The sun rained down upon on us, searing wind stinged my nostrils and the couple hundred feet we had to hike seemed like miles. Death Valley felt like a world of it's own as promised. The last night hadn't been too comfortable either. As we camped in Furnace Creek in the center of the valley, temps fell to a low of 100s as we lightly sweat our way into slumber. This was after a 9 hour drive where Artem and I had continuously gotten on each other's nerves.
Anyways, in the cauldron that is Badwater, time seemed to dilate and relativity started to be understood. The salt basin at the end of it allowed for a photography break which distracted me enough from my miseries to calm down. As we made our way back, we came across a family in which a girl was being shouldered by her family between fits of coughing and throwing up. We went back faster so that we could get them some water, but they got some assistance by the time we got to them. As we sat back in our cars, our bodies burst into a flood of sweat - the wind had been quietly wicking it away all this while off us!
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| Furnace Creek, not a very in-demand campsite |
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| Devil's Golf Course - when salt crystals go crazy |
This place was provably brutal! No wonder the NPS advised people to not walk around after 10 AM. As Oscar Denton who had recorded the highest ever temperature on Earth in 1913 at 57C/134F noted that, on the day - "It was so hot that swallows in full flight fell to the Earth dead. When I went out to read the thermometer with a wet Turkish towel on my head, it was dry before I returned."
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| Artem on Badwater salt flats |
While unkind, Death Valley is also a geological paradise. A delicately carved natural arch bridge perched above a dry river bed with a meander cut around it by the same river before it resumed its straight course was absolutely fascinating. The winding Artist's Drive with it's collection of volcanic rock deposits - a colorful oasis in the middle of a desert, wow! The Zabriskie Point turned out to be a cool vantage point over interesting rock denudations, but we had to retreat early after a loud French group annexed it unexpectedly!
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| Artist's Drive |
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| Zabriskie, you can see why the annexation was painful :( |
We drove to Wildrose later, high up in the hills to escape some of the heat and see another side of the region. Salt flats turned into rolling hills with greens and thorny shrubbery. Wildlife sprung up showcasing a thriving world - hares, roadrunners and coyotes! We did a fast hike up Wildrose Peak and saw some glorious sunset colors. Artem figured I liked to fantasize about doing everything - this evening/night hike followed by wine, waking up early (5-6 AM) the next day and driving 4 hours to Yosemite and brought me back to planet earth. We still did the wine though, with a watermelon as dessert. KP's wise words had stuck with me - only a watermelon can help you deal with the madness of Death Valley. Only one problem - now Artem wanted to pack a watermelon in our packs for the hike in to Yosemite!
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| Wildrose |
Our first couple of days in Yosemite were going to be interesting. We were starting in Mammoth and after around 25 miles of hiking, were to join our friend Adi the next evening. I confess it took me a long time to realize how long 1 mile is compared to 1 km! We started at 6p the first evening after floundering around trying to find the trailhead for a while and finally camped a mile up from Shadow Lake as darkness enveloped us. Artem had gotten a thin sleeping bag on the trip because Death Valley, but had later discovered that Inyo and Yosemite would have temps in the 30s and was a little fearful of how the night would go. My snoring didn't help him either!
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| Eastern Sierra Scenic Byway - on the way to Mammoth |
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| First day welcomes |
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| Necessity is the mother of invention - our patent pending gravity filtration system |
Hundreds of people walk the JMT on any given day and we couldn't help thinking it was just a large village and not really wilderness! The string of beautiful lakes we passed in Inyo day made it obvious why - Olaine, Shadow, Garnett, Ruby, Emerald and Thousand Island Lakes. This density of lakes was simply fabulous. While we happily breezed along the lakes early in the day, the next 5-6 miles proved agonizing as we climbed over 2 passes - Island and Donohue. Artem waited for me at the top and we had a good laugh over how hard it was and why we couldn't just camp here anywhere. I think the laughing helped more than the Clif bars to overcome the wretchedness. It was 6 PM and we had to walk atleast 6-7 miles down the Lyell Canyon to meet up with Adi at our rendezvous point.
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| Shadow Lake - fucking perfect |
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| Garnett Lake. Hazy skies from Ferguson fire |
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| Thousand Island Lake |
We descended sharply yet slowly to the floor, wanting to stay together since night was falling quickly. The moment we touched the valley bottom, Artem turned around and let the mountains know with some of his fingers what he thought of the trail! It fell dark, our headlamps came out and we kept hiking in the hope we were close. I did some quick map-checking and pointed to a ridge line in view expressing we should be maybe half an hour away. We agreed on walking a maximum of 2 miles using Artem's fitbit since we were losing steam. Just a few steps short of those 2 miles, a hiker camping near the trail saw us and came to let us know where Adi was camped - happy coincidence! Our 12 hour, 18 mile day came to a close at 930p as we wolfed our dinner down and tucked in.
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| Lyell Canyon, from just below Donohue Pass |
I woke up early the next day to find a layer of frost on the grass and our backpacks. Poor Artem! Yosemite was wacky - 80s in the day and 20s in the night. Steam rose from the Lyell creek near our campsite as the early slanted rays of the sun filtered through to its surface. Adi had gotten a ton of Indian food with him but we wouldn't eat much - I because the priority was to finish our food (less food equals less weight) and Artem was just afraid of the spices!
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| Freezing steaming Lyell Creek |
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| Messy kitchen area - what would Mom say ! |
We packed up and made a late noon-ish start, heading up the steep hillside of Rafferty Creek from the fork. These two rushed up, while I took it slow, settling into an enjoyable rhythm as I marched to my breath and took some photos. Just a couple hours after starting out, we made a stop at Evelyn Lake in the middle of wide green meadows with granite peaks on the horizon - with not a single person in sight, finally! Cold water swimming with a fair amount of cussing and shouting was followed by lunch - a luxury on trails.
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| Artem and Evelyn Lake, one of the few Yosemite places named after a woman |
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| Omg, no longer smelly yayyy! |
We arrived in Vogelsang a few minutes later - one of the High Sierra camps where you could book a tent and stay - basically, a much expensive version of Himalayan teahouse treks. We sat by Fletcher creek for a good while, letting our gravity filter do the hard work and I happily meditated to the gentle gurgling of the creek.
The rest of the day passed descending the 3000ft to Merced Lake - sometimes on a run, hopping across rocks. The lake's coming into view was iconic - located in the middle of a densely forested valley that dropped off in the distance, with Half Dome behind in a sky that was being painted red, by a setting sun hiding behind a mountain. It was an amazing amazing view - had we had even 2 litres of water, I would have forced everyone to camp there! We camped the night in the crowded Merced High Camp, amidst giant redwoods and relative warmth. The freaking bottle of wine we'd been lugging the last 40 miles or so was downed - in hindsight, I doubt it was worth the honor!
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| Meadows en route Merced |
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| THE VIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
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| Merced Lake up-close |
Our fourth day on the trail was the hottest one till now. I slowed down until my body actually started to feel a little cool, giving myself time since we had plenty to complete the 13 miles and 2000 feet ascent to Sunrise Camp. For the second time on this trip, I was realizing that hiking with just a litre of water for the entire day wouldn't scale for longer and it was high time I bought a camelbak. I'd spent most of the day walking solitary, ruminating about nothing and everything and was glad to have Adi alongside in late afternoon - post-lunch periods are neither good for work nor hiking you see!
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| Backes Ridge. The forest below tells you how dry the valley was |
This would end up being a landmark day - for the first time on the trip, we reached a campsite in daylight and that too with 3 hours of it to spare! It felt weird, haha. Sunrise was another one of the High Sierra camps and we were overcome by the temptation to have a hot meal deserving of civilization. We sat on some large rocks watching far-off granite turned red from the sunset with a full moon directly above ready to take over the sky. Alongside, we relished some great grilled chicken with box wine, courtesy the wonderful folks who worked at the camp. Joints and Led Zep conversation kept the liveliness going on the side.
Rangers often lead groups of people on the High Sierra trail (booked tours). Our visit coincided with one such large group and we were lucky to hear a talk from the ranger on the history of names in Yosemite. As he stood under the full moon, with the meadows and shining granite behind him, he spoke with depth and passion about the origin of the names Yosemite, Ahwahnee, many of the peaks and lakes in the area and how they came to be so. Yosemite means 'they who kill/burn' referring to the savage tribe that lived in the valley and was feared by all. A lot of the men in power around the time Yosemite was being explored gave their surnames to a lot of geographical features, while their daughters' and wives' first names also came onto the map - emblematic of the gender power equations of the time. I was moved by the story of Tenaya lake - Tenaya was a legendary chief, he'd resettled the Yosemite valley with his tribe, having grown up on stories of a happy gone-by time when acorns filled the valley and there was enough food for all. As they fought the American forces by the shore of what's known as Tenaya lake today, Tenaya lost his son before their army surrendered. The generals of the army proceeded to name the lake in honor of the fallen chief which completely baffled Tenaya - the lake already had a name! It was named in the native Pywiack language as 'glistening rocks' - after the water that trickled down the surrounding granite and make it glisten in moonlight, especially in spring. The tribe knew how to listen to the land and name features after what they heard from them, in contrast to the conquerors who sought to impose their unchecked will upon their surroundings. Oh, I could have cried!
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| So you think you know all there is to a hiking pole ? |
Artem and I started early (730 am, fml) the next day for Cloud's Rest - a majestic mountain top 7 miles away offerring commanding views of the entire valley. After our first couple days of squibbling on the trip, Artem and I had settled into a good easy rhythm. I particularly enjoyed his company that day, some in conversation and some in silence as we walked in step. Relieved of our packs, we made short work of those miles in 2.5 hours, only to be humbled later by trail runners who actually ran the trail! I was overcome by summit emotions at the top - best described as a complex mixture of happiness, awe and soaking in the momentary and rare grandeur of the moment. Just like Half Dome a month earlier, a loud group of Indians who seemed only interested in ugly posing kept irking me. I used the phone signal at the top to send my family and Adi's some "don't worry" texts - the latter proved laughably much harder! Assuaging some one else's family is not easy, particularly when you have first-hand experience of a worrying mom who knows as much as you about your trips after independent research.
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| Main Yosemite valley from Cloud's Rest. That's Half Dome on the left |
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| More yosemite from the top |
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| New partner-in-crime and yours truly. In the background, Tenaya Lake and gorge |
We ran back in similar spirit, stopping at Sunrise Lake to enjoy a swim. Adi showed off his skills at cold water swimming, demonstrating what years of swimming in the Pacific had taught him while Artem and I made plans of enjoying a Russian sauna in the fantastic Minnesotan winters. Post a leisurely lunch at our camp, we packed up, said goodbyes to the folks at the kitchen and hiked the couple of hours to Cathedral Lake. While the lake was beautiful, Artem wasn't excited about spending a night camping by the lakeside. He'd managed to sleep his best the previous night, arguably after my assuring him that he could cuddle me if necessary!! Anyhow, it was quite a sight to have the full moon shining on the lake. I cursed my photography skills since the best I could do at night photography was pretty bad and was already starting to have nightmares about forever shooting in Auto mode :(
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| Cathedral Peak |
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| Cathedral Lake from Cathedral Pass |
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| Early morning bliss @ Cathedral |
I woke up early the next morning as the sun had barely started to kiss the top of the surrounding ridgeline of the small valley bowl we were in. Camera in hand, I made a slow circumambulation of Cathedral Lake. The wind was low early in the morning, so none of the soothing lake waves hitting the rock sounds were audible. I was reminded of the walk I made once around Chandratal, the majestic lake near Manali. For the umpteenth time, I realized how much I missed the snow cap surroundings of the high Himalayas; and of how rock really wasn't my thing - even the grandeur of tall granite had worn off in a day as I had cursed my surroundings on the hot walk to Sunrise! This internal rock whining was almost hilarious. Not to take away from the beauty of the present, I snuck off after breakfast to meditate quietly on the lakeshore and Artem having understood my mood, extended me the friendly courtesy of wordlessly packing up.
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| Lower Cathedral Lake - the valley had yet more to offer :) |
We took a short detour to the other Cathedral Lake before making a hot sprint to the trailhead at Tuolumne. Enough meadows had been seen and the cute Lembert Dome would remain unclimbed. We whiled away the hours until our evening shuttle at the Tuolumne grill, downing California beer and burgers. We bought souvenirs - keychains, magnets and patches with Yosemite on them. On being asked about showers, the ranger at the Tuolumne Visitor Center told us a fantastical story about a hot spring hidden in the desert south of Mammoth behind green churches, cow fences and what not. Starry eyed gullible boys we were to have bought the story. After the beautiful ride back to Mammoth over Tioga Pass and seeing Mono Lake, June Lake and yet more, we found ourselves in the middle of nowhere at 9 PM night searching for the mythical hot tub! We floundered for a while up a small hill in our flip flops before miraculously discovering the entrance, boardwalk and secret trail to the hot tub. Happy travelers and Mammoth localites reveled in the tiny hot tub under the still full-ish moon. Artem and I joked on how desperate we'd been for a shower after a week on the trail to have risked being part of a murder mystery!
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| June Lake |
The rest of the night was just a long struggle to make it to SF Airport for our 8AM flights. As we made our way back to our homes, Artem and I remarked on how long and fulfilling the week had been. He felt like it had been 2 months since he'd last done the commute to work. I guess I felt lucky to have stolen some time from a stressful life and can only hope that our fantasies of long skiing trips come to fruition in the winters.
