We woke up in Yosemite to the sounds of the campground rising to make breakfast and packing up for the day’s adventures. The sites at Upper Pines Campground are packed in rather tight, so there is no escaping being a part of the community in some way. I can see why quiet hours are so sacred – and fairly well respected by all. I woke and caught up on some photo editing as Christi slept a bit later and rose a bit more slowly. After we were both up, we grabbed a bite to eat and we headed to find the “housekeeping” area so that Christi could do some laundry. The plan was to go to the visitor center while the wash was running. That plan was quickly foiled after we started the load and drove off to find the visitor center, only to find that the visitor center parking lots were all full and closed off, and it seemed every other parking spot in Yosemite was already taken. As Christi drove around looking for a spot, Colby called me and we were able to catch up on some Dockem stuff. Eventually, we ended up finding a spot to squeeze into – back at housekeeping. We decided to just wait it out here and I could do some work on my computer as Christi finished up laundry and visited the small convenience store nearby to grab some essentials. Again, this plan was foiled as I slowly came to the realization that it was impossible to get any data service in Yosemite Valley during the day. Despite having 2 or 3 bars with 4G, we found that due to the overloaded network, data wouldn’t work at all (we eventually learned that you could use it late at night or early in the morning). Luckily, phone calls still went through OK. Due to lack of internet, I couldn’t do what I had planned and ended up getting very frustrated in my attempts to get it to work. Even more frustrating was that I had also planned to apply for permits to hike Half Dome, which is an iconic hike that has very limited spots. They do give some permits farther in advance, but we were too late to apply for those by the time I realized we needed to do so. Therefore, we were stuck with trying for the daily lottery. You have to apply for these permits 2 days in advance between 3AM and 4PM, and you can only apply online. I had assumed that I would be able to get our applications in this morning, but with no internet, that became difficult. Eventually, I gave up trying on my computer and called Colby to try to apply for us from home. To my surprise, I found that the timeframes I was reading was EDT, so in our time it was actually midnight to 1PM. I had called Colby at about 12:58PM. Needless to say, we did not get our applications in and I was not a happy camper. How can you have an online application process for a hike when you don’t have any reliable way for people in your park to even get online?? At this point I was sick of the crowds, grumpy about not getting any Dockem work done, upset about not getting Half Dome applications in, and disappointed that we’d already spent more than ½ a day in Yosemite and had done almost nothing, so I was not in the most pleasant of moods and Christi was getting very annoyed with me. After stewing in the car for what seemed like forever, waiting for the laundry to finish, we finally went back to camp and headed back out to tour Yosemite on our bikes. This was a much more pleasant experience and we were finally able to stop at the visitor center, grab lunch at Degnan’s Deli, and ride around checking out the Valley. At the visitor center, we talked with a volunteer (who looked about 70 years old) about our hike options. She recommended a 14-mile hike where we would get to see almost everything in the Valley in one go, and said the hike takes her about 9 hours. We figured if she could handle it so could we, so we had our plans for the next day, which made me feel better. Continuing our ride, we did a short hike up to Lower Yosemite falls, took some photos at Swinging Bridge, and then biked on to Mirror Lake.
By the time we reached Mirror Lake, the sun was starting to set, so there were not all that many people still hanging around – which I was very happy about. Finally, a bit of escape from the crowds. I took the opportunity to take a dip in the water, which was extremely cold. Christi made it up to her knees and turned back to the shoreline.
I waded downstream a bit (Mirror Lake is actually a pooled stream) as most of it was about knee high, until reaching a large rock in the middle of the lake that looked ripe for climbing. At this point, I had to take the plunge and swim to it because the rock was surrounded by a moat of probably around 10ft deep water. I managed to climb up one side easily and found that the other side was about a 10ft drop-off; perfect for jumping off. I planned to do a gainer off the rock, but wimped out due to not so solid footing and instead just flailed my arms. Some things are just better left for Colby or Robbie, who I’m sure would have done one with ease.
After Mirror Lake we headed back to camp and met our new neighbors (a very nice Dad on a camping trip with his 2 daughters and 4 month old German Shepard). After saying hello, we slipped into our RV to change out of the wet clothes, eat some dinner and hit the sack early. We planned to wake up early to hit the trail for our long hike.
I awoke at 6AM and whipped up coffee and a full breakfast of eggs, pancakes and bacon before arousing Christi around 6:45. Before the rest of Yosemite arose, we also managed to finally get Half Dome applications in for Friday (the day we were supposed to leave Yosemite). We figured if we got them, we’ll make it work somehow (we didn’t win them). We then took the shuttle to the 4-Mile Trail trailhead. Our shuttle driver was a piece of work, singing popular songs along the way adding something about Yosemite into the lyrics, and cracking jokes while giving some Yosemite history as we passed different sites. We hit the trail around 9:15, starting the long ascent up to Glacier Point. This was a grueling 5 miles of switchbacks straight up the mountain to one of the highest points in the valley, with a unique 180-degree panorama view of the entire valley once we got to the top. There were also lots of nice viewpoints on the way up, so as tough as it was it was also rewarding.
At Glacier Point (which you can also drive to) we grabbed sandwiches and chipwhiches at the small store and took a much needed break while taking in the awesome valley in front of us.
The next leg of our trek was finally downhill for a few miles on the Panorama trail, which had lots of beautiful views of Half Dome and Ilillouhette Falls.
After then crossing directly overtop of Ilillouhette falls, the trail begins ascending again for another few miles, which at this point was torture, having now hiked something like 8 miles. We survived it, however, and eventually made it Nevada Falls, which was very cool as we crossed over on top of the falls and then hiked down the face of the mountain right next to it.
Around this point we were leaving the Panorama trail and taking the famed Mist trail back to the Valley floor and almost directly to our campground. After Nevada falls came Vernal Falls, which was even more epic than Nevada falls, as you can get right to the edge of the falls and look over into the valley below.
After checking that out, you hike directly down into that valley, completely covered by the mist of the falls for a large portion of the trek. We also happened to be hiking through at the perfect time of day so that the sun was peaking through the mountains in just the right way that it cast constant rainbows whenever looking at the falls.
After the falls the exhilaration was over, the downhill really started to wear on us. With jelly legs, we did finally stumble back to camp after what was somewhere around a total of 15 miles of hiking (my GPS said over 16 but the maps say closer to 14). Our calves would be sore for the 4 days following. For dinner, we headed out to The Loft (above Degnan’s Deli) and enjoyed a heaping plate of nachos, a burrito, and draft Half Dome beers.
The next morning, July 11, as Christi slept on through the hustle and bustle of a waking camp, I sat by the fire ring and got some Dockem work done. After our long hike, we had decided today should definitely be a relaxing day. We initially thought that we would be packing up camp and heading to Wawona campground, where we had gotten a site for our last night in Yosemite (only because we weren’t able to get our last night in Upper Pines – the Yosemite booking process is insane). This morning, however, our neighbor and his daughters decided they weren’t going to stay their last night and graciously offered us their site. So instead of a full packup and move, we just had to move 1 spot over (about 10 ft), which was way simpler. It was nice finally spending some time in our campsite during daytime hours when we could meet others around us. During this time, another neighbor came by and gave us a bottle of wine, telling us how he and his wife had taken their honeymoon to Yosemite 40 years ago. Being able to stay this final night in the Valley (Wawona is in a whole different section of Yosemite) allowed us to do the last thing Christi really wanted to do here; float down the Merced River. After settling into our new site and meeting our new neighbors who pulled into our old site only minutes after we vacated it, we biked down to the boat launch point (5 min bike ride away) with our 2 person inflatable kayak, some snacks, and a few Half Dome beers and White Claws in tow.
Our first time floating down the river to Swinging Bridge (normally takes about an hour with no paddling and no stops, but we stopped on the shores a few times) was so glorious that we decided we wanted to do it again. We didn’t even bother to deflate our kayak but instead took the approximately 1 mile hike back to the start and floated it all over again. This time around the sun was starting to set, so we were the only ones still on the water, which made for some pleasant peace and solitude. At the end, we packed up the kayak and hiked it halfway back to our bikes before catching a shuttle the rest of the way.
Back at camp, we talked a bit with the new neighbors, who were there with a group of families and all had little kids. There were about 10 kids ranging from 2-10 years old running around playing all evening. Apparently, they come every year and the kids seemed super excited about it. It did look like a blast. As we sat by the campfire that evening and ate hot dogs and macaroni and cheese, we kept hearing a chorus of “AAAALLLLBBBEEEERRRRTTTT” being screamed randomly from all directions. At first, it seemed there was a group somewhere looking for a lost Albert. Soon, however, after hearing it come from near and far and in so many different directions, it seemed perhaps there was some sort of strange communication going on between some massive group of campers that had gotten campsites all over the valley. Before hitting the sack, we stopped by the neighbors’ campfire to ask about the strange screaming, and found out from a bunch of excited kids (and the Dad) that this screaming is a tradition from an old tale of a lost kid named Elmur (I was hearing it wrong the whole time). I got a quick explanation from them, but of course had to look it up myself later. It turns out, campers have been screaming Elmur every summer since 1937, and there are several theories as to how it really started. Whatever the true origin, it is incredible that for over 80 years this random tradition has thrived and been passed through generations of Yosemite campers. Hopefully someday Christi and I will be able to bring our kids here so they can scream their own rendition of “ELLMMUUURRR”.
