Yosemite National Park Day 2

 Retraction

 Dave says I wasn't actually jumping when I saw Half Dome at Valley View. I stand corrected on accuracy, but not on hyperbole. At least it made him laugh.

Addition

So what was the wildflower I photographed when Dave stopped on the twisty mountain road for me? Hairy Vetch. Sounds like something a cat would cough up.

 

The Best Laid Schemes o' Mice an' Men...

As I mentioned, we planned our last day at YNP to hike to Mirror Lake and photograph Half Dome's reflection in the lake. Well, Robert Burns had it right back in the 1700's when he wrote, “The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft a-gley [often go astray].” 

In other words, Murphy's Law...

 Trail to Mirror Lake

To get to Mirror Lake we took a Yosemite Area Rapid Transit System (YARTS) shuttle bus from a parking lot to the stop at the base of the trail to Mirror Lake. We had water and granola bars for this short hike, which the Yosemite Trail Planner said was 2 miles round trip with a 100 ft. elevation gain. Easy Peazy Lemon Squeezy.

There are 2 ways to access Mirror Lake. To the left is a paved road for those driving with handicap accessibility placards, and for easier hiking. To the right is an improved trail with pine needles to soften hikers’ steps and rocks along the edges defining the trail. We opted for the right. Right? Wrong.

The trail was only of moderate difficulty, with granite rocks and some stairs along the way. The view at Mirror Lake was incredible! Except Half Dome was behind us, and the reflection we photographed was the cliffs opposite. Beautiful, but not what I wanted.

Reflection in Mirror Lake

 

Trail to the other side of Mirror Lake

 We needed to go around the end of the lake to get to the other side. The improved trail continued through a boulder field where huge granite - um boulders – had fallen from the mountain cliffs above. Although not hard, the hike through the boulder field meant watching every step to avoid twisting an ankle.

The improved trail continued, presumably around the end of Mirror Lake to the other side (that’s what the picture in the Trail Planner looked like). However, we met a ranger on the trail who told us the trail was underwater further on. We had a few choices. Door Number 1: Take off your socks and shoes and wade ¼ mile through snow melt on the trail. Door Number 2: Bushwhack through the forest and rocks above the trail, but a small part of it was still underwater. Door number 3: Turn back. I wanted Door Number 1. Dave wanted Door Number 3 but said he would do Door Number 2 for me. Just so I could get my photograph.

The ranger’s description of bushwhacking was, “Some people are choosing to bushwhack around and back to the trail.” He really didn’t describe much else, other than to say he took off his shoes and socks and walked through the water.

We set off on an unimproved trail that led up away from Mirror Lake and its wet trail. 

Part of the Mirror Lake Trail.
It's wet. Time to go higher.

Our first task was to climb up 3 large rocks to get higher than the water. Not too bad. Then we followed the dirt path through some trees, over rocks, under downed trees, down rocks, over more trees. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Dave was too tall to walk under the downed trees, so he had to duck and walk hunched over. So did I. Once he smacked his head on a low tree. Some of the “down the rocks” areas were too big of steps for me, so I sat down and scooted. I was afraid of tearing my pants on the sharp rocks. This went on for quite some time. Like 3 hours. At one point Dave commented, “There’s bushwhacking and then there’s bushwhacking.”

Dave on the unimproved trail.
You can see the trail, right?

 

The good news is, we had our hiking sticks. They were a big help as we balanced, stretched up for the next foothold, or stopped ourselves from sliding too far down. They also helped us balance on rocks and logs to get across some water. I got one foot wet, and was thinking, “That water was nothing. We should have taken Door Number 1.” 

 

Ducking under a tree.
You CAN see the trail, RIGHT?

 We took some breaks, ate some granola bars, drank some water, but the trail just seemed to go on and on. Every now and then we would come across people going the opposite direction, and they encouraged us with, “It’s not much farther” or “It’s about 300 more yards of this, then you get to some water.” Some hikers going our direction passed us. One young stud jumped from the rock I was struggling to slide down and landed on the trail. Show off. 

 Eventually we came to the part that was underwater. The hiking sticks were invaluable as we tried to balance on narrow logs over the mud and water.

Only one foot got wet, and no tears in the seat of my pants.

 

Fish Face Rock (named by me)
A little levity helps any situation.

 

Here's your sign:

After all the climbing and scrambling on and over the rocks and trees, and balancing on logs over water and mud, we came to this yellow warning sign. NOW they tell us.

Fatal Accidents?
Dying of natural causes is for wimps.

Finally, Dave saw a bridge ahead. He was so elated I thought he would do the “young stud jump” down the last rocks to the bridge. It crossed the rushing river and on to the improved trail again. Yeeesss! Snow Creek flows into Mirror Lake, so we're almost back!  

Snow Creek Bridge - a sign of civilization!

 

View downstream from the middle of the bridge

Here's your next sign:

 Mirror Lake 1.5 miles. What? By this time we were tired, our legs and arms were sore, and my knee that needs replacing was ouchy. I decided we could do this 1.5 miles if we related it to walking Trooper around the neighborhood back home. I kept up a dialogue that went like this: 

“OK, that section was walking down 15^th Street, but we’re not quite to the field yet.” 

“We just passed Lisa’s house and this downhill section is walking around the second loop.” 

“We just passed the retention pond and Cathy's house and are headed up the hill at the end of the second loop.”

As we continued on this 1.5 mile trail, it really seemed to help relating it to our walks around the neighborhood. 

 At one point we heard rustling in the bushes, and we were both thinking, “BEAR!” We picked up the pace considerably - considering we were about done in. But we didn’t want to be done in by a bear. Soon we were at Mirror Lake.

I was keeping an eye on Half Dome to see if it was covered in clouds for my picture, but it stayed clear. A legend says the image of a crying woman is on the rock face. Can you see her?

The wind had picked up, however, and when we got to Mirror Lake, the water's surface was completely ruffled, and there was no reflection of Half Dome at all. Bummer! But I did get this shot:

 

Half Dome from Mirror Lake

Dave was not thinking about my photograph at that point. He just wanted to get to the truck and drive back to the camper. We still had to walk down the road to the shuttle stop, take the shuttle to the truck, and drive back to the campsite. Turns out the paved handicap road trail was the original 2-mile round trip hike identified in the Trail Planner, so we had 1 more mile to go. Good thing it was all downhill at this point.

If you look at the Mirror Lake Loop Trail,
you will see they do not link up on the far side of the lake within the boundaries of the map.
Why wasn't this map at the beginning of the trail instead of near the end?

 All's Well That Ends Well

When we got to the bus stop, there was a couple already waiting for the next shuttle. We struck up a conversation; they were from the central coast of California and hiked the back side of Half Dome a few years ago. This is the hike daughter Kristi, son Kyle, and his then-fiancé Courtney wanted to do a few years ago. The permits to climb are given out through a lottery system, and my kids did not “win.” This hike involves a multiple hour climb to the top using ladders and cables that are fixed into Half Dome’s granite. And I thought Door Number 2 was hard! 

All in all, it was a tough day, full of surprises, and finding out what we're made of.

P.S.

Dave just kissed me goodnight and said, “Thanks for a good day at Yosemite.” I burst out laughing and said, “That’s the biggest lie I’ve ever heard.” He replied, “Any day with you is a good day.” And that’s why we’re still married.