"We find Muir's trail wherever we follow our own sense of wonder beyond paved borders of modern life to wander once more, even for a brief time, our into the world of raw earth, living forests, and free-flowing rivers. We stand at that trailhead wherever mountains lift our imagination to the clouds, whenever their glistening heights ask us to embrace life's essentials: whenever their wild independence inspires us to re-create ourselves, to ascend their heights - and walk the sky."
-- from Walk the Sky by John Dittli(*) and Mark A. Schlenz
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| Whoever made this trail, thank you for the hard work |
Since none of you joined me on my trek, I had to lug my pack all by myself on steep, rocky trails. C'mon, what kind of friends are you? :-) Well, it was your loss because it was a fantastic trip.
I am told that none of the climbs along the John Muir Trail are as challenging as Yosemite Point hike. Sure, I thought, none are as crowded as this one. I hiked that trail before but never with a pack. I decided to start early so I would not slow anybody on the trail down. See, what a considerate person I am? Joking aside, I just wanted to be able to keep my own, steady pace. So I left my house at 3am, which is not an unusual hour for me if I want to get to a trailhead early in the morning.
Sure enough, the Valley was asleep. I saw a couple of guys with cameras equipped with enormous lenses and that was it. Parking was not a problem - how is that for a treat? Within minutes I was at a trailhead but I was not alone.
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| Lots of water in the falls this year |
JD, quite handsome twenty something, decided to beat the crowds too, but he just has to ask about my pack and if I was planning on camping in the backcountry. I explain to him that I was in training for JMT and that is how the conversation started. He has such an interesting life story I forget to ask him to carry my pack for me. Well, he graduated from college three years ago, and decided he was not ready to settle down so he moved into... his car. He works summers and winters, and the rest of the year he explores.
I feel bad for slowing him down so several times I encourage him to go ahead but it seems he is also enjoying our chat so he stays with me. Well, a few steps ahead of me and since I want to hear what he has to say, I try to keep up. So much for my plans for a slow and steady pace. At one point he asks how much I am carrying. I tell him that about 50lb. This is where the word badass falls. How can I not like that guy.
We part at the top of the falls since I want to admire the view give my shaking legs a decent break.
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| Higher up there is still a lot of snow |
Then there are two cookie guys. JD and I pass them on the trail. They must have started earlier and were resting on the way munching on what looked like chocolate chip cookies. For some reason those cookies looked very tempting and I don't even have a sweet tooth. Only later do I remember I forgot to eat breakfast. They seem to be totally amused that anybody would do that trail just to train, and to want to do it twice is beyond their comprehension. So they join me on the last leg to Yosemite Point. At least with those two I don't feel I am slowing them down. I think the cookies are. They are a fun company though and I am having a good time.
When we make it to the top one of the guys asks me if he can take a picture of... me. What? I do not have any makeup with me, I am all sweaty, and my hair is a mess, but what the heck.
On the way down I have a different company. He is a Canadian, and she, his fiance, French. They've been exploring the States for the past few weeks so I am curious about their impressions. Their first complaint is food. Oh, don't get me started on that one. Then I learn that he is working on his phD in political science. I get to talk politics on the trail? Great! Don't get me started on that one either. And then I find out that she is of Polish descent and last year went to visit Poland for the first time. As we are heading down dodging crowds, we are having a marvelous talk. Forget the pace, I am enjoying myself way too much. I even forget that my pack does not feel very comfortable and my shoulders ache.My first day in Yosemite was dry and quite warm. The rest of the stay, as forecasters promised, was wet, cold and windy. At times the Valley looked more like a tropical rain forest minus the tropics. I loved it that way. I headed out onto less popular trails to find some solitude and to relax (yes, ajh, I do relax sometimes, and this is just how I do it).
Even though snow conditions in the high Sierras this winter are, 'epic', I am told, I hope I won't have to carry crampons because they are heavy. Our microspikes should do the trick. So I drive (since Four Mile Trail is still closed) to Glacier Point area and hop on a snowy trail there. There is plenty of snow but it is soft, not crusted like the stuff we will most likely encounter on our trek.
After a couple of hours of hopping in the snow, I am ready for some coffee. There is a shop at Glacier Point and I know they opened it last weekend. When I get there, three people inside are struggling to open the door. Finally seeing me standing there, poor soul frozen by howling winds to the bone (a little drama here), they yell for me to go through the side door. As I enter I tell them that all I really want is coffee. Well, they cannot sell me coffee because there is something wrong with the water hookup to the coffee machine and this is the only way they can get the coffee maker filled. So I ask if maybe they sell small coffee packets because I have a small camp stove so I could manage that. They don't. A lady adds that they don't even have any tea. A girl goes in the back and brings me a tea bag, one of her own. How sweet is that? I am so touched that I don't tell her I have plenty of tea. I take the bag and thank her.
Oh, and they do finally manage to open the door. Later on, already outside when there is still hardly anybody there I meet a nice family from Australia. Poor Aussies are shivering in the cold but are also not looking forward to going back in a couple of days because it's been hotter and dried than usual where they live. We talk a bit about the climate and then they rush off to their comfy RV and I rush to make my tea.
Not even a lousy weather can deter crowds from visiting this wondrous place. Sure, I would love to have Yosemite all to myself, wouldn't everybody? But I know how to find quiet places even on the Valley floor (hint: anywhere a mile or two away from food places). I enjoy solitude as much as meeting people and listening to their stories. What I do not like is cigarette smoke and cigarette butts in more popular stopping spots. I do not like plastic bottles and trash left despite plentiful trash and recycling receptacles all over the place. I do not enjoy traffic jams and I hope they will get rid of car traffic in the Valley.
Hope you found your own Muir trail last weekend, and if not, there is always next weekend, right?
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(*) John Dittli has been photographing the Sierras for decades now and has been great source of information about all aspects of hiking in the Sierras on JMT Forum. His photographs in Walk the Sky are simply breathtaking.
