Gary's Winter Blog: February 2, 2013-Yosemite Valley

Title: February 2, 2013-Yosemite Valley
Trail head: Tram stop 17

Hike Info:
Trail: Mirror Lake Road
Destination: Mirror Lake
Actual Destination: Snow Creek Trail Jct
Distance: 6.2
Travel Time: 2:54 (2.14 mph)
Moving Time: 2:19 (2.68 mph)
Elevation Rise: 675'
Maximum Elevation: 4,203'

Description:

We met up with the hiking group at Kohl's around 7:30am, after getting gas. Karol is leading this expedition. Then the 17 of us got into four cars and started up the road to Yosemite Valley, stopping in Oakhurst along the way. We have Annie with us, making it four people in our car-Steven, Sherri, Gary and Annie. Got to the Valley and parked Curry Village at 10am. We will meet up with Jerry K at Tram stop 17.

We all have snow traks on, or some variant of them, and it is a good thing. The road up to Mirror Lake has ice on it, with a layer of water. With the traks, we do not slip. But the traks I am using are bit small for my boot and keep on flipping up. After awhile I trade out with Rosé who is using my YakTraks. They work a lot better, but they do come off once-Leslie finds it for me.

It is a short walk to Mirror Lake, maybe a mile plus. At the Lake, a family from Columbia takes the group's picture-it is the family's first to see Yosemite. The snow draped over the granite on Half Dome's shoulders looms above us. Snow and ice cover the remains of Mirror Lake, forming a white blanket for us to enjoy. We continue up Tenaya Creek, since the canyon is here for our taking. Some ice, some snow, some dirt and rock are our trail. We play leapfrog with another couple and then meet up with a bunch of people from Doctor's Medical Center in Modesto.

At the Snow Creek trail junction, we make a decision to turn around rather than to continue around the loop. I think the potential that the loop was closed because of a rockfall a couple of years ago, and the potential for a longer hike caused people to want to go back. But it is a pretty Winter hike. We return back to the tram and have it take us back to the car.

We drive over to Yosemite Lodge and have a late lunch. Beef chili seems to be a favorite. Then across the road we go to take a short walk up to the base of Yosemite Falls. Always refreshing to see these Falls, particularly since the last time we saw them in September, they were dry. It today, there is a base of frozen mist and the Falls are going pretty good.

We return back to the cars and go to the base of Eagle Pk. We spend about half an hour puttering around amongst the snow, rock and ice on our snowshoes. While this is Yosemite, this portion is to get a bit of experience on snowshoes on this trip. For some, it was their first experience with tennis rackets on their feet.