Romancing Yosemite… Revisited

Four sets of friends from all over CA are converging in Yosemite for some birthday fun next week. We’ll be running/fast packing for a couple days into the high country and yet more trails I have not explored, then heading down to the Valley for a lovely dinner at the Ahwanhee, some climbing and wine drinking. A perfect way to cap off another year.

I suspect I’ll be writing more when I return next week and prior to my leaving for Ecuador, but in the meantime I thought I’d share a post from a couple years ago about this relationship I must revisit a few times a year—with Yosemite. Enjoy.

terri

Romancing Yosemite
October 2006

After some much needed time off of concentrated training post Russia/France travel extravaganza, I followed a yearning to visit my first love - the romance of my youth. So I headed out for a strong dose of heady granite visuals and tough hike/running in the Yosemite high country.

Hanging out for a portion of each youthful summer in Yosemite taught me early on about the possibilities of a long term, healthy, fiery, relationship - with nature. Heading back a few times each year connects me with that romance I year for. And there’s nothing like getting up into the high country for an honest measure of ass kicking and a reality check on ones lack of fitness. Various relationships may come and go in life, but Yosemite holds a constant spell of beauty, reality and truth to all who experience, and this weekend in particular would prove to be auspicious at minimum.

After a brief night at the notorious Camp 4, a couple friends and I took off from Yosemite Valley on a Friday morning for a tough 18+ mile hike/run up into the Yosemite high country. Getting off the Valley floor is a breathtaking 3000 foot climb but with the season winding down, the crowds sparse, and the weather spectacular, it was well worth the effort.

The "high country" is a vast sea of pristine granite mixed with evergreens of various types, and mountain lakes - unlike anything I have seen or will ever see in all my travels on this earth. We hiked over Clouds Rest - a narrow edge of granite with views of the backside of Half Dome and everything else in a 20 mile radius.

Experiencing the granite in Yosemite first hand, is having a deep knowing why athletes and climbers, fall in love here. The rock has an affirmative feel. You perceive its sure grip when just treading on it, yet experience its sharp harshness if you fall. Yosemite granite is like the lover who is sure to support and nurture when needed but at the same time asks you to step up and shine even brighter when the going gets tough. “Risk knowing me and you’ll emerge strong and sure,” it says. “You game?”

Nestled in the granite walls and trees we ended our day at Sunset Lakes at about 10K feet. We made a fire, sipped some tea, and laughed a lot while watching the sinking sun cleanse the granite walls and mirror that softness on our lake.

Next morning we hit the John Muir trail for a tough but satisfying 17 mile trot through the high country with a gradual, then steep, descent back into the valley via the backside of Half Dome. My ultimate pleasure in the backcountry is to go light and fast and try and run as much as possible if the terrain allows. To experience my first love in this fashion is such an incredible "groove on". He never disappoints.

But the best of the weekend was yet to come. After hitting up some food and a couple of Yosemite Pale Ale's in the historic and romantic Ahwahnee Lodge we caught a presentation of the 1966, ascent of the Salate’ Wall on El Capitan, by Allen Steck, a pioneer of big wall climbing.

The American Alpine Club was hosting a celebration in the Valley this week commemorating the history of climbing in Yosemite. Steck’s program was one of many pieces to this celebration and we were privileged to have been in the Valley on this auspicious weekend.

Even in the 60’s and big wall climbing’s infancy, Allen et. al. had the foresight to bring a video camera along and film their climb, which was at pure minimum - EPIC. At 80 years today, Steck explained, “I remember standing at the base of the climb that morning and each of us taking turns reading the directions to the camera while organizing gear…”

With no sound on his KMART camera, Allen Steck, as humble as he is authentic, narrated their novel climb. After a couple days of pushing in the high country, body satisfied, I felt warm and content to sit among the trees and listen to his rambling 80 year old chatter about this historic experience.

Meeting and chatting with this sweet gentleman the next morning in our campsite, I tried to imagine the heart and courage it took to endeavor such an epic feat at such a mysterious time for big wall climbing in the world.

Like a virtuous first love, Yosemite continues to offer memories of ignited passion, while constantly teasing the prospects of what is to come. I suspect I’ll be back again to visit this satisfaction some time very soon.