An Awfully Big Adventure
Sep. 28th, 2009 06:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gurdymonkeyElevation of Alameda, CA above sea level: 30.'
Elevation of Yosemite Valley (hereinafter referred to as "the bottom" or "down there,") approximately 4000'.
Elevation of Glacier Point trail head (accessed by bus from "down there," approximately 7200'.
Elevation of Ilillouette Creek, approximately 5800'.
Elevation of Panorama Point, approximately 6500'.
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didjiman arrived a little after 2PM on Saturday, so we tossed his gear in the back of my truck and headed east. We made surprisingly good time, even on the Slough of Suck that is the 238/580 corridor between San Leandro and the Altamont pass.
We had time for a shortish hike at Tuolumne Grove, near th
e western entrance to Yosemite. My hike book describes it as a round trip of about 2.5 miles and doable in an hour and a half. Not sure quite how long it took us, we were stopping to try to get some pictures before we lost what light there was. It was dusk when we got back to the truck and we blew past the Tunnel View overlook in the dark on the way into Yosemite Valley. Though with a half moon, one wonders how much we'd be able to see from the overlook.
We drove past the looming hulk of El Capitan, dotted with the glowing lamps of those mad people who lash themselves to the rock at night in their quest for the top. We stopped off at Housekeeping Camp to get checked in, collecting shower passes and a map to our shelter, then went back to the Mountain Room by Yosemite Lodge for a very nice sit-down dinner: I had herb crusted ruby trout on a bed of cubed potato and green bean salad, my companion had a salad with beautifully seared ahi, and we split an order of berry cobbler.
The valley gets as dark as the inside of an old boot at night, so finding our "room" back at Housekeeping Camp involved a bit of wandering and peering at numbers by flashlight. We finally found #39, three concrete walls with a canvas roof and oilskin curtains that sorta tie shut, a double bed and two metal bunks with thin mattresses on them, plus a steel locker with a noisy latch to guard one's food and toothpaste from the local bear population. We split a bottle of the organic nama sake that I'd brought, then bunked down for the night. After, of course, I got lost coming back from the rest room: one of those classic park facilities where you can go either left or right out to get out of it.
Up at 7, grabbed showers in shifts so as not to leave camera equipment and other things unguarded.didjiman had vanished when I got back from mine: I found him a few yards from the back of our hut with a tripod and camera. So I shooed him off to get his shower and grabbed MY camera for a few pictures.
He got lost on the way to the shower, so it was a bit of a scamper to pack out, get over to Yosemite Lodge and pick up tickets for the bus up to Glacier Point. We didn't get breakfast, but I did have time to dash into the food court and pick up a couple of sandwiches before boarding the bus. I had a banana after we got off the bus, plus some water.
Here is a description of the hike we'd decided to do, Panorama Trail, from Glacier Point to Happy Isles. Note that it's rated at a 6 out of 10 for difficulty. I know I saw another review of it as "moderate" somewhere. The first couple of miles from Glacier Point down to Illilouette Creek above the falls was delightful, lovely views of the profile of Half Dome to our east, all downhill, a fair bit of it in shade. I'd sometimes leapfrog up the trail while didjiman was trying to get a shot. At one point I was sitting on a rock at the turn of a switchback and all I could hear was the soft hum of insects. At another spot, I passed a rock that looked like a shrine missing its Jizo-sama.
Perhaps he'd gone hiking himself; after all, he is the protector of travelers.
We stopped at the creek for a break.didjiman did a bit of tai chi, then we crossed the bridge over the falls and started up to Panorama Point.
From the creek up to Panorama Point is supposed to be a mile and a half, however, that mile and a half gains approximately 750' in elevation - and that's 750' coming up from well over 5000 above sea level. I couldn't get enough air to go more than a few yards at a time. I'd stop, I'd get my wind back enough to breathe through my nose again, I'd take five steps and be gasping all over again. I'd find a tree or a rock and tell myself I could stop when I got to THAT rock. Part of my mind was saying helpful things like "See, you could die out here!" The only thing that told me I wasn't dying was that while my heart rate was high, it was rock steady and didn't feel all that much faster than it does when I crank out a 13 minute mile walking on level pavement - and it reassuringly came back down relatively quickly when I stopped. I just couldn't seem to get enough air. I was about 2/3 of the way up, when I started to feel my legs get a little shaky, so I made myself eat a banana. It helped.![[info]](https://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
didjiman was patient and cheerful and kept telling how great I was doing. There are only two reasons I didn't hit him with the monopod he let me use to drag myself up that slope: (a) it smacked of too much effort and (b) he wasn't giving me shit, he really, really meant it. Unfortunately, "soon" and "almost" and "doing great" and "almost there" were completely meaningless until the trail finally leveled out.
Actually, he wasn't wrong. I'm old and I'm overweight and I'm not acclimated to anything in the way of altitude, but I am damn proud of my heart rate recovery after that section of trail. I could breathe just fine at over 6000 feet as long as we were walking on level trail or going downhill. It's not called Panorama Point for nothing, either. I don't know the names of all the formations with any reliability except for Half Dome, which we had now circled behind, but it doesn't matter. Damn, we were high up and I'd gotten there under my own power.
We took a much earned break for sandwiches and continued downward. Down is hard in some ways, particularly over broken rocks, but I could breathe, so I just had to think about where to place my feet.didjiman had knee braces on each knee over his jeans, and he says they helped. We passed and were passed by plenty of other hikers ranging from the slow moving man in a knee brace who we'd been leapfrogging with all the way from Glacier Point to the insanely fit people who were actually running down the trail. 
We were slow, picking our way steadily through the rocks on the John Muir trail, stopping to take pictures. We made it down in one piece, hopped a shuttle back to the lodge where we'd left the truck, and celebrated with a bottle of water each out of the back of the truck.
It was dark by the time we got out of the valley and back onto the road. We stopped for dinner at a cafe in Groveland and I putdidjiman and all his camera equipment in his car outside my apartment shortly after midnight.
More photos at
Tuolomne Grove Saturday Night, http://www.flickr.com/photos/70104978@N00/sets/72157622476834282/
Panorama Trail Hike http://www.flickr.com/photos/70104978@N00/sets/72157622353147111/
Elevation of Yosemite Valley (hereinafter referred to as "the bottom" or "down there,") approximately 4000'.
Elevation of Glacier Point trail head (accessed by bus from "down there," approximately 7200'.
Elevation of Ilillouette Creek, approximately 5800'.
Elevation of Panorama Point, approximately 6500'.
didjiman arrived a little after 2PM on Saturday, so we tossed his gear in the back of my truck and headed east. We made surprisingly good time, even on the Slough of Suck that is the 238/580 corridor between San Leandro and the Altamont pass. We had time for a shortish hike at Tuolumne Grove, near th
e western entrance to Yosemite. My hike book describes it as a round trip of about 2.5 miles and doable in an hour and a half. Not sure quite how long it took us, we were stopping to try to get some pictures before we lost what light there was. It was dusk when we got back to the truck and we blew past the Tunnel View overlook in the dark on the way into Yosemite Valley. Though with a half moon, one wonders how much we'd be able to see from the overlook. We drove past the looming hulk of El Capitan, dotted with the glowing lamps of those mad people who lash themselves to the rock at night in their quest for the top. We stopped off at Housekeeping Camp to get checked in, collecting shower passes and a map to our shelter, then went back to the Mountain Room by Yosemite Lodge for a very nice sit-down dinner: I had herb crusted ruby trout on a bed of cubed potato and green bean salad, my companion had a salad with beautifully seared ahi, and we split an order of berry cobbler.
The valley gets as dark as the inside of an old boot at night, so finding our "room" back at Housekeeping Camp involved a bit of wandering and peering at numbers by flashlight. We finally found #39, three concrete walls with a canvas roof and oilskin curtains that sorta tie shut, a double bed and two metal bunks with thin mattresses on them, plus a steel locker with a noisy latch to guard one's food and toothpaste from the local bear population. We split a bottle of the organic nama sake that I'd brought, then bunked down for the night. After, of course, I got lost coming back from the rest room: one of those classic park facilities where you can go either left or right out to get out of it.
Up at 7, grabbed showers in shifts so as not to leave camera equipment and other things unguarded.
didjiman had vanished when I got back from mine: I found him a few yards from the back of our hut with a tripod and camera. So I shooed him off to get his shower and grabbed MY camera for a few pictures. He got lost on the way to the shower, so it was a bit of a scamper to pack out, get over to Yosemite Lodge and pick up tickets for the bus up to Glacier Point. We didn't get breakfast, but I did have time to dash into the food court and pick up a couple of sandwiches before boarding the bus. I had a banana after we got off the bus, plus some water.
Here is a description of the hike we'd decided to do, Panorama Trail, from Glacier Point to Happy Isles. Note that it's rated at a 6 out of 10 for difficulty. I know I saw another review of it as "moderate" somewhere. The first couple of miles from Glacier Point down to Illilouette Creek above the falls was delightful, lovely views of the profile of Half Dome to our east, all downhill, a fair bit of it in shade. I'd sometimes leapfrog up the trail while didjiman was trying to get a shot. At one point I was sitting on a rock at the turn of a switchback and all I could hear was the soft hum of insects. At another spot, I passed a rock that looked like a shrine missing its Jizo-sama.
Perhaps he'd gone hiking himself; after all, he is the protector of travelers. We stopped at the creek for a break.didjiman did a bit of tai chi, then we crossed the bridge over the falls and started up to Panorama Point. From the creek up to Panorama Point is supposed to be a mile and a half, however, that mile and a half gains approximately 750' in elevation - and that's 750' coming up from well over 5000 above sea level. I couldn't get enough air to go more than a few yards at a time. I'd stop, I'd get my wind back enough to breathe through my nose again, I'd take five steps and be gasping all over again. I'd find a tree or a rock and tell myself I could stop when I got to THAT rock. Part of my mind was saying helpful things like "See, you could die out here!" The only thing that told me I wasn't dying was that while my heart rate was high, it was rock steady and didn't feel all that much faster than it does when I crank out a 13 minute mile walking on level pavement - and it reassuringly came back down relatively quickly when I stopped. I just couldn't seem to get enough air. I was about 2/3 of the way up, when I started to feel my legs get a little shaky, so I made myself eat a banana. It helped.
didjiman was patient and cheerful and kept telling how great I was doing. There are only two reasons I didn't hit him with the monopod he let me use to drag myself up that slope: (a) it smacked of too much effort and (b) he wasn't giving me shit, he really, really meant it. Unfortunately, "soon" and "almost" and "doing great" and "almost there" were completely meaningless until the trail finally leveled out.Actually, he wasn't wrong. I'm old and I'm overweight and I'm not acclimated to anything in the way of altitude, but I am damn proud of my heart rate recovery after that section of trail. I could breathe just fine at over 6000 feet as long as we were walking on level trail or going downhill. It's not called Panorama Point for nothing, either. I don't know the names of all the formations with any reliability except for Half Dome, which we had now circled behind, but it doesn't matter. Damn, we were high up and I'd gotten there under my own power.
We took a much earned break for sandwiches and continued downward. Down is hard in some ways, particularly over broken rocks, but I could breathe, so I just had to think about where to place my feet.
didjiman had knee braces on each knee over his jeans, and he says they helped. We passed and were passed by plenty of other hikers ranging from the slow moving man in a knee brace who we'd been leapfrogging with all the way from Glacier Point to the insanely fit people who were actually running down the trail. We were slow, picking our way steadily through the rocks on the John Muir trail, stopping to take pictures. We made it down in one piece, hopped a shuttle back to the lodge where we'd left the truck, and celebrated with a bottle of water each out of the back of the truck.
It was dark by the time we got out of the valley and back onto the road. We stopped for dinner at a cafe in Groveland and I put
didjiman and all his camera equipment in his car outside my apartment shortly after midnight.More photos at
Tuolomne Grove Saturday Night, http://www.flickr.com/photos/70104978@N00/sets/72157622476834282/
Panorama Trail Hike http://www.flickr.com/photos/70104978@N00/sets/72157622353147111/
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Date: 2009-10-02 03:53 pm (UTC)Do you use hiking boots or some other specialized shoes? I'm planning a trip next month with some potentially significant day hiking and I've always used regular old sport shoes (probably some trail runners this trip), but I'm wondering if I'm missing out. Advice?
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Date: 2009-10-02 04:36 pm (UTC)The boots I wore were an inexpensive no-name brand, but they fit me well, had sturdy lug-soles and decent cushioning around the ankles. Good cushiony sports socks helped keep me comfortable too. (Thorlo is one of the name brands, but I got some at the Eddie Bauer down the street on clearance that were great!)