AirstreamTour: A Week in the Outdoors

We’re back in Fairfield resting and recuperating after a week in the outdoors. A little over a week ago we picked up our son-in-law, Ryan, who flew in from Pennsylvania to escape the rigors of planning/hosting baby showers (for Jess and Pete) and enjoy a week of hiking with… “The Old Man”.

We camped the first two nights close to San Jose at the Thousand Trails RV Park in Mountain Hill, CA. The park had one thing in its favor, location: it was reasonably close to the planned hikes. The office had assured us that it was full hook-up, but apparently their interpretation of “full hook-up” is not the same as ours. The park was dusty, expensive, and the hook-up didn’t include sewer. But for two nights we said ok, and stayed – the location was handy!

During six days together, Heinz and Ryan made it to 5 trails and covered a total of about 35-40 miles - while I tagged along on 2 trails, and a bit of a third, for a total of way less than the ambitious ones.

On day 1, Heinz and Ryan tackled Berry Creek Falls Trail in Big Basin State Park – a 10.2-mile hike with a degree of difficulty of “difficult”. I hitched a ride and did my own thing at the park – a two-mile stroll through the woods, stopping and taking photos at my leisure. I followed that with a strenuous afternoon of moving my lawn chair from shady spot to shady spot, as I munched on lunch and read a book, ending with a nice nap as I waited for “the boys” to come back.

Beginning of Berry Creek Falls Trail in Big Basin State Park.

The "alligator tree" in Big Basin.

Ryan and Heinz at the first of the two waterfalls of the Berry Creek Falls Trail.

The second of the two falls.

On day two, Heinz and Ryan took the motorcycle up to Mount Diablo to hike the Grand Loop – a 6.2 mile hike around the mountain with a degree of difficulty of “moderate”. I headed into San Jose and did my hiking at the Farmer’s Market with a degree of difficulty of “non-existent”, unless you count the weights from the shopping bags. Turns out the moderate part of the Mt Diablo hike was the bike ride to the top, followed by lots of uphill and downhill hiking – Heinz came home exhausted. I on the other hand came home fully rested, and loaded with all sorts of goodies including cherries and Cara Cara oranges. That haul made me the hero of the day, and everything was gone in short order.

Two of Ryan's sweeping panorama shots from the top of Mount Diablo.

The guys came home from Mt Diablo after 4PM, and we packed up and drove east to Yosemite National Park. We didn’t proof the route the GPS gave us before we left, and as a result drove a bunch more miles (and a touch more hours) than we intended. I’m sure the other campers didn’t appreciate us pulling in (and making all sorts of racket getting set up) around midnight – but nobody complained! Indian Flat RV Park is a great little park just outside the El Portal entrance to Yosemite – it was home for the next few days.

For those that have never been to Yosemite National Park, it was established in 1864 and encompasses nearly 1,200 square miles of central California. It is best known for its waterfalls, but has giant sequoias, deep valleys, and vast meadows along with some of the premier rock climbing cliffs in the west, including El Capitan and Half Dome.

On our first morning Heinz and Ryan drove over to the Visitors Center to get a rundown on the trails, including what was open and what wasn’t. They came back and picked me up and off we went to hike the Mirror Lake Trail. We drove into the park, stopping at several spots along the way to “ooh and aah” at the sights, including the requisite stops to look at the river, Half Dome, El Capitan, and waterfalls.

Heinz contemplating the Merced River.

Upper Yosemite Falls from Yosemite Valley floor. May and June during peak snowmelt are considered the best months to view the falls. By August some of the falls are completely dry.

Eagle Peak Meadows

Ryan breaking out his handy-dandy water filter to fill up our bottles.
The water from the Merced River was clear, crisp, and cold.

The Mirror Lake Trail is an easy 4 mile trail, with minimal elevation changes and is smooth along almost the entire trail. To see the reflections in the lake you need to visit during the time of maximum snowmelt, early May through late June. Most visitors, however, visit it later, when the “lake” is merely a wide stretch on Tenaya Creek. You start out on a virtually level bike path that travels 0.3 miles to Tenaya Creek Bridge. The signs state that if the creek is a raging torrent descending toward you, Mirror Lake will be worth the visit, but if there is only slow water or no water at all, you will be in for disappointment when you get there.

We were in luck and the water was raging, so off we went. The hike to the lake traveled through some wonderful woodsy sections with dogwoods in bloom everywhere.

One of MANY dogwoods in bloom.

Dogwood blossoms.

Oh look, a woodland elf...or maybe just a twit!

We made it to the head of the lake in about 2 ½ hours. Of course Heinz kept reminding Ryan and me that the hike was supposed to be 2 hours roundtrip, but Ryan and I didn’t really care – we’re both pretty camera happy and couldn’t resist the urge to stop constantly to frame a shot.

Heinz swears that this was the only view he ever had of Ryan and me.

Mirror Lake

Tenaya Creek at the head of Mirror Lake.

On the way home we stopped in a meadow between Half Dome and North Dome to check out the climbers on the cliff faces. Wow, that is NOT a sport for me. Many of these climbers were on a multi-day climb, which entails sleeping while tied to the cliff.

Climbers on the face of North Dome (photographer--Ryan)

Heinz and me checking out the climbers. (photographer--Ryan)

The next day Heinz and Ryan took off to venture the Vernal Fall/Nevada Fall Loop Trail – a 6.5 miles trail, with a 4,200-foot elevation change, and a degree of difficulty of “Steep and strenuous”.

Approaching Vernal Falls from the distance - don't know what the big deal is!

Approaching Vernal Falls up close - steep, strenuous, and... wet.

The reward - top of Vernal Falls.

The boys ate lunch on the river at the top of the falls, and then took the Muir Trail to loop back to the trailhead. Appears foot traffic tapered off on the stretch between Vernal Falls and Nevada Falls, and again tapered off after Nevada Falls (while taking the loop back towards the trailhead) - funny how that works!

Approaching Nevada Falls

Nevada Falls from a distance

So, while the guys were getting a workout on the hike, I, on the other hand, stayed home and slaved over a book, tossed some laundry about, took a long walk with my camera along the river, and prepped a dinner for their return - trust me, it's rough work being retired!

Merced River

Oleander along the river.

Firewheel (aka Indian Blanket) along the roadside.

Later that night the guys gave me a treat, eating heartily while praising dinner, filling me in on all their adventures of the day, AND doing the dishes!

It was like Christmas in May!

After the dishes were all put away we hopped back into the car and headed up to Sentinel Dome to watch the sunset. Sigh, there wasn’t much of a sunset as clouds were moving in, but the scenery was still quite majestic.

Half Dome across the Yosemite Valley from Sentinel Dome.

On Monday we slept in a bit, then it was off to hike the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias Trail. The sequoias of Yosemite are not the oldest trees in existence, but some still exceed 3,000 years in age - the oldest tree ever is a bristlecone pine thought to be over 4,600 years in age. They are also not the tallest around - the tallest sequoia is around 290 feet, while the coastal redwoods top out at around 310 feet. As wimpy as they might be among their tree friends – they were still pretty spectacular to us.

Beginning of the Mariposa Grove Trail with majestic sequoias.

The Grizzly Giant, one of the largest trees in the Mariposa Grove, estimated to be 1,800 years old. The limb on the right side is almost seven feet in diameter.

There are few young sequoias in Yosemite. To germinate, sequoia seeds need three things: some direct sunlight, adequate moisture, and bare mineral soil. Unfortunately fire suppression efforts to protect the mature trees over the years caused more shade tolerant trees to spread, reducing sunlight, competing for moisture and blanketing the bare mineral soil with needles and debris. It became impossible for sequoia seedlings to get started. In addition, the heat from fires dries some of the mature trees’ green cones, causing a shower of fresh seeds to fall. Fire suppression interrupts this process. The National Park Service now runs a program of “prescribed burns” during spring and fall in order to decrease the abnormal fuel supply that has built up over years and years of fire suppression. The plan is to discontinue these burns eventually and allow the forest to resume its cycle of lightning-caused fires every seven to twenty years.

Young sequoia coming up in the shadow of a fallen tree.

Heinz practicing his Opa “baby holding” skills with a "tiny" sequoia cone.

Heinz and I along the trail. Photo courtesy of Ryan.

Many of the older trees show evidence of previous fires, which have damaged, but not vanquished them. The trees are very resistant to fire, disease, insects, and decay allowing them to live for centuries. The trees have very shallow root systems, usually 6 feet or less deep, spreading up to 150 feet from the base of the tree. This gives them a stable base to balance the massive trunk and enhances their ability to capture water in the dry environment.

The Clothespin Tree has a natural tunnel caused by numerous fires with an opening wider than a car.

Along the way we came across the small Mariposa Grove Museum. The cabin occupies the site where Galen Clark built a log cabin in 1864. Inside are exhibits on the ecology and history of giant sequoias.

Mariposa Grove Museum, replica of 1864 cabin.

Looking up into the trees. Photo courtesy of Ryan.

There were plenty of plants to take photos of besides the trees and Ryan and I took full advantage of the opportunity.

Snow plant, sub-species of the heath family, a parasitic plant that gets its nutrients from fungi that attach to the roots of trees. It is unable to photosynthesize nutrients, but instead obtains mineral nutrients, water, and sugars from the tree via the fungi while in turn providing fixed carbons to the fungi.

By mid-afternoon it was drizzling off and on and the water droplets were making for some wonderful photo ops. Heinz, on the other hand, was feeling like he was herding cats...

Water “pearls” made for some fun competition between Ryan and me to see who could pull off the best shot. (This is one of mine.)

Yes, children, it’s another plant, tree, flower, bird, squirrel, fill in the blank...

Heinz, our guru of the map, figuring out the best route back to the car. It was beginning to turn cold and the drizzle wasn’t stopping.

But then, that drizzle turned to sleet, followed by the sleet turning to small hail and we were still almost 3 miles from the car and the temperature was continuing to drop. So off we went at a brisker pace to get to the dry, warm car. Of course, that didn’t mean that Ryan and I totally put away the cameras.

Hail on the path. Forget those brief little 5-minute hailstorms you usually see. This one lasted the entire 3 miles back to the car, luckily it stayed small in size.

All those pretty water drops were turning to ice.

Hail piling up around a tree base. If you blow this photo up, you’ll be able to see the streaks of falling hail across the tree trunk.

After piling back into the car we decided to take our chances on another sunset and headed up to Glacier Point. Along the way we saw a bit of new-fallen snow, but kept on going.

Cold & wet, but determined to see the sunset, if there is one!

Along the drive up, we spotted a wolf on the side of the road. He had the look of someone who stakes out that area regularly to beg for snacks from passersby. He posed nicely for us, but seemed a little miffed when no goodies were forthcoming.

Posing on the side of the road. Check out the snow on his back and head.

Photo courtesy of Ryan.

We made it up to Glacier Point in time for the clouds to roll in - the temperature continued to drop. It was 34 degrees when we got to the lookout point. In addition, it was still drizzly, but turning to sleet and snow. But the few good shots I got were worth the chill and the wet clothes and hair.

Snow moving in through the trees.

Half Dome with the sun struggling to get through.

3 minutes later, I had my camera in just the right position for a great shot.

A minute later and the light was gone.

Driving home from Glacier Point was a bit tricky for Heinz. By the time we left and headed down the mountain, the snow had arrived in earnest and the road was slick and the visibility next to nothing. Of course, Heinz milking the last bit of tread out of the tires didn’t help our traction one bit!

Sure was glad Heinz was doing the driving through the dark and snowy night...and not me!

Photo courtesy of Ryan.

The next day we packed up and headed back to Travis AFB and left our outdoors adventures behind. There simply is no way to relate the beauty and grandeur of Yosemite N.P. - no amount of words and pictures would do it justice. It is simply one of those places you have to put on your "bucket list"! We spent Ryan’s last day in San Francisco and Berkeley, but I’ll wait until my next entry to share those tales.

Here are our friends of the day, all from along our hikes: