Biking Yosemite
Apr. 17th, 2011 12:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gurdymonkeyFilled a couple water bottles, charged camera batteries, transferred what I needed into my girly plaid Jansport backpack. That backpack was designed for some school kid with LOTS of homework - hugely capacious, zippered compartments everywhere and I think I could easily carry a toddler in it. So Not Utilitarian Hiker/Biker/Backpacker gear - but better in its way. That many compartments means I can file things in separate spots and reduce the amount of digging when I want to get something out of it.
Rolled out of bed at 5:30, was in the truck by 5:40, thereby continuing to prove Gaius' theory that I must be a guy in a fiendish disguise because I can get myself together so fast. Topped off my gas tank in Manteca, knowing it would be more expensive closer to the park. Grabbed an Evil McMuffin and an iced tea. Very pretty ride much of the way, particularly with the sun coming up, and not many people on the road that early. Highway 120 runs across the Central Valley (flat), which gives way to rolling hills leading up into the mountains, and a section of winding road as you climb up and around the side of a mountain. Despite the Safety Conscious Volvo Driver ahead of me who would not or could not trust himself on those turns, I made very good time as a result and it was a little after 9 when I passed through the park entrance and got my free pass and park guide.
There was still a lot of snow on the ground along the stretch between the entrance and the first tunnel, however, the roads themselves were clear and mostly dry. I actually managed not to blow past the first vista point on the way in. (This is NOT Tunnel View, but it's the first spot you can see Half Dome from on Highway 120. Tunnel View is on a different road into the park.)
So you wind through a series of tunnels and suddenly there you are and it's OMGWTF GORGEOUS!!!!! Look, there's a waterfall! Hello, El Cap, are there any crazy people up there yet? Hello, Half Dome!
I should mention this is my first time to Yosemite in the spring. There was water in the waterfalls, which are usually down to a trickle or completely dry by late summer.
Bridal Veil Falls was going full blast - I could hear it before I could see it, because I had turned off the truck radio as I entered the park. (Did that at the Grand Canyon too. I didn't want something as trite as music distracting me from The Aweseome Out There.) I pulled into the lot, used the NPS Official Pit Toilet, and made the short walk upstream to the falls. There were already other people there, but it wasn't terribly crowded. It was, however, cold and wet. I was covered in mist pretty quickly and I felt pretty badly for the tourist family behind me wearing only tee shirts. In Yosemite in April at 9:30 in the morning where the overnight low is in the 30s and that mist is snow melt. 
I made my way up the loop road until I found parking at Yosemite Village. I managed to strong-arm Mimi off of her bed of SCA camp gear and out of the truck, by which time I was warm enough to remove my fleece layer and stick it in my pack. Camera case over one shoulder, backpack on, helmet on, I rode carefully across the road which was already seeing some incoming traffic, and locked up on a handicapped parking sign, because I didn't see a bike rack outside the Village Store. I picked up an Official Yosemite National Park Sammich, a banana and a couple small bags of peanuts, decided to come back later for a tee shirt I liked (thereby assuring there would be none left in my size when I did). You thought I was kidding about the Official Sammich.
Any map geeks out there? http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/loader.cfm?csModule=security/getfile&PageID=195696 will show my route.
10 AM or thereabouts: I hung a right toward the Ahwanee Hotel, but couldn't find where to hook up to the paved bike path, so I turned around and headed west on the loop road. (Bikes are permitted on paved paths and roads only.) I saw some tables and tents over near the Visitor's Center for various Earth Week activities, but I figured I'd check all that out later on. To my left, the Valley floor, the Merced River and bits of flooded meadow. To my right, Yosemite Falls, Camp 4 (which was fairly full of dome tents), and all the way down to El Capitan on mostly level road. 
There were cars, but not too many at that time of morning. I stopped where I liked to shoot a few photos, and riding on the road with traffic meant not having to weave around the occasional awestruck visitor with camera planted in the middle of a path.
See that rock wall beyond the trees? That's the bottom of El Capitan. It's got to be a little more than four miles from the Ahwanee to El Capitan. There were a few people out taking pictures or gearing up to hike, and one guy sitting in a Coleman chair on El Capitan Bridge with a tripod mounted telescope.
I cut across the El Capitan Bridge, and turned back east on the road. The road was still quiet enough and those vehicles on it were driving sanely enough that I stayed on it instead of crossing over to the paved path next to the meadow. I rode up on the road as far as the turnoff to where I'd parked, then picked up the paved path which continued on the right side of the road. (Another four miles or so at this point.) The trail sloped upward at one point and my sea level legs said, "Are you KIDDING ME?" I got off, walked the bike up this miniscule elevation change of maybe 8 feet at a 30 degree grade, leaned her against a boulder and decided it was time to drink more water and eat that banana I'd carefully filed in a front pocket where it wouldn't get mashed.
Remember, O My Readers, that I'm used to doing four mile chunks at a steady pace on relatively flat paved terrain - at sea level. I did ride eight miles all at once last fall after I got this bike just to see if I could - and I fell down on the front lawn when I got home because I couldn't get my leg back over when I stopped. I'd just done eight miles at 4000 feet, stopping here and there only long enough to take some pictures or sip some water.
I stopped again not much farther on wondering what the Leconte Lodge was, because it was a fairytalemedievaloid stone building in the middle of freaking Yosemite. Of course, it was closed until May. Turns out it's right across the road from Housekeeping Camp where ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
didjiman and I stayed on my last trip, but we'd gotten in after dark and not seen it. 
Maybe I should've stayed on the road though. I got stuck behind a knot of seven people coming out of Curry Lodge so busy talking to each other they didn't hear my bell right away. I started passing families with small children who liked to dart around the path instead of staying on one side of it. Bikes coming the other way. It was late enough there were more people around.
I dismounted at the Happy Isles shuttle stop, had a proper sit down on a real bench, ate some peanuts and had some more water. I consulted the posted map and invoked my mantra of "Oh, it's only another mile." The upside of this mantra is that a mile doesn't seem like that much. Sure. I've come this far, I can do one more. And one more. And maybe one more until my legs say "ARE YOU KIDDING ME????" A shuttle arrived and disgorged a full load of people who had to regroup and find each other once off said shuttle.
I have a girly girl's bike so I don't HAVE to swing my leg over the seat to mount. It hurt even to lift my foot enough to step through. I pedaled off in search of Mirror Lake. Surely after all the snow they got in the Sierra this year, it would actually have water in it. I passed lots of folks on foot. A mother dragged a toddler out of my way, scolding, "This lady has to get around you." "Oh, I LIKE a challenge," I called as I passed and slalomed around another pedestrian. The trail started to climb, I shifted gears and wondered how much of this there was. Ahead I saw two rusty old bike racks with a few fat tire cruisers in 'em. There was a sign posted: Rental bikes were not permitted past this point because of the steepness of the trail. Granted, the rentals are all single speed bikes with coaster brakes, but I'd just done ten miles and I looked at the bike rack and thought maybe it's time to use those leg muscles a little differently. I locked Mimi up to the end of the rack. I sat down on a rock overlooking Tenaya Creek. I knocked back some more water, opened the peanuts and had a couple handfuls.
Funny, steep on a bike didn't feel like steep on foot. The climb was gentle enough and I took it at a comfortable pace, helmet dangling from one hand. The walk was worth it. Mirror Lake, did in fact, have water in it. I looked up and saw the flat side of Half Dome overhead. Water was tumbling over the natural rockfall dam into the lower part of the lake, kids and adults alike were enjoying the little sand beaches. I walked up beyond the dam in time to hear a tourist complain that it wasn't mirrory enough. "Snow's still melting," I commented. There have been years when there wasn't this much water in it.
Suddenly I was ravenous. I picked a rock to sit on, dropped helmet and pack, and dug out my Official Yosemite Sammich. I suspect wallboard and paste would've tasted amazing right then, but it was a darn tasty roast beef and cheddar on a roll, lettuce, mayo. I probably could've eaten two. I made myself eat slowly, made myself drink some water. No rush. No rush.
Walked back out, used the toilet at the trail head, retrieved Mimi from the now crowded bike rack and took the fork on the right which put me on the paved path going back toward the village. Slalomed around three Asian girls with bikes who stopped in a scatter to take pictures, passed two families of four on bikes coming the other way. Passed the Ahwahnee and found myself back in the village, now teeming with traffic and pedestrians. It was time to get off this bike.
I did think to prevail on a passer by to take a picture of me. He thoughtfully made sure Half Dome was in frame. (Geez, I hope I dropped a couple pounds from all this. Too much winter comfort food.) 
I had no less than three circling drivers ask if I was coming out while I was trying to get Mimi back into the truck bed without dropping her. "Sorry, no, just putting the bike away." I dumped my helmet, pulled the fleece out of my pack to lighten it and walked back up the road to the store. The place was a zoo. Sure enough, there were only four tee shirts in the design I liked left and none in my size. I opted for a Dreyer's strawberry fruit bar, figuring I could use the fluid replacement and sugar and sat down out front to eat it.
Walked over towards the visitor center to discover that almost all the Earth Week booths had packed down and bugged out already, it being about 2:30 in the afternoon at this point? Ah well. I pounced upon a copy of Obata's Yosemite in the visitor center bookstore, because I love his paintings. Admired the stuff inside the Ansel Adams Studio but did not buy - I don't have that kind of money and I don't have that much wall space to hang my own stuff! They offer various workshops and so forth, but honestly, I don't have that kind of money and the best way to be a good photographer is to keep pressing that shutter button and see what you get - and try to learn from it.
Thoroughly enjoyed the Native American baskets and other artifacts in the museum, as well as some of the current art on display. I was, however, getting increasingly headachy and a little fed up with dodging other people. If it's like this in April, I don't want to know what July is like.
I went back to the truck. Sat down in the driver's seat and made myself drink what was left in my second water bottle. There was more than I realized which means I had NOT drunk enough. And I'd biked twelve (or thirteen?) miles, plus a fair bit of walking. It was after three. I decided that if I left now I'd get home at a decent hour and not have to drive the most challenging stretch of road with the sun in my eyes or in the dark. Hit a logjam on the road near Yosemite Falls because there were too many people trying to park along that stretch, but after that, getting out of the park was no problem.
I stopped in Chinese Camp for more water, drank it and drove on. Got home at about seven, unloaded Mimi and locked her up in her usual spot, staggered upstairs, had a glass of water and two Advil, then feasted on a big, greasy Angus burger I'd picked up at Mickey D's.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Date: 2011-04-17 07:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-17 07:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-17 07:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-17 09:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-17 09:43 pm (UTC)And gnarly tree. Because I have a special love of gnarly trees: http://www.flickr.com/photos/70104978@N00/5625928665/in/set-72157626513775860
No pokey the eyes!
Date: 2011-04-17 11:45 pm (UTC)Paid for it today though - got up, wrote my blog entry, went downstairs to watch some TV and fell fast asleep!
Re: No pokey the eyes!
Date: 2011-04-17 11:51 pm (UTC)The last time I road a multi-gear mountain bike I spent half the time in terror! And that was in college, when I was actually IN SHAPE!
Re: No pokey the eyes!
Date: 2011-04-17 11:54 pm (UTC)Re: No pokey the eyes!
Date: 2011-04-17 11:55 pm (UTC)Re: No pokey the eyes!
Date: 2011-04-18 12:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-18 12:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-18 01:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-18 02:56 am (UTC)What a lovely way to spend a gorgeous Spring day. I've got to get up there again soon. Glad you had such a good time!
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Date: 2011-04-18 03:22 am (UTC)I can get out that fast, but not that early, I'm definitely a Night Owl.
And I'm with Mochimonkey I would probably be eating your dust. But probably loving it.
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Date: 2011-04-18 06:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-18 04:57 pm (UTC)The one and only time I backpacked in Yosemite was in May, and we both got absolutely drenched to the skin by the waterfalls on the way up to the base of Half Dome. (Once to the top of Half Dome was plenty for me, BTW, although I'm glad to have done it once.)