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StevoTrip2006 Friday, October 27, 2006
Stupidly Beautiful
On the last Monday of my trip I got myself a hire car and braved the nightmare of driving the L.A. Freeways in the frightening mirror-world of right-hand-side-driving, heading up to Yosemite National Park. The contrast between Yosemite and L.A. is, to understate astoundingly, quite something. The whole drive up to Yosemite, in fact, is exceedingly ugly: the intrusive billboards; the blighted, hazy plain outside Bakersfield; the treeless desert hills; and the crumbling, pock-marked freeways themselves. Even the farmland lacks the default prettiness that even the drabbest rural countryside usually has. Even up to the gate of the national park, where it gets hillier, is nothing special. It's as if Yosemite acts as some kind of scenic black hole, sucking all the natural grandeur out of central California and into the park. The centre of the park is Yosemite Valley. To give you an idea of what the valley is like, imagine that you took a crystal clear mountain stream:  Let it meander through a through a pine forest...  ...dotted with peaceful meadows...  Punctuate the valley by adding a 3500 foot high granite monolith at one end...  ... and a giant half-sphere of rock at the other.  Fold the mountains up around the valley so that wherever you are you feel almost embraced by the rock:  Then pepper each side of the valley with waterfalls.  It's quite something.  On the first day I went for a long (20km) hike along the valley floor. Yosemite has a reputation for crowds, but it wasn't very hard to get away from other people: despite its length, the trail I did was pretty accessible, yet I still only came across maybe a dozen other people walking it, and didn't see anyone else for as much as an hour at a time. That took me pretty much all day, but the views (such as that directly above) were well worth it. On the second day, I drove up to Glacier Point. This is a spot where you basically get a panoramic view of the whole valley, and in particular Half Dome. There are a few photos from there on Flickr, but for a slightly different perspective, here's a video give you an idea of what's before you as you stand at the point. On the way back I went to the Mariposa Grove, which is a grove of giant sequoia trees. They were doing a controlled burn at the time, which was a mixed blessing - parts of the grove were closed, but it also lent the grave an eery atmosphere that had a certain appeal. Amongst the trees in the grove is the Grizzly Giant, which is reputed to be up to 2700 years old. According the Wikipedia it is "only" the 27th largest tree (by volume) in the world. Who keeps track of these things?  After my drive I returned to the valley and did the walk up to Vernal falls, which is at the top end of the valley (those are the falls in the photo earlier in the post). Most of the falls aren't at their best in October, and a lot have dried up completely - there are 9 major falls along the 20 miles or so of Yosemite Valley at the end of winter, but I only saw three (two from close, one from a distance). As you can see, they're still pretty spectacular; I can only boggle at the thought of how it must be earlier in the year. I would have liked to keep going up to the next falls (Nevada Falls) but time was against me: I continued up a bit further up and then cut back onto a different trail and descended as darkness approached. I definitely have to go back to Yosemite: I didn't have nearly long enough, and it's a place so beautiful even the squirrels stop to enjoy the view.  |
Because a holiday doesn't actually happen if you don't spend it in internet cafes describing it to other people. www.flickr.com
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Along the Seine No, I Didn't Go There Because of the Cartoon Le Arche de Ridiculousle Grande Louvre At First Sight Eiffel Tour A Day in the Life of Paris Chobham I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside Worrying Signs |