Starting Over

I decided the night before that I needed to get up really early and get going into the park, to beat the crowds. That was my first mistake. I took off at 6:00am and had a Clif Bar for breakfast. Not exactly sustaining. I left my new favorite little town of Bridgeport and headed down 395 South toward Mono Lake.

Mono Lake has some cool formations that used to be under water. When I got there I saw a few other photographers snapping away. They didn't speak English from what I could tell and they gave me a dirty look, like what are you doing here, so I kept my distance.

I then headed toward 140 that heads down into the park from the high country. It was really breathtaking as there was snow everywhere. All the trails I came upon were pretty much inaccessible without snow shoes so I didn't hit any of them. I found out the road had just opened that day and had been closed the 2 days prior; lucky.

The drive was awesome and there weren't many people around once again, the way I like it. There was snow on a lot of the road but my trusty new tires proved steady and reliable.

It turned out that this high country section through the park was my favorite part of Yosemite. Down below it turned out to be inauthentic for me.

I finally made it to the main part of the park which makes a big loop. The snow was gone as it is a lot lower in elevation. It was cool to see the familiar El Capitan and Half Dome. It started to feel more like an amusement park, however. People bussed around to the main points of interest with new people arriving every 10 minutes. It was more of an assembly line rather than a visceral, soul inspiring experience that I feel when I am alone on the off beaten path exploring beautiful nature.

That didn't lessen the beauty of the place. It was just harder for me to soak it in when the hike I took involved hundreds of other people stopping to take pictures of themselves in front of a waterfall or Half Dome. The hike was brutal for me. I went up a few miles, straight up to Vernal Falls, and came down. I then went all the way back the other way up to Nevada Falls and back down again through Vernal Falls which I had been down earlier. It was my fault for not realizing it was one big loop in the first place. I'm still in awe how they constructed the trail as it was very challenging with hundreds of strategically placed steps and boulders. Still not sure how some get through it. One lady was walking in crocs. Nuts.

It rained off and on and that just added to the treacherousness of the trail. I will say my trusty Asolo hiking shoes proved invaluable. If you ever go on a hike, ditch the running or Converse and buy some genuine hiking shoes. The traction and support are well worth it.

I ran into a guy hiking down that was on a 3 month trip and career hiatus. He was traveling from New York and was hitting a lot of the state parks of the West. Sounds like he made some money in Manhattan, left it behind for a while, and will return to grad school in the fall. I wonder how many people leave the cushy job and explore their inner yearnings?

They had an Ansel Adams gallery at the Visitor Center area. His work was truly amazing as most know and it was really cool to see pictures of him out in the wilderness standing on top of his station wagon on a gravel road overlooking Half Dome or some other amazing vista. I'm sure it was a lot different in the park in his day. The great thing is a lot of his work helped inspire further conservation efforts in the park. In his spirit I did a few quick black and white images. Not the same I know. They are probably too dark on your monitor but they look fine here. Calibration sucks.

Here are some random images for fun:

Overall I had a great day but I wasn't really fully there. I set myself up on the wrong course in the morning when I got in urgency and agenda mode in the morning. I wasn't fully present most of the day as I was just trying to get things done instead of going with the flow like in the prior week of my trip. I also know that it wasn't authentic for me to be in the mass produced nature machine of the main parks. I'm glad they are there as they allow millions to experience God's natural beauty but they are not ideal for me. I hope to have caught myself, however, and today hope to get back on track to living presently and just going with the flow. Getting out of my self created illusion of time and agenda pressure. It's crazy but I'm just so used to it. Stop!

I left the park around 5:30 and I was beat. I hadn't really eaten much all day and my legs were killing me from going down thousands of feet of steps. I headed down 140 towards Merced, CA. On the way I stopped in Mariposa, CA and it was an amazing town. I recommend you check it out if in the area. I should have stayed there but as you know I was in agenda mode and had my mind set on Merced.

I checked into the Motel 6 and vowed I wasn't getting up until I couldn't sleep any longer. No agenda today!!