Adventure: 094 - Yosemite

Capture California, the Game-2012

Adventure: 094 - Yosemite

Team: Thing One, Thing Two

Date:  May-September 2012

Location: Yosemite

Description:
To regain that initial view of Yosemite, coming into the Valley up the Merced or down from Big Oak Flat or even better, through the Wawona tunnel and seeing the sight of the Valley flood through your eyes filling your mind with wonder. While you can never see something again for the first time, you can enjoy the awe first timers have. Such as in June when we took a couple of our youngest daughters friends to the Valley and let them enjoy the sights for the first time. Or reading a book, such as Victoria Howell's A Trip to the Yosemite Valley, which were a series of letters to her mother about seeing Yosemite at the turn of the century. They all remind us of the blessing we have with Yosemite in our backyard.

While preparing for our John Muir Trail journey, we have been reading books on Yosemite. One of them being Bertha Smith's, Yosemite Legends--a book of the legends of Yosemite. One of them has the Ahwahnechee view of their home in the Valley. The view you get is that the this is their Eden where everything was golden to these people. After a time, greed invaded their lives and they were driven from the Valley to wander, and then return only to be driven out by European's.



Of course, Thing Two was driven batty by Thing One quoting from J Smeaton Chase's book Yosemite Trails: Camp and Pack Train in the Yosemite. He talked about several trips he made in Yosemite Valley and up to the Hetch-Hetchy and then through the Tuolumne. A wonderful read.

90% of the people congregate around the Valley, and we can understand why. But in our view some of the best parts of Yosemite is outside of the Valley. Just hiking the rims is a great experience and you cut down on a lot of the people traffic. But even better is some of the area we explored north of Tuolume Meadows. Seeing the other falls—California, Water-Wheel, the Cascades,... all made a great impression on us, wanting more. Or the southern Yosemite with its tall trees.