Preps
I wake up at dawn (according to my criteria) and am on my way to the valley south of mine. It’s an hour away since I don’t have a flying car. Today I want to first take the Mist Trail then the Panorama Trail then the 4-Miles Trail. I’ll then have to walk back to the car. From what I saw on the map it should be 25-26km with 2000m of difference in height. Clearly it won’t be easy but I’ve got a healthy mix of optimism and madness so I don’t see that as a problem. For that hike, I reorganize my camera bag to fit a big water bottle and some cereal snacks on top of my second lens. My camera is around my neck, ready to shoot!
Mist Trail
The beginning of the trail is easy but overrun by tourists in flip flops. It’s getting tougher soon enough and when we get close to the falls it gets really demanding. The view is worth it however. These falls are in the top 10 of the world and the trail is definitely well named (Mist Trail). The only problem is, it’s too nice and I’ve got my camera so I have to fight the urge to stop every other step to take a picture ;) It takes me 2 hours to complete the 6-7 km (600m of height difference)
A short cut to mushrooms
After a quick break for water and snacks, I’m back on the trail towards the Panorama Trail. The signs are not always very visible and I miss one at a junction… to realize it 45min later. I was finding it a bit suspect that the trail was so easy and going downhill. I’m now faced with a tough choice; I keep on going on that trail and cut my original plan short or I suck it up, turn around and look for the right trail losing 1h30 and adding a few kilometers to my total. After a few seconds of mental flogging (blaming myself for being more interested in looking for good angles for my pictures than looking for signs) I remember that after all I’m a warrior and who cares about a few more kilometers anyway. I retrace my steps hoping that the junction was not right after the break I took. Murphy's Law kicking it… it was right after the break. I still hope not to fall under Murphy's Law every time after all these years! On the bright side, that little detour allowed me to walk (twice) a little trail nested against a cliff with a little fall going over it.
Margin of error
I’m back on the right rail and while I’m writing I went over my distance calculation over again. My initial calculation was wrong unsurprisingly. I thought that the Panorama Trail was including the Mist Trail but it’s not the case. It’s 13-14km by itself with an extra 4-5km for my little detour and to be honest, that trail is endless. It goes up and up in the mountain during hours with very few indications for directions and distance. The advantage is I have the trail for myself, no tourists here, and the views are great; that trail clearly deserves its 5 stars with its breathtaking vista points on the valley, the half-dome, the different falls of Yosemite. I arrive at Glacier point 5 hours later (km 23-26 – 7h of hiking). I’m dead, my legs are gone, I haven’t eaten yet I’m seriously considering surrendering and taking the bus to come back down in the valley. The plan was to arrive here in 3-4 hours, have lunch and be on my way down merrily. I did not accounted for my questionable math skills (6-7 km) and my vision issues (4-5km)
Glacier Point
Glacier Point is tourist-land. The views on the valley are great but because you can come here by car/bus it’s a shit show. You can tell the hikers from the others though; you just have to look at their face (that and the fact that they don’t wear flip flops either). The half-hour break and the sandwich work miracles on me. My morale is back up and I’m able to convince myself that what remains is 10ish km going downhill… nothing to sweat about. At that point, I actually believe I did only half of the distance and not 2/3, so in retrospect I really don’t understand my decision to continue hiking… maybe I’m "a bit stupid"/"a warrior" (you choose) after all. Furthermore I just have enough time to wrap it up before being caught in the open by the night.
The madhouse
Taking the time to snap a few pictures for myself and for a group of Japanese girls hitting on me, I’m back on the trail (after a quick 1 mile detour to another vista point). The first part is across the forest before reaching the cliff and starting zigzagging down. The view once again is breathtaking; I can see the entry of the valley with the sun slowly setting in that direction. At this time of the day, only crazy people are on this trail. First a group of guys without bags are going up as fast as they can; then a girl around 20 is also going up but this time yogging… that leaves me speechless. The weariness is getting to as I find myself speaking to squirrels and even singing them songs to thank them for cheering for me. None of them responded…
Photography 101
The way down is tricky and my legs are slower to react to the occasional slips, I about to end up on my ass a few times. I don’t stop anymore because I feel that my legs are about to go on strike. It must show on my pictures since I have to come up with a new way to take pictures without having to stop. As soon as I see something interesting, I slow down a bit, adjust the settings, walk in place while talking a few pictures then resume walking. This technique works quite well because my legs don’t even realize I stopped ;) It takes me 1h40 to complete the 7 kilometers of descent before I’m finally back on the valley floor. Going uphill destroyed my left hip and going downhill my right knee, I wonder if it says anything about my political views…
The price of blood
Flat! Flaaaaaaaat! I’m now truly dead on my feet but I still have to get back to the car (5-6 km). On the flat I get back to my New York pace and head to the promise land car. I’m expecting a nice little walk along the river with the sun setting and it’s almost that. What I was not expecting is the horde of mosquitoes warming me. These bloodsuckers probably hope to feed off me, sensing the tired beast (me) won’t put up a fight. How wrong they were, it was a slaughterhouse, dozens will fall but more will keep on coming. I’ll see the results of their handiwork the next day on my legs. I paid a heavy price but theirs was higher!
Wild life
With minutes left before reaching the car, I’m granted with another surprise. A young deer is grazing quietly in the high grass next to the road. A group of humans is watching him and taking pictures but it does not seem to care at all. The wildlife member did not seem very wild. I was already suspecting the squirrels to work for park and recreations… maybe they are not the only one doing so…
Bed sweet Bed
10 hours and around 37-38km later I’m finally back to the start…spent. And believe it or not, I stretched! For my defense, I was a bit worried by the state of my legs and I wanted to be able to walk the next day. After the hour ride back to my tent, I had plenty of time to cool down and I was now walking like a very old man. A quick shower and to bed later, I start my 2nd fire as easily as the first one but this time to avoid freezing to death in the middle of the night. I refined my technique. I put more wood and left the slit barely opened. On top of that I set my phone to ring every 2 hours to feed the fire. Everything was in place for me to spend a warm night in my heated tent.