With Martin’s parents in town and off
exploring California, Martin and I decided to meet up with them in Yosemite
Valley for a weekend of hiking. It
resulted in both a hike to Nevada Falls and walks down memory lane – both for
me and Martin.
Martin and I left work early on Friday to
beat the traffic and to enjoy a quiet night before the craziness began (e.g.
hiking, climbing and walking all over the national park). We got into the valley around 5 and I was
immediately flooded with old childhood memories: Mother’s Day weekends with my
mom’s extended family, hiking up Yosemite Falls with the family, celebrating my
grandparents 55th wedding anniversary with dinner at the Mountain Room and of
course the desire to hike Half Dome… We
even stayed in Curry Village, a place I had always longed to stay at growing up
thanks to the cute tent cabins, ice cream parlor and public swimming pool. Martin too was able to reminisce about his
last trip to Yosemite over 15 years ago with his best friend Peter. I had heard the story before – two young German
guys arriving in the valley with no money for the entrance fee, “sneaking” into
the Park and swimming in the river during March.
With no big plans for the night, Martin and
I stayed in the village for dinner and enjoyed our books in the Curry Lounge
before heading back to our “romantic” tent cabin for the night.
The next day was spent exploring the valley
both with and without Martin’s parents (they didn’t arrive until 2pm) including
a trip to Mirror Lake (much less impressive after a dry winter), walks along
the river and to the church, and pit stops at the Ahwahnee Hotel, both for
breakfast with just me and Martin and for afternoon drinks with his
parents. We wrapped up the day with
dinner at the Mountain Room and retired early in preparation for the early
start on Sunday morning. ..we were going hiking!
At 7 am, the alarms went off and we were
soon on our way up to Vernal and Nevada Falls – a mere 5 hour hike there and
back. I surprised myself with lack of
fatigue and general good mood and unintentionally agreed to hike Half Dome with
Martin the following year (call it nostalgia for my past dreams and goals)… In fact the most worrying part of the hike
was to hear that 1) this was the hike Peter and Martin had taken in March, 15
years prior, 2) the infamous swim they had taken was in fact in a small pool
just above Nevada Falls (aka only 20 feet upstream) and 3) they had to go
around a few locked gates to complete the hike because the trails were closed
for winter. Yes, he swam in freezing
cold water, just upstream from a massive waterfall when all trails were closed…he
really is special, isn’t he?
Here are some photos from the hike…Unfortunately
they do nothing for the actual beauty of the hike, but thankfully none of them
include Martin swimming:
The Germans lead the way up to Vernal Falls
Vernal Falls, the First of Two on the Trek
The view of Neveda Falls from the John Muir Trail,
(we hiked up the other side on the Mist Trail )
Thankfully he listened this time around
We wrapped up our trip with coffee and ice
cream that afternoon and headed back to the city while Martin’s parents stayed
behind for a few more days.
