Hiking Without A Trail

On our last full day, we went on another hike, this time without a trail. We actually started on a trail, on the west side of Tenaya Lake, and had to cross the stream. You can see that there is a nice rock path through the water, but this year the trail is still underwater. But who needs a trail!




Ralph had us follow the stream instead of staying on the trail. He knew of a great place where the stream turns into a waterfall and we hoped to hike down to the pools at the bottom. We quickly appreciated the no trail part as we got see some signs of wildlife. First, a marmot. He was very curious about the pack of people hiking on the other side of the river. One of our group was very good at making kissing noises that marmots seem to enjoy.







And we found evidence of bears. The one that clawed this tree was either very tall or he liked to climb. We think the latter. There are claw marks a couple of feet above the top of the boys' hands.








And we found actual snakes! We haven't identified this one yet but we think he is a plain old garter snake. On the way in, we saw him on top of the water of a small pond. On the way back, we found him (or a twin) near a rock on the forest floor. Good lesson in animal habitats!



Today's hike was fairly easy, lots of forest and rocks but all fairly flat until the very end. And then we started to hike down. If we hadn't hiked Fairview Dome, this might have scared us a little. But by now we were feeling like pros. We knew where to walk and when to crab walk (maybe once or twice).








But lots of the down was just gradual over huge expanses of granite. The landscape was so huge that we couldn't help but feel small.






Our reward, a great water fall at the other end.
















Our surprise, a lot of people enjoying the water at the other end. Who knew! There must have been about 20 people enjoying the stream by using it as a huge waterslide. Most used mats and just flew down mountainside.








Ryan tried it once with Ralph. He said no to any further trips. Maybe next year with Dad, he told me. And better to go single rather than two at a time. The trick, not to control anything, but just let the water take you where it will. Connor and I didn't give this a try.


But Connor did enjoy swimming with Ryan at the bottom of the river. The water felt wonderful after a hot hike.


We also enjoyed exploring the huge holes left by the river. Connor thought they looked like extra large solution pockets, which is probably what they started out as. He learned a lot about time and geology.


So we all learned lots on this day. Ralph learned about a new sport at Yosemite and decided that he enjoyed it. The boys learned about risky behavior (some of the sliders were drinking beer and doing some pretty risky things). We all learned about animal habitats and some more about the geology of the area. And, as always, we learned to be flexible. We didn't expect the trail to be underwater nor did we expect to swim or waterslide at the end of the hike.

This wasn't the end of the day, but it is the end of this day's blog. To find out about our evening and the drive home, tune in later.

Day 3 of Good Camping

After two great days of hiking, we decided to take a day off. The larger group went on a very long hike that they still can't decide the distance on. We know that it went hours longer than expected and that they traversed lots of snow... it was a good trip for us to miss! Lesson - making good choices.

Instead, we went to see the South Tufas of Mono Lake.



We spent a couple of hours learning about how tufas are formed and about the wildlife of the area. Here are the boys collecting brine shrimp.



There were also lots and lots of alkali flies that never landed on you. They were amazing because they never touched us once. We watched nesting osprey and violet green swallows as well as lots of California Gulls (not seagulls). Mono Lake has risen a lot this winter and we learned why the lake could be higher still, how high the lake actually should be, and how the water has been diverted in years past. Lessons - biology, food chains, nomenclature, and environmental science.

After lunch in town (even happy campers need a restaurant meal every once in a while), we headed south to see some remnants of an old volcano. Just driving along the highway, you can see several craters from past volcanos. The sight we visited looked like a dumping ground for huge blocks of obsidian. It was actually an obisdian flow from one of the ancient volcanos. We had never seen anything like it!



I had promised the boys a visit to a hot springs after all of this educational stuff, so we drove a little further south to Hot Creek. It was highly recommended as a great place to cool off. We would have to swim through the cold creek to get to the hot springs! However, when we arrived, we were sadly disappointed. These hot springs have been closed off due to recent geologic changes. What, more science! Instead of swimming, we had a little lesson in geology.



So it was time to call it a day. We were all hot and tired as we climbed back into the van and headed back to camp. But Connor's sharp eyes spotted a fire! We just had to pull over and see. We weren't sure if it was a "real" fire or not until we pulled over and watched it grow very quickly. We knew that it had been called in because we watched fire trucks and lots of men arrive. After about 1/2 hour we also watched the helicopters come in. They look so small against the backdrop of a mountain on fire. The boys were amazed at how high the flames would go. A gentleman by the side of the road gave us a lesson in firefighting (he was a firefighter from way back) and we learned why some smoke is black and other smoke is gray. A couple of days later we learned that the fire had been put out fairly easily and had consumed only 18 acres. Needless to say, we had a lesson in firefighting!

The Joy of a Good Camping Trip, continued

When we woke to our second day of hiking, we learned that a bear had walked through camp the night before. We had heard some banging around and one of our group had yelled out in the middle of the night, "Get out of here!" The bear didn't seem to find much, but Ryan was a little concerned as he was sleeping on his own in his one-man tent. But he knew that as long as he didn't go to sleep with a bacon sandwich in his hand, the bear was highly unlikely to come and visit him.

After the success of our first day, my boys were very ready to hike. We were a larger group as more families had shown up the night before. Our goal for the day: to hike to the top of Cathedral Peak. Those of us who could make it to the saddle could decide if they wanted to grapple with ropes and belay lines and climb to the peak. This picture is from Wikipedia and shows the peak much better than any of my photos.



We began our hike from the Cathedral Lakes trail but didn't stay on it for long. We headed on a smaller, climber's trail that took us to the base of the mountain. That part of the hike was our usual style of hiking; through the woods, along a gorgeous creek, then gorge, then creek again, across rock and through woods. It was gradual uphill but our legs were a little tired from the day before. And then we started to climb.

The picture below is of Connor climbing down the slope. I was too busy trying to get up it to take any photos going in that direction! Notice the ground. We are hiking on tiny pieces of granite, some as small as gravel, some like marbles, some as large golf balls. It made for very interesting hiking going up. When we reached larger rocks, we had to choose carefully where to put our feet, as some large rocks were loose. One young man actually knocked one loose. We heard the yell, "Rock!!" and learned that you should hide behind a tree or the closest large rock and not try to look to see where the rock is. We had no problems seeing this one about twenty feet from us. It bounced down the mountain side like one of the boys' bouncy balls. Scary.



After a long and challenging climb up, we all reached the saddle of the mountain. Connor and I were elated to make it so far. This was Class 3 and Class 4 on that Yosemite scale. Ryan was chafing at the bit to go further! So on he went to the Class 5 part of the climb, with Ralph and the crew. I had a hard time letting my oldest go it on his own, but I knew that he had a lot to learn on the rest of the mountain and that Connor and I were at our max.

Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of Ryan at the top (I'm hoping to get some soon) but here is a picture of the mountain that I took. Ryan sat at the top of this and looked across the world. He told me that it was not an easy climb and that he was nervous and scared at times but he trusted his instructor, listened well, and was rewarded with feelings of accomplishment, pride, and awe at the beauty of Yosemite.



So while Ryan was hiking up, Connor and I started our hike down. It took a long time! We planned our route and slid on rock and scree. Slow but sure, we made our way to the bottom. On the way down, we found us a marmot!



When we finally reached the bottom, Connor got it in his head that we needed to beat the others back. Now, it had taken us an hour and a half to hike down. I knew that the others would make it in half that time. But we started some serious hiking. On the way in, we had stopped at least four times to rest. On the way out, we didn't stop once. Connor hiked his heart out and at each landmark he said, "They didn't beat us to the creek!" and "They didn't beat us to the big rock!" until finally he could say, "They didn't beat us to the end!" This was a great success for my seven year old since he had been at the back of the hike for the last two days. And, fifteen minutes later, the first of our climbers started arriving at the trailhead. The two ten year olds and the twelve year old hadn't had enough. They decided to run back!

Ryan was thrilled to find out that the first person to climb this peak was no other than John Muir himself. And he climbed it on the same route that Ryan followed, though he didn't use a rope.

Lessons learned for the day - eating habits of bears, how muscles grow, geology, natural history, CA history, animal habitats, perserverence, personal limitations, and teamwork. Not bad for one day.

The Joy of a Good Camping Trip

We've just returned home from one of the best camping trips ever. Not only did we have fun, but my kids didn't want to come home. And, as with any good vacation, they learned absolutely tons.

Our first day has no pictures. Just a long drive from home to our campground near Lee Vining. We did stop and have a short hike at a rest stop near Truckee and we explored the small town of Genoa, Nevada, the oldest settlement in that state (except to the people that come from Dayton, Nevada). So lessons for Day One included some natural history as we hiked (lots of info about how glaciers and volcanoes shaped the area) and US History.

After we arrived in camp and set up, we learned how things would work. We were camping with several other families, most of whom were new to us. We were to cook dinner for one evening of our five days and handle our own breakfasts and lunches. Our only concern were the possibility of bears coming to join us for a meal! Lessons learned - team work and manners.

Ralph, our host, had our first two days planned for us. We were going to start off with a "practice" hike the next day to prepare us for the big hike the day after that. Our practice would take us to Fairfiew Dome, near Toulomne Meadow in Yosemite National Park. Here is a picture of the dome from ground level. Our hike started lower than this elevation, but this is the best picture.



The hike up was very steep and we all learned new techniques for walking up such a steep slope. The boys learned what an open book is (no, it is not something to read) as well as a solution pocket (Connor thought they looked like the holes in which Native Americans ground corn). We also learned about scales of difficulty. This dayhike classified as a 3 on the Yosemite Decimal System.



The view from the top was well worth the effort. This was by far the hardest hike of my life. I have always been afraid of falling and I had to push that fear aside several times. And, while we were enjoying the view from the top, in the back of my mind I kept thinking of the trip back down. Yikes!





Here is Ralph teaching Connor how to walk down an open book. Both Connor and I resorted to the "crab walk" several times, but not as many as I thought we would need.



Just a look at the faces of my two boys tells you how much fun they had on this great outing. Lessons learned - team work, rock climbing, natural history, and science. More of our great trip in the next blog!