrel on one of the Happy Isles paths

A bridge at Happy Isles

This antenna was quite close to our campsite and we wondered what it was.

On closer inspection we learned the antenna was a means of knowing when a bear was in camp.

All the Yosemite bears have collars that will transmit their location when they come near an antenna.

The park is making a valiant effort to keep the bears wild - we did not see any bears at Yosemite this trip.

After breakfast on Wednesday Rob and I walked back to Happy Isles to explore a little more and while looking at a Rock Fall exhibit there we noticed an unmarked trail to our left so we followed it. We thought it was just a short trail leading perhaps to a view of the rock fall, but the trail kept going along the river. We felt like we'd discovered a "secret" Yosemite Trail. We never encountered another hiker and eventually passed by a huge water tank and the trail kept going, up and up along the river on the opposite side from the trail to the Vernal Falls Bridge. Eventually we could see the bridge and then when we got above it, we took a "social" trail down to meet the main trail, not being sure where the trail we'd "discovered" went. When we got to the bridge there was a map showing that the trail we'd been on was a "Stock Only Trail." We felt a little like we'd disobeyed the rules, but we hadn't seen any sign saying "Stock Only," nor any sign at all. After lunch at our campsite we headed out on a short bike ride that included a stop at the visitor center to ask a ranger about the trail. The ranger I spoke to sounded a bit scolding saying, "What about the signs that said stock only?" I assured her we'd seen no such signs - not sure she believed me. On our bike ride we also stopped by the Awahnee Hotel, checked out the dinner menu for this "five star" venue and decided we'd have dinner there on Sunday night - our 51st wedding anniversary. Last year we were fortunate to celebrate our 50th with a long planned for family trip to Disneyland in January - good thing we didn't plan it for the real day, March 28, as Disneyland was closed my then due to COVID. On the day of our 50th anniversary we had take out pizza and shared carrot cake on the side walk outside our house in Eureka with the couple who had made the cake for us. A fancy dinner seemed like the right thing to plan for this year.

Giant water tank along the "secret" trail - see Rob standing in front of it?

Looking down at a pool in the Merced River from the "discovered" trail

Deer in the valley with Half Dome behind as seen from the bike trail

More beautiful rock and clouds

And more beautiful rock and clouds

One of the many noisy Ravens we saw and heard

One time sitting in camp Rob said he felt like he was back at

Samuel P Taylor listening to the Ravens there!

A mural inside the Awahnee Hotel.

Thursday morning I decided that instead of having my tea and journal writing by the campfire that I would head over to the Awahnee to sit in one of the many comfortable chairs in the lobby. I took my tea in a thermal cup and it stayed hot, even after my half hour walk to get there. Sitting in the lobby is as close as I'll ever get to staying in this lodge, but it was fun to listen to the sounds of the hotel awakening and enjoy the comfort of this grand old hotel.

Can you see the Bobcat? (Right and above center)

It's not a very good picture, but I wanted to remember the sighting of this critter, pointed out to me by someone else coming toward me on the trail between the Awahnee and the Village Store.

After getting back to camp, Rob and I packed lunches to head out for a long bike ride. We wanted to go as far west as possible on the south side of the valley. The actual bike trail pretty much ended after we passed the chapel, and the trail we took had not had any spring cleaning yet - lots of branches and even trees we had to lift the bikes over. For about two miles we did more walking and climbing over debris than riding, but eventually got to where the trail crossed the valley to the meadow below El Capitan. All together we walked and rode about 11 miles. It was another beautiful day in the park. Night time lows were at freezing or a little below, but each day warmed to at least the mid 50s with plenty of sunshine. We did get a few sprinkles of rain just as we returned to camp on Thursday and some short rain showers in the night.

Another couple asked us to take their picture in front of the chapel and so we asked them to take ours.

Yosemite Falls as seen from the Chapel across the valley

A pair of Common Mergander ducks in the Merced River.

Half Dome partially covered by the clouds that brought a little rain Thursday afternoon and evening.

An interesting looking cleavage at the base of a tree

Friday, about noon, our son Shawn and his family arrived to spend a couple of nights camping with us. Our pace slowed somewhat with our 7 and 5 year old granddaughters, but we still had lots of adventures. I rode my bicycle around the campground loop with them before we all ate lunch and then headed out for a hike.

Sophia next to the tiny snowman she and Naomi built.

Naomi preparing to "fly" off a rock to Shawn

We started off toward Happy Isles. Shawn was interested in seeing the interpretive signs about the big rock fall in 1996 and I wanted to see if there were signs we'd missed for the "Stock Only" Trail - there were not, so we followed this trail again, this time to where it met the trail not far above the bridge below Vernal Falls and the Mist Trail to the top of Vernal Falls. Along the way we passed one small group of hikers coming down, one trail maintenance person picking up trash and a trail ranger. We asked the ranger about using the trail and he said it was perfectly fine, and he agreed it was a nicer, quieter route to the bridge area.

The Stock Trail sign at the top saying "No Foot Traffic"

Sophia and Naomi climbing rocks - again!

When hiking at Samuel P Taylor with Sophia and Naomi it is slow going because they want to climb on every log and explore the inside of every Redwood tree. At Yosemite it is of course the rocks that really attract them. When we reached the base of the Mist Trail, a 3/10 mile climb to the top of Vernal Falls, we were surprised to see the winter closure gate open as signs in the park had indicated it was still closed for winter. This "short" climb is not friendly to those scared of heights, but I had made it up it twice before. The first time was when our youngest daughter Ruth was 5 years old and we were showing Yosemite to Reiko, an exchange student from Japan. When Reiko saw the trail she really wanted to go up it, but I really didn't want to and I said we couldn't because Ruth couldn't make it. Ruth of course said she wanted to go up and I said we'd go as far as we could - Ruth, and I, made it the whole way, but it is definitely a challenge with its high steps and sheer drop offs next to the steps. Shawn, Lindsey and their girls wanted to go for it - Rob definitely not, and I wasn't sure, but I ended up meeting the challenge. I don't think I was as nervous as the first time I did it, probably because I was not responsible for the girls - their parents were. Now 5 year old Naomi and her Aunt Ruth belong to a unique Dunning family "club" - those who climbed to the top of Vernal Falls on the Mist Trail at age 5 - and so far I'm the oldest at 70.

Sophia and Naomi ready to climb up one of the many flights of stairs

Looking at a rainbow in front of the falls

Looking down on Shawn and family coming up

The scariest part was the few patches of snow that forced us to the side and even off the trail in a couple of spots. Wherever there are steep drop offs there are hand rails, so it's not quite as scary as it may appear.

At the top looking down

My finger in the picture is, I think, evidence of my nervousness at the top.

This section with railing and netting is on the side of the cliff, but the railing provides good security.

Vernal Falls, a 317 foot drop

Saturday morning we headed out with lunches to hike to Mirror Lake, this time approaching it from the opposite side of Tenaya Creek than Rob and I had done previously. This relatively short hike took pretty much the whole day. Saturday and Sunday were much warmer than previous days in the week with lows now in the high 30s and the highs in the high 60s. Now in the middle of the day we were seeking shade rather than sunshine.

The whole family are rock climbers!

Sophia and Naomi on top of one of the many rocks they climbed.

Sophia and Naomi playing in Mirror Lake.

Climbing yet another rock

Shawn demonstrating technique of climbing up a crack

Three on top of a rock

Looking up at the "diving board" on the top of Half Dome

Reflection of the cliffs in Mirror Lake - the reason Mirror Lake got its name

An almost full moon on Saturday night

Daughters Erin and Ruth joined us on Sunday morning - their plan had been to get there Saturday night to camp with us, but they were having too much fun on the road trip from Colfax so they opted to get a room in Groveland and then come spend the day on Sunday. Once we were all gathered it took a while to plan our activities for the day, but eventually Shawn and family drove to a climbing area near Camp 4, not far from Yosemite Falls, Erin headed out to explore with one of our bicycles and I walked part way to the Vernal Falls Trail with Rob and Ruth. Ruth was on crutches due to a hip injury, but she was determined to get some sort of hike in. She made it to the Vernal Falls Bridge, about a 3 mile round trip. I left her and Rob and headed back to camp to get my bicycle and to find the climbers near Camp 4.

The 2021 Dunning Yosemite gathering

Spring Appearing Feast

Sophia created a "feast" from cedar bark, dirt, ice, and cedar vegetation for us all to enjoy.

Sophia climbing with "proper" gear

Naomi on a Tyrolean Traverse

Sophia on the Tyrolean Traverse

Erin, Ruth and Shawn and family had to leave Sunday evening to head back home, but they saw us off to our dinner at the Awahnee. Dinner was served starting at 5:30 and we were told that the best way to get a good table was to get their early. Due to COVID the restaurant had limited seating and the 5 star menu was served take out style - you could eat it in the dining room, or any where else. There was no table service - a different way to eat a fancy dinner, but the food and atmosphere were excellent!

"Dressed" for dinner in clean blue jeans.

The view from our table at the Awahnee

Rob delivering our meal

The Royal Arches Cascades behind the Awahnee on our walk back to camp.

We stayed up late enough to see the full moon come over the cliffs to the east, and then got a good night's sleep before preparing to leave Yosemite on Monday morning. I had my usual campfire and then headed out for a short walk up the Vernal Falls Bridge Trail, turning around at a vista point for Yosemite Falls. After packing up LesThora for the drive home we left our camp site about 10:30 and took our time getting out of the valley, stopping along the way for some last pictures before heading down 140 along the Merced River and through Mariposa. The scenery along the river was stunning, including many, many hillsides covered with California Poppies. I don't remember ever seeing the poppies blooming like that before. We stopped multiple times for me to take pictures, for a picnic lunch in a park in Mariposa, for propane at a store in the valley and for gas and supplies at Costco in Livermore. We arrived back at Samuel P Taylor State Park about 7:00 PM with wonderful memories of our week in Yosemite, but happy to be back in our beautiful redwood trees.

North Dome as viewed on the way to the Vernal Fall Trail

The Trail to Vernal Falls Bridge

Yosemite Falls from the Vernal Falls Trail

One last view of El Capitan as we headed home

Bridal Veil Falls

The trail to Bridal Veil Falls was closed due to construction so this was the best view we could get from across the river on our way out of the valley.

The Merced River along 140

Unbelievable hillsides of poppies in bloom

There were miles and miles of these beautiful poppies!

Some California Redbud along the river

Fiddleneck Flower

A patch of Fiddleneck Flowers

See the Fiddlenecks along 140?

Notice they don't grow behind the fences where the cows are.

Monday evening back at Samuel P Taylor State Park

Giant Wakerobin Trillium

Of course the first thing I checked on Tuesday morning was the Trilliums

I even found a new little white one just opening.

There are lots of Redwood violets now blooming.

What an astounding change in the weather over the past week - highs that were rarely above the 50s have been in the 70s since we've returned, and the sun has moved far enough north that in the afternoon we are moving from shady spot to shady spot instead of seeking the sun!