A Symphony in Granite

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Yosemite Valley

Nearly all books (and many websites) on Yosemite contain an apocryphal story, which has been around since at least the mid 1960s.

A visitor walks into the valley information center and asks the ranger what they should do with only one day to visit Yosemite.

The ranger responds “Weep”.





The first part of my second day in the park covers Yosemite Valley.

As noted yesterday, the valley has a huge traffic problem.

Since my campground sits at the eastern end, I have no choice but to add to it.

In a convertible, the views partly make up for the traffic.

They are not as good as people may think, because the road passes through big areas of pine forests with views of nothing but trees.

The rest, though, is spectacular.





One major thing makes the backups more bearable.

Parking lots at the major sites tend to be spread out.

A small lot sits close to the trailhead, with more lots further away.

Many people treat these lots the same way as a mall parking lot, circulating endlessly for a spot in the closest lot.

This backs up traffic onto the road.

By parking further away and hiking five to ten more minutes, they would get there much sooner.

I did this throughout the valley.

Ahwahnee Hotel

My first major site is the only one not nature related, the Ahwahnee Hotel.

It opened in 1927, as part of an effort to get people to visit the National Park.

Gilbert Stanly Underwood designed the hotel to be the grandest in the National Park system, and succeeded.

The public rooms contain large open spaces decorated with Southwestern geometric motifs and large Navaho rugs.

The public hallways are lined with paintings of Yosemite’s major sites.

Room rates equal that of a major luxury resort; none of them can match the setting of this one!





The hotel sits near the main visitors’ center.

It contains a small museum on how the valley formed.

Glaciers pushed through the granite during the last ice age, carving the cliffs as they went.

When John Muir initially proposed this theory in the 1860s, it was quite controversial, but is now accepted.

The center really shines with a three dimensional model of the valley with all major features and trails labeled.

This model is as detailed as the model of Yellowstone I saw over two months ago (see So This is What A View Looks Like).

Of course, it contains my amazing hike on the Panorama Trail from yesterday, which looks harder here than it did in real life.

Yosemite Falls

Next up is Yosemite Falls, the tall waterfall seen from Glacier Point yesterday.

The waterfall can be viewed from almost anywhere in the eastern half of the valley, but it gets better close up.

A trail leads away from the parking lot, but visitors who do research know this is not the best path.

The wanted path is along the road to a kiosk.

It sits directly in front of a row of pines perfectly framing the waterfall in the distance.

This is another of those pictures of Yosemite that every visitor wants to take.





The kiosk calls this waterfall ‘the Highest in North America’.

The designation, like many around waterfalls (see Winding Roads and Falling Water) is highly debatable.

First of all, Yosemite Falls may actually be two waterfalls.

The stream first drops down a tall cliff over half way to the valley floor, then passes through long series of little cascades, then a final drop over another cliff.

The more important reason is that Yosemite Falls is a seasonal waterfall.

In April and May it positively roars, the view shown in so many paintings and pictures.

Through summer it becomes a little stream dribbling down the cliffs.

Finally, in most years it dries up by September, leaving behind a long algae streak.

Most ‘highest waterfalls’ run year round.





The duration of Yosemite Falls depends almost entirely on the snowfall the previous winter.

Like most of the Rockies, Yosemite got the most snow in a decade.

This was incredibly fortunate for me, because it means Yosemite Falls is still running.

The falls is a tiny little stream streaking down a huge cliff and then merely a large one.

It’s pretty unimpressive aside from the incredible height, but I need to remember how rare it is to see the falls at all this time of year.





Past the waterfall, the trail follows the stream through an area of spread out rocks.

This trail ends at the parking lot.

Along the way, a sign marks the site of a very important sawmill.

John Muir (see The Golden State), who was so crucial to preserving this valley, first moved here in 1868 to work at the mill.





The road then passes something that looks like a hybrid between a regular campsite and a refugee camp.

It contains hundreds of tents, crammed together as tightly as they will fit.

This is Camp 4, probably the only campsite on the National Register of Historic Places.

The giant cliffs of Yosemite have sung a siren song to rock climbers as long as the activity has existed.

They started making serious attempts in the late 1940s, when improving equipment made the climbs feasible.

Over the ensuring decades, Yosemite’s rock masters conquered route after route.

All of them stayed (and still stay) at Camp 4.

Over nightly campfires they swapped stories and notes, forging a modern sport in the process.

Rock climbers consider this camp so sacred that when the park announced a plan to replace the campsite with staff housing in 1997, protests erupted worldwide.





After Camp 4, the road passes close to El Capitan.

The world’s largest cliff, it dominates the western end of the valley.

From a distance it looks like a nearly vertical wall of granite, but close up reveals a web of cracks.

Near the base, the sheer size of this rock is nearly overpowering.

I have to point out that most people need to park and walk to get this view, while I just pulled over and looked up 😊

Bridal Veil Falls

The next feature of the valley is Bridal Veil Falls.

The area really illustrates the problem with Yosemite traffic, because the closet parking lot is at the end of a short spur road.

Traffic backs up on this road because everyone is circulating the small lot at the end.

I parked at a lot further out and hiked ten minutes through the woods.





From the closer lot, a paved trail snakes into the woods.

It is absolutely filled with people.

The trail reaches a stream.

When it does, it has a view of a tall cliff with a ribbon of water falling down it.

The trail follows the stream to a huge pile of boulders at the base of the cliff.

A sign states that hiking further can be fatal, but many people climb on the boulders anyway.

This requires scrambling skill, and solid footing.

If it feels slippery, stay off!





Bridal Veil Falls in low water provides a special treat.

The cliff is a straight portion of the valley wall instead of being part of a bowl or gorge.

It has high winds.

In high water, the waterfall is a long and impressive curtain waterfall, a higher but narrower version of Vernal Falls (see yesterday).

The wind blows the spray around.

In low water, the waterfall becomes a delicate ribbon of water, and the wind blows the entire waterfall around.

I got to see the waterfall sway back and forth, soaking different parts of the boulder pile depending on how the wind is blowing.

Very few waterfalls provide this sight!





My final place in the valley is Valley View, which my guidebook recommends seeing just before leaving the valley.

Unlike the other sweeping views of Yosemite, which tend to be high up, this one is right on the banks of the Merced River.

Beyond lies a meadow, and then the famous cliffs, ending with the Three Brothers.

El Capitan dominates the view behind the parking lot.





Soon after the view, the road forks.

The branch heading north climbs up the side of the valley from the road junction, steep and steady.

As noted back at Tunnel View yesterday, it follows the original settlers’ route.

Above the road sits glorious carved granite.

One overlook has a great view up the Merced Valley, showing where the V shaped valley becomes the wide gorge of Yosemite Valley proper.

The abrupt transition marks the lower limit of the glaciers.

I finally reached the viewpoint I first saw two days ago (see Gold Country).

El Capitan appears a distance away.

The official name is ‘Half Dome View’ thanks to the view of Half Dome in the far distance.





Past the view and the burn area, the road enters a sea of pine trees.

After Yosemite Valley, these are not fun at all.

I noticed the bear kill signs the guide mentioned yesterday.

I reached Crane Flat, which has a sign to check gas.

It holds the last gas station for many miles, with prices that look like a cruel joke.

Thanks to that stop in Sonora, I still have plenty.

Soon afterwards, I got on the Tioga Road.

Tioga Road

The Tioga Road was first built in 1882 to reach mining claims.

The Park Service turned the wagon track into a real road in the 1920s.

It is the only road that reaches the deep interior of Yosemite National Park, as well as the highest paved crossing of the Sierra Nevada.

Of the millions of visitors to Yosemite Valley, relatively few see this side of the landscape.





The first part of the road looks just like the road out of Yosemite Valley, a sea of pine trees.

As it climbs, rocks start appearing on the side of the road.

Occasional large sloping areas of granite appear, granite domes.

Pine trees grow in cracks.

Still climbing, a long view of a distant canyon to the left appears through the trees.

This is the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne, which only dedicated backpackers can reach.

The road rolls through yet more pine trees and big rocks.

Just when it’s all getting repetitive, the real show starts.





The road reaches an overlook of a narrow granite valley.

Behind it sits a long ridge of spiky peaks.

The ridge is Clouds Rest, named for the clouds that frequently form around them.

The road follows the side of the valley past glacially carved walls, still climbing.

The valley widens out to reveal a huge view of high Sierra majesty, seemingly endless granite domes with the occasional pine tree.

Very few roads reach scenery like this (see The Highway in the Sky).





It seems impossible for it to get better, but it does.

Tioga Road crests the ridge next to the valley, reaching Tenaya Creek just in front of Clouds Rest.

This creek flows through a fantastic gorge all the way to Yosemite Valley.

Incredibly, the gorge follows an old fault line, so the view includes the entire gorge.

It reaches all the way to Yosemite Valley and Half Dome!

Looking in the other direction reveals something nearly as special, a mountain lake surrounded by peaks of granite.

Welcome to Olmstead Point, the fantastic Yosemite overlook relatively few visitors experience.





Past the viewpoint, the road follows the valley to the lake, Tenaya Lake.

Close up, it’s even more beautiful than from a distance, an expanse of blue reflecting the grey granite domes all around.

Smooth granite slopes right to the waterline.

Unlike some lakes in Yosemite with similar views, this one is natural.

The lake has a picnic area along the shore with perfect views, after which the road follows the shore along a granite cliff.





Past the lake, the road climbs again.

A huge granite dome with no trees appears on the right, followed by a pass.

A long stretch of pine trees follows, with occasional glimpses of granite peaks in the distance.

This lasts until the road descends to a wide open meadow with views of granite domes behind it to die for.

These are the Tuolumne Meadows, the scenic jackpot of the high country of Yosemite.





The meadow itself is large swampy area with virtually no trees.

These are the source of the Tuolumne River.

The road has a number of ‘no dumping’ signs, since these meadows are also the source of San Francisco’s water supply (certain people think that is a reason TO dump here, seeThe Golden State).

Granite domes of all sizes surround the open meadow.

Bare granite peaks stretch beyond them a long way.

People tend to drive slowly through this next stretch of road, even though it is straight and flat, to drink in the scenery.





The meadows are popular enough in summer that the eastern end holds visitors facilities.

These include a sizable campground and the only general store on the highway.

The cookout style food they serve is pricy but tolerable.

In summer, when Yosemite Valley becomes too hot, rock climbers migrate here to hone their skills on the surrounding granite domes.

Lembert Dome

The meadows end at a large granite dome shaped like a tapered funnel, Lembert Dome.

A hiking trail climbs near the top, one of the shortest and easiest hikes in the high Sierra.

The trail makes a loop around the dome, so it has two trail heads.

Hikers who do research know to take the second one along the road, because it reaches the summit quicker.

This trailhead is along a spur road that is completely unmarked except for a sign reading ‘backcountry permits’.

The road reaches a huge parking lot with at least a dozen bear boxes along the edges.

Remember to use one!





After the glory of Panorama Trail, this one is initially disappointing.

It heads uphill from the parking lot through a sea of short pine trees.

The trees are much shorter than those in the valley due to the harsh winters at this altitude.

The trail climbs through rocky switchbacks through a view that never seems to change.

Finally, it reaches a trail junction in a saddle of the ridge, and turns left.





Initially, the trail looks like before as it climbs the ridge.

Soon, open slopes of smooth granite start to appear.

The trail becomes really rocky, although still in forest.

The open slopes near the trail get larger and larger.

Finally, the trail bursts from the woods onto the actual dome, a huge sheet of tilted granite filled with cracks.

Some trees grow in the cracks.

It looks just like the domes I saw from the road earlier, close up.





The trail officially ends here, but the granite itself is easy enough to walk on.

Be sure to memorize the area where the trail starts, because it has no sign for finding it later.

The walk up the dome covers slanted granite.

The big cracks must be scrambled over.

Near the top, the dome becomes narrower and steeper.

Rock scrambling now becomes necessary, and some parts have a long painful drop off.

I finally reached a conical section with a slope of sixty degrees and decided to stop.





The upper portion of the dome has a fantastic view of the area.

The meadows stretch off to the west, with a wall of granite domes beyond them.

East reveals a high gorge surrounded by bare peaks.

North and south reveal an endless view of bare granite mountains in the distance.

This trail has the best view of the heart of the Sierra Nevada for the effort.





Beyond Lembert Dome, Tioga Road climbs through a high valley along the Tuolumne River with granite peaks in the distance.

This area contained the mining claims for which the wagon road was built.

The peaks get closer and closer.

I saw a glorious high sierra sunset during this stretch.

Finally, the road reaches a narrow pass with an entrance station to Yosemite National Park, Tioga Pass.

This pass sits at almost 10,000 feet, higher than Glacier Point, the highest paved pass in California (but not the highest paved road).





I’m pretty sure the highway designers did not intend it, but this pass divides two of California’s most controversial water projects, involving the state’s two largest cities.

To the west, the Tuolumne flows into the Hetch Hechy Reservoir, which destroyed a valley nearly as dramatic as Yosemite Valley.

To the east, Lee Vining Creek flows to Mono Lake, which was nearly destroyed by the city of Los Angeles.

Tomorrow covers that decades long fight.





Over the pass, the scenery changes dramatically.

Until this point, the road has been lined with grass and trees.

The areas not covered in grey granite are covered in green.

Abruptly, all of this disappears to be replaced by desert scrub.

The change, of course, is caused by the Sierra rain shadow (see A Beautiful Place to Die).

Tioga Pass has the most vivid demonstration of a rain shadow that I’ve ever seen.





The road soon reaches another glacial canyon, Lee Vining Canyon.

It’s named for an early prospector.

The road starts at the head and slowly drops down the side.

Thanks to the lack of trees, the views are long, even in twilight.

Some roads branch off into side canyons.

The scenery is supposed to be as dramatic as anything else in the Sierra, but I don’t have time to see any of it.

Near the end, the sides get lower and lower, finally turning into a wide valley.

This reaches Lee Vining the town at the head of the Owens Valley.





When people in Lee Vining want to eat gourmet food, they don’t head to a fancy restaurant.

The area doesn’t have any.

Instead, they drive to a brightly lit gas station at the intersection of the Tioga Road and US 395.

Inside contains the Woa Nellie Deli, one of the most famous roadside eateries in California.

It’s not much to look at, but it serves some of the most delicious provisions in this part of the state.

Like any deli, its meat heavy, with some unusual ingredients.

Care for some buffalo meatloaf?

The prices are high for a deli, but the quality justifies them.

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Photos

Yosemite Falls
Yosemite Falls framed by pine trees, another picture that every visitor wants to take.

Ahwahnee Hotel lounge
The stunning main louge at the Ahwahnee Hotel

Yosemite Valley model
My hike on Panorama Trail on the model of Yosemite Valley. It started at the dashed white lines in the lower center, swung around the top of the cliffs to the right to the upper center, and then followed the white line to the bottom

El Capitan
The top part of El Capitan. The cliff is far to large for a single photo

Bridal Veil Falls
A rare sight: Bridal Veil Falls blown by the wind

Valley View
Yosemite cliffs across the Merced River at Valley View

Valley Entrace
The spot where the Merced Canyon becomes Yosemite Valley, shot with camera zoom

Clouds Rest
Clouds Rest just below the clouds, seen from Olmstead Point

Half Dome from Olmstead Point
The backside of Half Dome, from Olmstead Point. This is the side hikers climb up using cables.

High Sierra majesty
More majestic high Sierra scenery, from Olmstead Point

Teneya Lake and peaks
Teneya Lake surrounded by granite peaks, from Olmstead Point

Teneya Lake
The glory of Teneya Lake, from the beach on the west end.

Tuolumne Meadows
Tuolumne Meadows looking east.

Trail to Lembert Dome
Typical view on the way to Lembert Dome

Tuolumne Meadows from Lembert Dome
View of the meadows from Lembert Dome on the east end

Sierra Crest
The crest of the Sierra Nevada, looking east from Lembert Dome