Hike to Yosemite Falls on Saturday
June 15, 2002
Just getting out of bed on Saturday morning was a real challenge after our Friday hike to Clouds Rest.  Pj, Kyle, and Brooke were no way interested in heading off on another hike.  I even tried to bribe Brooke with a shopping trip after the hike, and she was quite upset that I would even use such unfair motherly tactics!  So Char and I decided to take on the Yosemite Falls challenge alone!  I checked the hiking book to see what we were in for.... "Starting from the Sunnyside Campground,this strenuous trail is a round-trip of 7.2 miles and takes six to eight hours to complete. It is one of the park's oldest trails and has a difficulty level of very strenuous. If you're up to a hike that ascends 2,700 feet, you're in for several treats, from the panoramic view of the Valley to the sights of the world's third-largest waterfall. In comparison to the Half Dome Hike, this trail is much shorter but is almost constantly a steep up-hill journey with many switchbacks."  ...we were soon going to find out just what an understatement "steep up-hill journey with many switchbacks" was!  If you look at the photo, we started way down at the bottom where the green is, and climbed many switchbacks before we even got to point C.  You have to look closely, but you can see the Lower Yosemite Falls at the bottom of the photo, toward the left just in the shadow.
So good ole' John gave us a ride to starting point and wished us well, and told us to take the shuttle bus back to the campground later.... because by that time he intended to have consumed a few beers!  Now, keep in mind, sore or not sore, Char is still twenty plus years younger than I am and in incredibly better shape... so even on a bad day for him, he's faster than me!  But, he was patient. Although there were times that I figured he probably could have sprinted his way up if he weren't hanging with me!  But I figure I "saved" him from "overdoing" it that day! I gave him the digital camera... thinking that perhaps it would slow him down... and whenever you give Char a camera you end up with at least one of these self portraits...  After about the first mile, there were some downhill sections on the trail.  I realized going down these short switchbacks what pain I was going to be in on the way down, if I made it all the way up! The leg muscles that I overworked on Friday were sending me a message... (everyone thinks that coming down is nothing... but coming down a steep descent can be harder on your knees and legs than going up).  Char said, "we'll worry about that on the way down!"  no sympathy.... And so I figured, what else do I have to do today...?  I might as well keep climbing!  and I knew he was right, once I was up, I'd have to come down!

Here's my silhouette with the Lower Falls in the background.  Still a long way up.  The switchbacks seemed endless.  You could see other hikers along the trail and they seemed so far away from us... and still so far away from the top.  Char was whistling and singing as he hiked up the trail... at one point some guy said to me... "what's with him...?"  Around every turn... another switchback... then finally we were getting close... renewed energy... we can sit down and eat lunch at the top!  At last we made it to the top... that was only three miles... not so bad!  I made it... sore muscles, beating sun and all!  It's amazing how great a salami sandwich and beef jerky can taste at the summit!  Char made friends with this little squirrel who really like cashews... he packed his jaws with them, and kept coming back for more... some squirrel family is going to have a cashew party this winter!
      
Once we ate, we explored the sites. and got a fellow hiker to snap a shot of Char and I together... the trip is certainly worth the outstanding view!
We realized there were a few places to explore to get some great views....   of course, another view of Half Dome from the top of Yosemite Falls....

 and Char's shadow with the famous Half Dome....
Char leaned over the cliffs to take these..... straight down the side....

and here's me in front of the rapids that lead to the Upper Falls.

And here's a good view of just how high we climbed...
yep, we were way down there just a few hours ago...

Then, the trip down.....

         
Char entertained himself taking some shots of me... you can see the two kinds of surfaces that the trail consisted of... most of the time it was choppy rocks.... and other times a gravel-ly surface.  My knees let me know all the way down that they were not too happy with me....!  But I was glad that Char didn't let me talk myself out of persevering.  Although we were both quite sore, we were also quite happy with the fact that we accomplished the hike....
Some photos of the falls on the way down....
           
Later that evening we took a walk away from the campground to get to a clearing so that we could take in the beautiful view of the stars.  Sitting on the ground watching the shooting stars and trying to explain my limited knowledge of the constellations to Kyle, Char and Brooke (who didn't believe a thing I told them).... I could feel the muscles tightening up. Char and I were both walking like Grama on Sunday....!

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