Returning to the camp the fire I'd somehow remembered to start before I dropped Chris was ready to go and in no time at all I was enjoying a bacon and egg doubler with a smoky taste permeating the sweet bacon, complementing the iron like ouse of the egg yolk. Next stop Trailhead around two miles up the valley where the mist trail begins...
I'd decided to go for a walk that a) gave me options (i.e. an easy way to back out if I was feeling it on my dodgy knee); and b) was orientated around the southern side of the valley. The route I'd opted for ascends a canyon that marks the route to many of the more extreme treks available to the most intrepid, many go all the way to the top of half dome from here (perhaps Yosemite's most distinctive landmark?); this is a twelve hour plus walk that is often undertaken over two days camping in the high Serria overnight. Other routes such as the John Muir route stretch on for hundreds of miles and require a commitment of weeks rather than days! My plan was more humble... All going well I would climb up a canyon that leads to Venal falls and from there up higher still to the top of the valley where the high Sierra south of the valley begins and the even taller Nevada falls drop nearly 600ft! Both of these waterfalls run all year so the hiccup with Yosemite falls yesterday – there weren't any water to fall wasn't going to be repeated. And as I mentioned earlier if I wasn't feeling great after yesterday's exertions I'd be able to back out at Venal falls.
Thankfully I felt even better today than yesterday, in no small part to being better fuelled and hydrated and setting out before the very hottest part of the day (10am vs. 12pm). The path as it really can only figure to be given the vertiginous heights of the valley was steep, although perhaps not as relentlessly steep as yesterday? Even so getting up the side of each waterfall's cliff face certainly pushed me endurance to the limit – again the 90 degree heat couldn't help but take its toll. But once more the views back to the valley as I climbed ever higher (a more modest ascent to just under 6,000ft, but still over 2,000ft of climbing) were awesome and although I didn't have Chris on point with the camera I still managed to get a few great shots. That said if we exclude the different perspective of the valley the south side provided a couple of distinct elements I didn't encounter yesterday: two active (can I say that or is it just for volcanoes?) waterfalls streaming their misty ribbons of ice cold water over sheer granite walls polished smooth; and a fleeting brush with the southern high Sierra on my arrival at the top of Nevada falls. These highlands felt completely different in terms of the landscape and flora of its northern sibling we'd visited yesterday.
Nevada Falls
Unlike yesterday today's route was a loop rather than a straight up and back down retracing the steps we taken upwards on the way back down. The mist trail I'd gone up took me to the top of Nevada falls where routes fan out in the shadow of liberty cap, a towering granite monolith that rises from the shelf the falls plunge from which just as promised looks exactly like the top of a liberty cap mushroom. The way back down would take me down the start of the John Muir trail back to the valley floor. Happily it was a little less steep than the mist trail, avoiding the waterfalls and instead following a more gentle contour down the opposite side of the granite valley walls to the canyons edges the mist trail follows. The sun dappled through the trees as I walked back down to the valley below and I found so much wonder walking along the dusty tracks, not a thought of anything other than this magical land out west existed in my mind.
Liberty Cap
I should before signing off mention this evening and its two notable features (I'm not going to count getting my ass kicked at Scrabble by Chris as a notable feature). The first was the cooking of the marinaded baby back ribs and new york strip steak (an extremely well marbled thick cut of sirloin to you or I) cooked over wood in our fire pit. And second of all the stars... I don't think I've ever seen such bright stars, even in the desert. The Milky Way stood out like a ribbon of white tinsel and the moonless sky was still bright enough with starlight alone of mark our the edges of the cliff faces towering far above. I'll miss Yosemite so. It seems as though I live the right way here with little or no conscious effort... Days are filled with hikes in an environment that I cannot quite comprehend, its vast towering peaks, its calm cleansing air; writing, reading, and even a little yoga! If I can keep this time and the desert with me there's no telling where this could lead. An exciting thought to end another inspiring day.
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