Upper Yosemite Falls

Thursday 31st October

It had been a very disturbed night. At first it had felt less cold, mainly because we were warmer when we went to bed, but our sleep was disturbed and each time we woke up it felt colder and was harder to get back to sleep. First it was noisy neighbours for whom the simple camp rule "quiet after 10pm" was too complicated to understand, then at around 1pm there was a huge amount of crashing and banging. We assumed that this was a bear trying the food lockers because it came from different areas. Then at 3am Martin woke me up to tell me that there was a bear outside the tent. Apart from the fact that he let a huge blast of icy air into the sleeping bag this news was not conducive to sleep. I don't know whether there really was a bear or whether it was his imagination but I did know that no matter how badly I needed the rest room I wouldn't be exiting the tent until sun rise!

I think I was mildly hyperthermic by morning because I couldn't move. Martin was up so I was assuming that a cup of coffee would eventually arrive which might enable me to stir. Imagine my dismay when he stuck his head in the tent and said that a disaster had occurred - we were out of gas! My response was to pull the sleeping bag back over my head.....fortunately Martin is much more resourceful. He drove over to Yosemite village, bought a new gas canister and then went to the deli and got me a hot coffee takeaway. What a star, he earned so many Brownie points!

By the time I had emerged from my cocoon, made a long overdue visit to the restroom and drunk my lovely hot coffee, Martin had moved onto frying eggs! After a very chilly breakfast we dismantled the tent and packed up the car having made the decision to return to San Jose later this afternoon after another day's hiking. There were a couple of reasons for this: firstly the discomfort of the extremely cold nights and secondly because although we have only explored a tiny part of this vast area we would have exhausted the trails that started from the valley floor by the afternoon.  Also, and most importantly, we had nearly run out of food!  Our vague plan for a future trip is to return and do some long distance trails with wild camping to save retracing our steps back to the valley campsite each evening......but that adventure will definitely need better weather.

We resisted the temptation to go to the lounge and headed down to the Yosemite falls parking area. It was a beautiful morning with bright sunshine and a higher temperature than yesterday although it was still a bit crispy round the edges. We shed a couple of layers, decided to eat our mid morning snack before we set off to save having to carry it up the mountain......and finally set off on our hike up to Upper Yosemite Falls.

It was a beautiful trail up through the trees with short switch backs ascending at a very steep rate. We were climbing the opposite side of the valley today and so we were in full sunshine. This meant that not only was there no snow underfoot but it was hot! As well as stopping to admire the view and catch our breath we were constantly shedding layers until we were down to t shirts and sweating, what a contrast! There was also a lot more traffic today but fortunately most of it was pretty slow moving and we were able to quickly pass it by. At this point we could see up to the top of the falls (no water falling at this time of year) and were amazed to see several hundred feet above us a slack line strung across the rocks and a tiny dot indicating that someone was out on it 6600 feet above sea level with a 2500 feet drop beneath them!

We continued climbing until we reached the overlook point for the falls where the views across the valley to Glacier Point and beyond were every bit as stunning as they had been the previous day in reverse. It was another perfect place for a quick sandwich break, basking in the hot sunshine, before we descended to the platform above the falls and a birds eye view of the person currently out on the slack line. We watched in awe for a while, even being so close to the edge so high up was unnerving, impossible to imagine what it felt like to be out in mid air at such a height.

Just around the corner from this spectacle we found a series of deep pools surrounded by slick rocks, which in Spring and early summer would be under water but at this time of year were easily accessible and meant that we could clamber across and rejoin the trail which continued to Upper Yosemite Peak. We decided at this point to retrace our steps back to the valley floor rather than going any further. There was no "loop" route that we could do today so however far we went we were going to have to come back down the same way.  It was quite fun striding down the trail smugly passing the people still labouring slowly upwards!  The round journey today was only 8 miles but with well over 2000m of climbing, the heat and the cumulative miles of the past few days we were happy to get back in the car and sit down.


The drive out of Yosemite valley was spectacular.  On our way in it had been grey and overcast with snow on the ground but this afternoon the sun was glinting on the Merced river, the trees displayed a glorious range of colours and the mountains had a bright blue backdrop.  We were sad to be leaving but consoled ourselves by discussing our future trip. We took route 41 down through Wawona to exit the park, it was the long way round but a lovely drive and worth the extra miles.

We had a 4 hour trip back which we broke only for petrol and coffee,  arriving in San Jose at about 7.30pm where we took full advantage of the luxury of hot and cold running water, fridge, microwave and comfortable temperature!  It has been another fantastic week of exploring a unique and beautiful area and although the camping may not have gone exactly according to plan it has definitely made us appreciate the comforts that we normally take for granted.

One more American experience awaited: we had forgotten that it was Halloween and we were amazed by the sheer numbers of trick or treaters on the streets.  Houses were elaborately decorated (and in fact had been for weeks), outdoor parties were in full flow and the door of Sherry and Rich's house was permanently open to a constant stream of children collecting their treats.......only in America!