Life of Wry

Sally visited from Georgia today.  Hadn’t seen each other, we think, in sixteen years.

Sally’s family moved from Mercer Island, Washington to Palos Verdes when we were in second grade, which means we’ve been friends for 48 years.  That’s a lot of birthdays and sleepovers and boyfriends and track meets and emails and study sessions and marriages and advice and meals and secrets and road trips and children and crises and celebrations and phone conversations and movies and inside jokes and visits and stories.

That’s a lot of friendship.

Taken this Sunday morning in downtown Davis.

Baseball was back in the spotlight today after a little break.

Today was notable because:

Peter got to sub in on another travel team, the Demons, which is always fun.

The Demons are a super nice group of kids and families and coaches and it’s really pleasant to hang with all of them.

It was in Napa, a nice place to visit (you know, when most of your games are in East Sac or Woodland or Manteca or Martinez).

Napa was foggy and cold and we hadda wrap up in multiple fleece blankets to keep from freezing, always a bonus in August.

Peter got to play six of nine positions: third (above), short, right field, left field, center field, and pitch (below).

They played an easy-going, no-stakes, just for fun double-header scrimmage against a well-matched team.

The well-matched team was the Peloteros, of the Tito Fuentes Baseball Academy (yes, the Tito Fuentes), whose son, Tito Fuentes, Jr (pictured above), is head coach and is a helluva personable guy.

 

 

Not porn.

This is the aftermath of a baseball thrown by Peter, missed by Jim.  It’s why I don’t play catch with Peter anymore.. not that he hits his parents intentionally, just that he throws hard and the ball moves and it’s easy to misjudge and the consequences of missing are, well, what you see here.

This is the inner thigh, just above the knee.

Desperate is not having a suitable photo-of-the-day and falling back on hey, I know, I’ll take a picture of my lunch!

Lame.

If I were going to try to squeeze any meaning out of this photo, I’d say it’s taken at Crepeville, a place I go for lunch about four times a week with Jim, and as such, is a pretty significant part of my life these days.  Things could certainly be worse than dining with one’s husband so many times a week, huh?  Not a bad use of time.

Plus, the food’s great.

On a tip from the guy we’d met at the top of Tenaya peak the day before, we set off to find one of the park’s many hidden treasures: a long and deep slot canyon, or crevasse, we weren’t exactly sure.. but understood it was to be found in a mountain slope somewhere southwest of Elisabeth Lake, in a ridge that includes Unicorn Peak and Cockscomb.

Alrighty then.

The trail to Elisabeth Lake starts right at the Tuolumne Meadows campground, a place we tend to avoid for the crowds.  In all these years, it was the first time we’d taken this trail.  Amazingly, the trail was reasonably spare of people.

But not mosquitoes.

After about a mile and a half, you get out of the forest and off the first slope.  Another mile or so on a gentle slope brings you to Elisabeth Lake, which we completely bypassed, instead continuing west, mostly, and up.  It was very, very pretty.

Here we’re heading toward the ridge:

This may be Unicorn, not certain:

We went maybe another mile. The closer we got to the mountain, the dicier it got, lots of huge talus, most of it stable, but some of it wobbly, and many steep snowbanks to traverse.  We figured out that even if we found the slot, it was likely filled with snow and impassable.  Plus, the mosquitoes were unbearable.  So we started back down, proclaiming the journey was the objective, and we’d had a nice hike, and it was fine.

Views on the way back looked like this… not bad!

Many open (boggy, hillocky) meadows:

And much creek jumping:

And did I mention mosquitoes?

So didn’t get anywhere in particular, but it had been a fine day, even so.  We returned to the cabins and found a table next to the Dana Fork to eat our lunches.  While sitting around talking, we made a decision to go home.. kind of sudden and unexpected, but it made sense, too.   I have so many injuries right now, each day was getting increasingly painful.. mostly the same old achilles tendon thing, but additionally some hip issues and foot issues all combining to produce shooting pains, limited range of motion, lots of tenderness.. all icky.  If we stayed, Jim and Peter could keep hiking and I could hang out, read, but the mosquitoes were so horrendous that seemed unappealing.  Peter had also had a birthday party he’d wanted to attend but couldn’t because of the trip… and this suddenly came into play.  All that contributed to the decision, and when the front desk said we could check out without consequence, that sealed the deal.

Felt a little stunned by the change of plans.  It was extremely sad and disorienting to pack up three days early.  Even after a full week or ten days of hiking it’s hard to leave Tuolumne Meadows.   But we did, with equal parts doubt and resolve.  And it was emotional.. but we left.

We did a quick and sloppy job of emptying the cabin and packing the car. The drive home was quiet.  Didn’t eat at PJ’s.  The good news is that we’ll be back next year–our cabin is already reserved–and hopefully we’ll be injury-free and California will not have record rainfall that results in a mosquitoey year.

And we did talk about all the hikes we want to do next time… August 2012 can’t come soon enough.

One of the highlights of this year’s trip to Tuolumne was baggin’ another summit, this time: Tenaya Peak.  Much as I appreciate the journey, I can get very excited about the destination.  Luckily, Jim’s that way too, so, many peaks under our belt and hopefully more to come.  And yeah.. we’ve passed along that obsession to Peter, too.  Yay us.

Anyway, today?  No clouds!!  Back to the usual, prevailing, high Sierra August weather conditions.. perfect for an off trail adventure.

Started at the Sunrise parking lot.  Within a hundred yards of the trailhead, we had to remove our boots and ford a shallow creek. Made for a slow beginning on the day, but it was fine and something to look forward to at the end of the day when we’d certainly be dragging and cold water would feel good on tired dogs.

We headed up the trail maybe .5 to 1 mile; we were looking for a spot where the drainage from Mildred Lake crossed the main Sunrise trail.  From there, we’d veer off and attempt to follow the creek all the way up to its source.  We found the crossing easily, but actually managed to lose the creek on the way up the mountain, or we followed a lesser run off, we weren’t quite sure… nevertheless, we continued to bushwack and crash through forest, occasionally breaking out onto granite slabs.  At one point, we found ourselves out on a ledge, overlooking Tenaya Lake, which was.. interesting (but very pretty).  Continued around a couple massive slopes until we found the open granite we were looking for and traversed up and over for maybe another mile or so.  The slabs were very steep, and quite exposed, in some parts, and the views were getting good!

Came upon some gorgeous terraced slabs with sweet gardens of wildflowers, grasses and moss:

They were huge (note Jim’s size alongside one of the terraces).

The view all morning was of Half Dome and Cloud’s Rest.  Here’s a nice one of Half Dome… you can see the sub-dome and can almost make out the cables on the upper dome.

Here’s a shot down Tenaya Canyon with Half Dome in the distance, Cloud’s Rest is the prominent knob on left, North Dome (a favorite hike) is the structure across the canyon from Half Dome:

Finally got to Mildred Lake.  So pretty, so central, yet there is no trail up there.  We–as usual when hiking off trail–saw nobody all day (except at top of Tenaya later that afternoon).

Hung out for about an hour at/near the lake.. talked, dozed, looked around (oh, and threw rocks).  It’s nice now..the adults can hang out doing adult things and the boys can run off and be alone in their exploration.

After lunch, we discussed the route up Tenaya.  Here are Monica, Dror and Jim considering options:

M&D opted out, but agreed to let us take Ben.  So, off we went: Jim, Peter, Ben and I.

This is what the backside of Tenaya looks like.. the side we scrambled up.  It looks simple enough, and it was, but it’s also a bit deceiving; it’s about a 700′ climb from Mildred Lake:

Here’s a close up of what we thought was the peak.  It’s not quite the high point.. which we saw once we got up there:

Here’s a view of the peak from the front side.  This is shot from Tioga Road, right along Tenaya Lake, on our way home a couple days later.  We have looked at this peak forever, driving in and out of Tuolumne Meadows; it’s very prominent and a popular peak for climbers.

Anyway, got to the top (10,301′) and had phenomenal views all around.  Here is the view looking northwest and down on Tenaya Lake, and Mt. Hoffman, highest peak in background (centermost peak in Yosemite National Park, 10,850′) which we’ve climbed several times:

And here’s one looking south and east, over Long Meadow.  Hard for me to identify all the peaks (any of them, really), but we’re probably seeing Mt. Lyell somewhere in there (highest peak in Yosemite National Park, 13,114′), who knows what else.  Sunrise High Sierra camp is to the far right.

Here are Jim, Peter and Ben on top:

And here’s one that Ben took of us:

On the top, we met about 6 climbers who’d gotten to the summit via the front side (I asked a young woman about the climb and she said there were 11 pitches… I’m doubtful… she’d done a mix of climbing and hiking to get there, so wasn’t sure).  We met a guy, Mike, from LA, who said he’s come to TM annually for forty years to climb, hike and run.  He was a wealth of information and enthusiasm.  We sat with him and our map for about 30 minutes while he pointed out dozens of places to visit well off the beaten path.  We retained little, but it was fascinating.

We left, picked our way down, this time much easier following the drainage to the bottom.. took a couple hours, I think, mostly on open granite like this (note water, which was gushing down the slabs all over the place, very powerful in parts, always glistening, and loud):

And toward the bottom, crossings like this:

We ended up back at the Sunrise parking lot in time to catch the last shuttle to Tuolumne Meadows Lodge.  Monica and Dror had thoughtfully shifted our dinner reservations to 8:00, which was perfect.

A great, great day.

The day started like this, which was a clue.  Rarely does a Sierra day begin with clouds, that doesn’t end with rain.  But, I swear, photos in Yosemite are so much more spectacular with cloud action, no?

This is taken from the shuttle stop for the Cathedral Lakes trailhead, looking East up the meadow at Lembert Dome.

The day was exciting and satisfying because of our youngest hikers, Matthew and Dean, ten-years-old, who are becoming more fearless and awesome with every passing year.

The Cathedral Lakes region, surrounded by granite, is such a spectacular spot.  The 3.5 mile slog out of the meadow–through forest, across creeks, over morains–is rewarded by a grand view of Cathredral Peak, such a Yosemite landmark.  You eat lunch right beneath it, with other monster domes surrounding you.  There’s abundant scrambling on granite slopes–entertaining for kids (and moms)–and endless cross country options.   We’ve descended out of this area in numerous, non-trail ways, which is super fun.

I didn’t shoot a pic of Cathedral this year, but here are a couple from past years; this one is from 2005 and is a seriously doofussy picture of me, but cute of Peter (age 7) and shows the peak, so what the hell:

And here’s another from 2009, taken of the peak from above Upper Cathedral on a cross country over to Budd Lake; you can see Peter in the distance:

Anyway, back to 2011..

Because of late snow melt, it was a mosquitoey year.. so grateful for head nets:

We ambled up slope a bit, across a small snow field, to try and escape mosquitoes lakeside, but they found us.

Ate lunch on a slab and watched (with mild discomfort) as Ben and Peter picked their way up the mountain side.  Peter took a surer route back while Ben opted for the more spectacular controlled slide down a 30′ section of granite into a snow bank (last 15′ were not so controlled, we’re told, but fun).

After lunch, the others headed back down the trail, and Jim, Peter and I decided to continue up, hoping to explore a new route to and out of Budd Lake.  We got more or less this far up the saddle and got this view of Lower Cathedral….

.. before thunder and rain scared us right back down again.  (Scared were Peter and me… not Jim so much.)  It was quite slippery on the exposed granite slabs and a little to0 dramatic to feel comfortable.

Still, a great day.  By the time we got to the bottom, the meadow looked like this, and the rains had stopped.

This is a picture looking West down the meadow at Pothole Dome, shot while waiting for the shuttle back to the cabins.

Over the years, I’ve taken a lot of pictures of the Lyell Fork.  This picture may be my favorite.. the colors, its fullness.

I’ve added a few more below, taken in different years and at different water levels.

The Lyell Fork winds through the majestic Lyell canyon before it joins the Dana Fork and becomes the mighty Tuolumne River, which then runs through Tuolumne Meadows, past Glen Aulin High Sierra camp, and into the “Grand Canyon of Yosemite.”  It is a short walk–about a half, to three quarters of a mile–behind the Tuolumne Meadows tent cabins.  I don’t think a year has gone by when we didn’t spend at least one day in this canyon, along the river.  It’s been the go-to place when the kids felt like having a non-hike day.  Hours and hours have been spent up river a bit, building damns (and unbuilding them), throwing rocks, running mini-rapids..and for the adults: talking, reading, napping.

There are a few hikes we do out of here..  the Rafferty Creek Trail is a great one and is the one to take if you’re going to Vogelsang and beyond.  We’ve also gone up that trail numerous times in our effort to climb Johnson Peak (we finally found the real peak a few years ago, after two failed, but fun, attempts).

Twice in the last two years, we’ve hiked up canyon–a mellow river-grade stroll–attempting to get to the end, only to be turned back by weather.  About an hour after this was shot, for example, we got caught in a thunderous storm–lightning, hail, rain–and ended up returning to the cabins.

The John Muir and Pacific Crest Trails run along the south and western forest line of the Lyell Canyon.  They describe it as a box canyon, and the trail eventually rises and crosses Donahue Pass, continuing on toward Mammoth.  One of these years, we’ll get to the end…

But this year there was more water in the meadow than I can remember, making the river run wider and deeper than ever.  Its color was also a deeper and richer blue.  So swollen and powerful, yet peaceful.

Here are a few more from various years and a lot less water (note sand bars):

2003 (and a 5-year-old Peter)

2004

2007

And 2010.

If you’re a person given to traditions and rituals–and what member of the OCD club isn’t?–the annual drive to and from Tuolumne Meadows is something to totally look forward to.

We made that drive today.

First of all, we’ve got the drive down to a science.  Or I do.  I’m the driver.  We’ve done it so often, we know every place along the way, every turn of the road, and exactly how long it takes between the various points of interest.

(If this were an entry just about OCD, I’d go into the annual packing exercise, as well: the lists, the annual refinement of the lists, and ohmyeffinggodyoudon’treallywanttoevenknowme… but it’s more about the commute itself, so I’ll spare you those details.)

The drive to Tuolumne Meadows Lodge takes four hours, plus an additional hour or so for stops in Copperopolis (a pit stop here, and buying snacks, takes about 15 mins) and Groveland (eating lunch at PJ’s usually takes around 45 minutes).

If you ever want to know all the details, I’m happy to provide a breakdown of the time it takes to get to the various landmarks between Davis and Yosemite:

Davis –> Stockton –> Hwy 4 –> Farmington –> Copperopolis –> Lake Tulloch –> the prison –> 108 to 120 turnoff –> “lumber dome” –> Chinese Camp –> Don Pedro reservoir –> New Priest Grade –> Big Oak Flat –> Groveland –> Buck Meadows –> park entrance  –> Crane Flat –> Tuolumne Meadows.

.. because, you know… I know all this.

Anyway, the above picture, that’s Copperopolis–a small town of historic gold-country-era buildings surrounded by expansive, rolling hillsides that just say California.  It takes an hour and 40 minutes to get there… unless you get stopped at a long light while leaving Davis, or you get stuck behind a piece of slow-moving farm equipment that’s rattling along the road through the rich farmlands between 99 and the foothills.

So, on your commute to the jaw-dropping, granite-covered splendor of Yosemite National Park, inarguably one of the most majestically beautiful places on earth, you pass through California’s lush and insanely fertile central valley, where you could, if you wanted to, buy fresh ears of corn, just-picked strawberries and peaches, or mountains of walnuts. And THEN you pass through those golden, oak-covered Sierra foothills.  The vistas along the way are all sweepingly rural and just so incredibly lovely.

All kinds of different California, all in a quarter day’s drive.