Shower: Here I Come!

Chris, Tirina & Alan Swartout at LYV Base Camp

I haven't written much about our base camp at Little Yosemite Valley, but it definitely deserves mention.  It was certainly spartan - a necessity when you are carrying your every need on your back.  But by backpacking standards, it was very decent.  We used the round of one of the fallen trees, set upon a smaller round, to make a dining table.  We used smaller sections of truck for chairs.

Reliance foldable water carriers

I'd also say that we ate very well.  Chris has done this enough times that he knows what brands of backpacking food are yummy (Mountain House) and which are not.  He also knows good non-backpacking foods.  We ate red beans and rice, beef stew, chicken teriyaki, lasagne and pesto for our dinnertime meals.  I'm pretty picky about my pesto, but I thought it had a pretty good flavor (or maybe anything tastes good when you're backpacking).   Lunch was always a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, if only because it's so easy to pack.  It's not my favorite, but it was sufficient.  I tried different kinds of Justin's nut butters to mix it up a little. All of our food, of course, went into the bear lockers that are provided by the park.  We never did see a bear at Little Yosemite Valley.  Our only bear experience was at the backpacker's campground on the valley floor.  I was glad!

Chris Swartout's Hammock

For water, we used Reliance foldable water carriers.  Every morning, we walked to the Merced River and pumped filtered water into these storage containers, and then walked them back to camp.  This more than took care of our water needs every day.

Little Yosemite Valley to Happy Isles,
John Muir Trail

Chris was also the only person in camp who had a hammock.  He really likes relaxing/napping in his hammock after a long day's hike.  Little did we realize it would become a major source of amusement as we watched Chris put it up.  On the first attempt, Chris tied everything in place, got in the hammock, and one of the ropes broke, causing him a somewhat embarrassing landing.  But he got up, affixed a new rope in place of the old one and once more tied it to the tree.  This time, he got into the hammock, and the winding of the rope slid so that he was one inch off the ground.  Fortunately, on the third attempt, all went well!  Tirina and I, however, were watching all of this transpire from our tent.  It was better than television's Funniest Home Videos!

Alan Swartout, Nevada Fall

All good things must come to an end.  I needed to leave a day early, so I could get back to my family in school.  Although I had managed to arrange things with most of my classes, there was one exam that I could not delay (because it was given electronically).  I was planning to skip it, but if I hiked down to Happy Isles today, I could possibly get home in time to take my exam and preserve a good grade in my class.  And truthfully, I was beyond ready for a shower!
Since Alan also wanted to go home and work on some things, we hiked down the John Muir Trail together. (Either that or he was being quite the gentlemen.)  We packed up our stuff, took one tent with us, left the food and packed out most of our garbage.  Our packs were at least 15 pounds lighter than when we started and much easier to manage than the day we hiked in!  This made for faster and happier hiking.

Half Dome, Mt. Broderick, Liberty Cap & Nevada Fall

As we passed Nevada Fall and began to descend on the John Muir Trail, I looked up and said goodbye to Half Dome, as well as to Mt. Broderick, Liberty Cap and Nevada Fall.  The John Muir Trail offers an impressive view of all four landmarks just before you start descending down the many switchbacks to Vernal Fall.
Probably the worst thing about the John Muir Trail is that you have to share it with mule trains.  Most of the time you can keep ahead of them, but eventually you do get passed.  Then they stop for a while and you pass them and repeate all over again, which means you get to "enjoy" the fresh essence of excrement all the way down the trail.  I'd probably complain less if the mules were carrying my backpack, but they weren't, so here we are.

Footbridge near Vernal Fall

The best thing about the John Muir Trail is that you don't kill your knees on the way down the several hundred steep granite steps of the Mist Trail.  And given that there was so much rain this year, and the Merced running so strongly even now in July, the Mist Trail would be guaranteed to get you soaked.  Taking the John Muir Trail is a little bit longer, but even this has its advantages.

Vernal Fall from the footbridge

We had missed Vernal Fall on the way up because we took the Panorama Trail.  We could hear the Merced River get louder and louder as we descended the switchbacks.  The sound of roaring water was always there telling us we were getting closer to our destination.  When we finally reached the Vernal Fall footbridge, we knew that meant we had only 1 mile left of a nicely paved footpath. 

High Sierra Trail Sign: Half Dome - 8.2 Miles

When we finally reached the High Sierra Loop Trail sign and, shortly thereafter, the bridge at Happy Isles, our trek was over.  Although we could have caught a bus, the backpacker's parking lot wasn't far, so we walked another half mile or so to the parking lot.  It was odd to see my car covered with so much dust.  I unlocked it, opened up the back and we both took off our packs, and put on our comfortable shoes.

Next stop:  Housekeeping, where they have showers.  For a small fee, you can get a nice, hot shower.  I enjoyed every second of it thoroughly.  It felt so good to have clean hair and clothes on again!  Since it was still early, only about 12:30 pm on Sunday, we decided to visit the Ahwahnee and its famed Sunday buffet.  We managed to get in, and  I splurged and had some champagne.  What a glorious end to our trip, to have luncheon in such a beautiful space, listening to some awesome piano playing!

We left Yosemite National Park after lunch and started our three and a half hour drive home, back to my family and to school.  But not before taking one final look at Half Dome, from the lawn behind the Ahwahnee Hotel.  It was mind boggling to think that I had been on top only two days before.  As always, I am very blessed.

Half Dome, from the Ahwahnee Hotel