10-29-2018, 07:32 AM
Ah, Yosemite. How I love you and how I hate you.
Actually, I don't hate Yosemite. I hate the people who visit it. On the hike to Dewey Point and Hetch Hetchey, we saw fewer than ten people total. And yet, the couple we saw at Dewey brought their dog with them, despite the clearly posted sign at the trail head that says no dogs. I'm sure the couple thought the sign couldn't possibly be applied to them because they have the best dog in the world.
My fear of moving to the area is that my contempt for people will grow and I will hate going into the park.
In case you didn't know it, Yosemite is a big place. Every day I drove at least 120 miles to get to the areas I wanted to get to. All on twisty mountain roads behind drivers who don't know how to use the turnouts when there is a line of cars behind them.
Friday was the easy day and the most walking day. We started at the Awahnee for breakfast. The Awahnee now goes by some other stupid name because the previous concesioneers, removed to give up the Yosemite trademarks when the NPS brought in a different company to run the concessions in the park. When I was at the Awahnee dining room and brought up the subject of the new name to the Maitre' d, his face just fell and he didn't say anything. But there is hope. The government and Delaware North are currently in their third trial. The Maitre'd said they were only 47 millions dollars apart in the negotiations. For those who want to know, Wawona is now the Big Tree Lodge and Camp Curry is the Half Dome Camp.
The Queen and I strolled over to the bone dry Yosemite falls. There was one small trickle of water coming down the face. We were the only ones on the bridge looking up a the black rock face where there is usually a torrent of water. Alone, except for the Russian couple who were shouting at each other as the male climbed a rock in the center of the creek bed and wanted his mate to take his picture. I was hoping for a flash flood to take care of the problem.
We then hiked over to Swinging Bridge with a quick stop in the Yosemite Lodge to look for my new current travel obsession: Benchmarks. Benchmarks are recreations of geological markers.
The Queen turned back at the Bridge. She had hike enough and the thought of reading in the lobby of the Yosemite Lodge was very inviting. I needed more walking so continued on. My destination was Sentinel Beach after I decided I didn't feel like making the eight mile loop down to El Capitan. I got on the Valley trail and looked for the offshoot trail down to the Beach. I was only about a mile passed my destination when I realized what I had thought was a trail on the map was actually Sentinel Creek. I doubled back and walked cross country to Sentinel Beach.
I head the rumble of trucks and cars driving along the loop road on the valley floor during my entire walk. Yet another annoyance. But as I walked alone the Merced River, the sounds around me started to fade as I looked at the reflection of the trees and the rock walls in the water. I got out the cameras. I attempted to capture nature's glory. And for a sublime moment I lost myself in the joy of Yosemite. Dammit.
I found a footpath along the river that avoided the path next to the road. I didn't come across any people until I got back to Swinging Bridge. My favorite moment came when I saw a guy trying to take a reflection picture in the water under the bridge and his buddy tossed a rock into the water right in front of him.
Later on I passed a hotel worker walking along listening to Staying Alive on his phone without the benefit of headphones. Yosemite gives and Yosemite takes away.
We ate lunch in the Yosemite Lodge cafeteria. The new owners have updated my old familiar eating establishment that I have been eating in since Junior School during a visit to the Yosemite Institute. You now have to order via computer instead of talking to the cook for what you want. The food seems the same, though.
The Queen and I took the path back to the Awahnee to grab our car. The entire week I have wanted to hike back up Sentinel Dome because the view from up there is awesome. Originally, I wanted to hike to North Dome to see what the view was like from up there of Half Dome, but the though of another five hour round trip drive to Toulumne Meadow after the five hour Hetch Hetchey drive killed that. But, I wanted to be atop at least one Dome this trip.
The Queen opted to stay in the car and rest and read. Ten minutes into my hike to Sentinel Dome, I was thinking she had made the wiser decision. I kept thinking that for pretty much the entire hike right up until I was once again atop Sentinel Dome. It was worth it. It was always worth it. We had the same feelings when we went to Dewey and Taft Points. Why the heck am I hiking all this way? And then you get there and look out across the Yosemite Valley and go "Oh, yeah. That's why"
We spent sunset at Glacier Point photographing Half Dome while the sun set. I opted to get closer to the end of Glacier Point while The Queen found a spot a little farther park. My area was much more crowded with photographers, photographers of all levels. From people using the flash on their cel phone camera to people remarking that what they really wanted to shoot was the Venus Belt after the sun had set. I had a couple of people think that I wouldn't see them if they stood in front of my camera.
Another group was also doing a model shoot with a terrified model. They kept asking her to get further and further down the slope and closer to the edge. I did hear her say at one point that she was afraid of heights. The photographer asked her to move a little further out. It was odd they would do this to the poor model considering what happened to the couple that fell not a day earlier.
For the drive back to Oakhurst, we followed a driver who refused to pull over for the faster cars. It started on the Glacier Point road and continued for the thirtty miles to the Wawona Lodge. At one point, I was in a line of twenty cars creeping down the mountain. A car ahead of us did get so frustrated, he did pass our timid driver.
We barely managed to get to Pop's Diner in Oakhurst for dinner before it closed. We got there ten minutes before it closed and they were kind enough to feed us.
Saturday, we drove up to Sonora to continue our house hunt. We didn't do a very good job of it. But it looks like pretty country up there. We stopped in Columbia State Park which was one of the gold mining cities in the Sierras. I had fond memories of visiting the place when we were in Indian Guides. Looking at it now, I can't for the life of me remember what those fond memories could possibly be. It might have been panning for gold. Now, it's just a place to buy souvenirs and watch the black smith turn horseshoes into knick knacks.
We ended up in Modara, North of Stockton, for the John Squire memorial service. It was quite lovely. I empathized with the sons as they talked about their Dad's life. The Queen got up and gave a speech, too.
Afterwards we drove to Merced for our hotel for the night. On several occasions during the drive south, I noted the Central Valley smelled like ass. There was a screw up with our reservation at the Hampton Suites. They had us down for Sunday night instead of Saturday. Fortunately, they had a room for us. When the key they gave us didn't work to open our room, they upgraded us to a big suite. It was wasted on two people who really just wanted to go to sleep.
The Queen and I are continuing to move ahead with our relocation plans. I think we have narrowed down the area we want to be in. I await a bit more information before we commit to the plan, but I will know more by the end of next week.
Actually, I don't hate Yosemite. I hate the people who visit it. On the hike to Dewey Point and Hetch Hetchey, we saw fewer than ten people total. And yet, the couple we saw at Dewey brought their dog with them, despite the clearly posted sign at the trail head that says no dogs. I'm sure the couple thought the sign couldn't possibly be applied to them because they have the best dog in the world.
My fear of moving to the area is that my contempt for people will grow and I will hate going into the park.
In case you didn't know it, Yosemite is a big place. Every day I drove at least 120 miles to get to the areas I wanted to get to. All on twisty mountain roads behind drivers who don't know how to use the turnouts when there is a line of cars behind them.
Friday was the easy day and the most walking day. We started at the Awahnee for breakfast. The Awahnee now goes by some other stupid name because the previous concesioneers, removed to give up the Yosemite trademarks when the NPS brought in a different company to run the concessions in the park. When I was at the Awahnee dining room and brought up the subject of the new name to the Maitre' d, his face just fell and he didn't say anything. But there is hope. The government and Delaware North are currently in their third trial. The Maitre'd said they were only 47 millions dollars apart in the negotiations. For those who want to know, Wawona is now the Big Tree Lodge and Camp Curry is the Half Dome Camp.
The Queen and I strolled over to the bone dry Yosemite falls. There was one small trickle of water coming down the face. We were the only ones on the bridge looking up a the black rock face where there is usually a torrent of water. Alone, except for the Russian couple who were shouting at each other as the male climbed a rock in the center of the creek bed and wanted his mate to take his picture. I was hoping for a flash flood to take care of the problem.
We then hiked over to Swinging Bridge with a quick stop in the Yosemite Lodge to look for my new current travel obsession: Benchmarks. Benchmarks are recreations of geological markers.
The Queen turned back at the Bridge. She had hike enough and the thought of reading in the lobby of the Yosemite Lodge was very inviting. I needed more walking so continued on. My destination was Sentinel Beach after I decided I didn't feel like making the eight mile loop down to El Capitan. I got on the Valley trail and looked for the offshoot trail down to the Beach. I was only about a mile passed my destination when I realized what I had thought was a trail on the map was actually Sentinel Creek. I doubled back and walked cross country to Sentinel Beach.
I head the rumble of trucks and cars driving along the loop road on the valley floor during my entire walk. Yet another annoyance. But as I walked alone the Merced River, the sounds around me started to fade as I looked at the reflection of the trees and the rock walls in the water. I got out the cameras. I attempted to capture nature's glory. And for a sublime moment I lost myself in the joy of Yosemite. Dammit.
I found a footpath along the river that avoided the path next to the road. I didn't come across any people until I got back to Swinging Bridge. My favorite moment came when I saw a guy trying to take a reflection picture in the water under the bridge and his buddy tossed a rock into the water right in front of him.
Later on I passed a hotel worker walking along listening to Staying Alive on his phone without the benefit of headphones. Yosemite gives and Yosemite takes away.
We ate lunch in the Yosemite Lodge cafeteria. The new owners have updated my old familiar eating establishment that I have been eating in since Junior School during a visit to the Yosemite Institute. You now have to order via computer instead of talking to the cook for what you want. The food seems the same, though.
The Queen and I took the path back to the Awahnee to grab our car. The entire week I have wanted to hike back up Sentinel Dome because the view from up there is awesome. Originally, I wanted to hike to North Dome to see what the view was like from up there of Half Dome, but the though of another five hour round trip drive to Toulumne Meadow after the five hour Hetch Hetchey drive killed that. But, I wanted to be atop at least one Dome this trip.
The Queen opted to stay in the car and rest and read. Ten minutes into my hike to Sentinel Dome, I was thinking she had made the wiser decision. I kept thinking that for pretty much the entire hike right up until I was once again atop Sentinel Dome. It was worth it. It was always worth it. We had the same feelings when we went to Dewey and Taft Points. Why the heck am I hiking all this way? And then you get there and look out across the Yosemite Valley and go "Oh, yeah. That's why"
We spent sunset at Glacier Point photographing Half Dome while the sun set. I opted to get closer to the end of Glacier Point while The Queen found a spot a little farther park. My area was much more crowded with photographers, photographers of all levels. From people using the flash on their cel phone camera to people remarking that what they really wanted to shoot was the Venus Belt after the sun had set. I had a couple of people think that I wouldn't see them if they stood in front of my camera.
Another group was also doing a model shoot with a terrified model. They kept asking her to get further and further down the slope and closer to the edge. I did hear her say at one point that she was afraid of heights. The photographer asked her to move a little further out. It was odd they would do this to the poor model considering what happened to the couple that fell not a day earlier.
For the drive back to Oakhurst, we followed a driver who refused to pull over for the faster cars. It started on the Glacier Point road and continued for the thirtty miles to the Wawona Lodge. At one point, I was in a line of twenty cars creeping down the mountain. A car ahead of us did get so frustrated, he did pass our timid driver.
We barely managed to get to Pop's Diner in Oakhurst for dinner before it closed. We got there ten minutes before it closed and they were kind enough to feed us.
Saturday, we drove up to Sonora to continue our house hunt. We didn't do a very good job of it. But it looks like pretty country up there. We stopped in Columbia State Park which was one of the gold mining cities in the Sierras. I had fond memories of visiting the place when we were in Indian Guides. Looking at it now, I can't for the life of me remember what those fond memories could possibly be. It might have been panning for gold. Now, it's just a place to buy souvenirs and watch the black smith turn horseshoes into knick knacks.
We ended up in Modara, North of Stockton, for the John Squire memorial service. It was quite lovely. I empathized with the sons as they talked about their Dad's life. The Queen got up and gave a speech, too.
Afterwards we drove to Merced for our hotel for the night. On several occasions during the drive south, I noted the Central Valley smelled like ass. There was a screw up with our reservation at the Hampton Suites. They had us down for Sunday night instead of Saturday. Fortunately, they had a room for us. When the key they gave us didn't work to open our room, they upgraded us to a big suite. It was wasted on two people who really just wanted to go to sleep.
The Queen and I are continuing to move ahead with our relocation plans. I think we have narrowed down the area we want to be in. I await a bit more information before we commit to the plan, but I will know more by the end of next week.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm