When I met Natalie yesterday after she came out of the shower room wearing next to nothing, I had assumed that I had caught her by surprise. This morning, with four other people sharing the room with her, she comes out exactly as she was yesterday, with her arm failing to fully hide herself. She goes out the front door of the dorm to pick up some drying clothes on the balcony and announces ‘hello world, here are my boobs!’ I say hello when she comes back in, by which time she has given up covering herself at all. Hostel living does have its perks.
On the drive to Yosemite, I give a lift to Usha and Kasey, the two college girls. The other student, Mike, took off early this morning to do one of the longer Yosemite hikes.
I had no preconceptions about Yosemite, except that I knew there were mountains and woodland. When we get to the park, I quickly realise that this is quite different to anywhere I had been before. The base of Yosemite Valley is a large flat plain of woodland and, with this being the season of the snow melt, marsh land. At this time of year, the waterfalls that fall from the granite mountains that form a wall around the plain gush down at their most fearsome weight. The mountains rise out of the flatland in a way that they don’t seem like part of the ground I am stood on. The North Dome, the peak of which gives it an organic character, stands over the valley like an un-opposable supervisor. This is not to say that it is the biggest with the Half Dome, its neighbour across Mirror Lake, rising 4,800 feet (1.5km) from the valley floor, while Sentinel Dome is the highest in altitude, rising to over 8,100 feet (c. 2.5km) above sea level.
It turns out that most campsites in Yosemite are fully booked in advance in the summer, but there are tent only sites – most campsites in the US being host to large campers – that can’t be pre-booked. To stay in these, you need a ‘wilderness pass’, which are intended for overnight hikers. When I go to the Rangers Office to get one, I am at first refused until I lie and say that I am doing an overnight walk, with the ranger knowing full well that I won’t be. Nonetheless, I am obliged to take one of their bear proof food barrels with me. As it is weighty and I can’t fit it into my backpack, this eliminates any possibility of an overnight hike.
The tent site I arranged to meet Kasey and Usha at is next to a camper van (or RV – Recreational Vehicle – as Americans call them) site, and only a short walk from one of the Yosemite bus stops, so how it must be intended for extremely slow overnight hikers.
Setting up at the campsite, I find each space is equipped with a bear locker. The ranger had told me to keep food in the barrel in the locker anyway, and also to lock it as some bears have figured out how to open the locker doors. However, I find that I need both my hands to open the locker latch, so I am left wondering just how dextrous Yosemite bears have become.
After pitching my tent, I walk for an hour up to Mirror Lake, which is less a lake than a wide bit of Tenaya Creek because the seasonal high waters caused by the snow melt have turned the creek into a hard flowing river. The flow also eliminates much of the reflective quality that gave the lake its’ name, but with the high growing trees and the mountains standing guard over me, this is perfect wilderness scenery.
Some people are swimming in the chilly waters on the opposite shore, which prompts me to attempt to walk across. However, I realise half way that I am actually still on what is normally the bank, and that a few steps further would have me struggling and probably failing to stand up in hard flowing chest high waters.
Yosemite is one of the most extraordinary places I have been, perhaps second only to Milford Sound in its dramatic landscape. However, it is also a commercialised wilderness with asphalt pathways and shuttle buses making the valley floor quite populated, so I regret that I don’t have the time for overnight trekking.
This would be awesome parasailing territory, though with the floor of the valley being densely forested there would be limited dry landing spots. It would also involve hiking up a mountain with a parachute.
Usha and Kasey come back to the campsite late in the afternoon with Mike in tow, having bumped into him on their walk. We spend the evening drinking beer and mingling with some of the other campers, talking about bears and the beauty of this place.
No comments:
Post a Comment