Yosemite – September 24

Glacier Point

Today our plan is to have an easier day. We were originally going to hike up to Glacier point, but it is supposed to be more challenging (a higher altitude gain) than the Nevada Falls hike. We decide to drive up and then do one of the side hikes along the way back.

The ride up is tree lined, so you can’t really see the whole view until you get to Washburn Lookout. The view from here is just incredible. We can see Vernal and Nevada Falls. From here they look so incredibly tall. It’s hard to imagine that we hiked to the top of them just two days ago!

Look closely at the second closeup of Half Dome – you can see people moving along the ridge up there!

We continued on to Glacier Point. The road is very twisty with lots of switchbacks. We saw a bus that was negotiating one of the hairpin turns and were placing bets it if would make it. It did, and soon we were at our destination – Glacier Point.

There used to be two hotels up here. I would have loved to have stayed up here. What a view! Now there is a concession stand with a deli and gift shop. We got some sandwiches for lunch at the deli.

The lookout is a short walk from the concession stand. There are views all along the way, but out there you feel like you are on the bow of one giant boat overlooking the valley! Glacier Point is at 7,214 feet.

It was fun to look down on Curry Village (practically straight down 3200 feet) and see the valley floor and everywhere that we had been already. We also could see climbers on half dome (with binoculars). There is a free telescope by the geology display where you can look at the climbers more closely. I’m amazed that there are people up that high! Lots of people come here to climb. Don’t think I’ll be trying that out any time soon!

We stopped and talked to a ranger about the area and fire management. Currently they are doing controlled burns to thin the duff on the forest floor. After 150 years of fire suppression the burn load is pretty big in all of our national forests. This is why we have such huge forest fires out here once in a while – too much fuel lying around. Normally there is a cycle of small fires that burn off the underbrush, leave a nutrient layer of ash, and open certain seed cones. In some areas like the Mariposa Groove this fire suppression stopped the growth of young trees. I’m glad someone figured it out before the trees were all gone!

We’ve noticed a really strong scent of vanilla coming off of some of the trees. You get the strongest scent in the deeper cracks in the bark (well that’s what we told Scott). Only the Jeffrey Pine smells like this. The ranger said the scent was butterscotch. While we smelled some of that, we all felt the vanilla scent was stronger than the butterscotch. It was sure yummy!

Taft Point

After Glacier Point we drove down to Sentinal Dome. The parking lot was full, but Scott did an excellent job of parking along the road. The road runs along some pretty serious drops-offs – some nearly vertical.

We planned a loop that was about 4.6 miles. We headed out to Taft Point. It is at 7503 feet, but the elevation change is only +250 feet. It feels a little harder because we are starting at such a high elevation. The trail passes through a very dense forest of cedars. It is much cooler in here and feels great. The trail leads us out into a more open area and we had a picnic lunch along the trail. The view was wonderful here – but it gets even better as we approach the rim.

There are fissures along the trail now – very thin vertical cuts in the rock that go down very far. It is hard to believe that some of these thin vertical slices of rock have been standing here for a long time. And they go down so far. We keep far from the edge.

There is a railing at the top of Taft Point so that you can lean over the edge and look down. Straight down! It is 3000 feet down to the valley below. As we are lying there we can hear a garbage truck (or some other construction vehicle) roaring by! Then it was pretty quiet. Some hawks and a peregrine falcon soar by. It is an amazing place to be hanging out!

We headed back and take the longer loop over to Sentinel Dome. We took a side trip to look out over one more overlook at this point. Here we saw a yellow bellied marmot enjoying the view. He was pretty fat and had spread himself over the top of a rock right on the edge of the overlook. We wondered if he was going to be snack food for a hawk that flew overhead, but I think he was too big for that bird.

Today’s walk had an elevation gain of 370 feet (we are at 8,122 feet at the top of the dome). For some reason this hike felt harder to me than the previous hikes that we did. I just had to walk a little slower. Elevation is a funny thing. You are gasping for breath like you’ve never exercised a day in your life. So you stop and in a minute you are totally recovered and ready to go some more. I know some people get headaches and even throw up, so a little breathlessness at elevation is not such a big deal.

Sentinal Dome

We worked our way up to Sentinal Dome. It is worth the work to get up there. The view is spectacular, and at the top of Sentinal Dome you’ve got a 360° view! It was really great to see everywhere we’ve been from so many angles.

The walk back to the car is almost all downhill and pretty fast. We saw a woman who had been injured along the trail. I’m guessing that she had sprained her ankle. When we were up on top of the dome we heard the ambulance sirens. We had heard some hikers talking about someone being hurt earlier in our walk. We estimated that it took the ambulance about 45 minutes to get to the parking lot – another 15 to get to her. Considering the terrain and location of this hike. that really wasn’t a bad response rate. She was going to have a tough walk out – the path was really uneven and filled with odd-shaped rocks. But at least she was going to have some help. I’m hoping it was the end of her trip and not the beginning. It would be a shame to have missed out on hiking through some of the trails.

Back at the hotel we hit the hot tubs to work out the muscles we used. Then we went for pizza right next door to the hotel. It is actually part of the hotel property – just across the street. The food was pretty good and they serve beer and wine there.

Tomorrow we drive out to Hetch Hetchy to see the dam.

Go back to September 23 — Go forward to September 25