Photoblog 2.0

My Hiking Boots, photo and poem by Harold Davis.

Say thanks to my hiking boots at the end of the day!
All covered with mud and perhaps with clay.
My boots get me into the wilderness and out again:
They ignore cold, heat, snow, and pain.
Leather and Goretex upper and Vibram soul:
I know each part of this shoe very well!
Say thanks to my hiking boots on trail and at home,
I know they’ll support me where ever I roam.
No trail is too dusty, no ice field too steep,
For these hiking books their promises they always keep!

Dawn Comes to Banner Peak, photo by Harold Davis.

I took this photo a few days ago at sunrise of Banner Peak. This is part of the Ansel Adams Wilderness, which itself is part of Inyo National Forest. It is to the south of Yosemite National Park: you go over Donahue Pass from Tuolumn Meadows in the park, and there you are.

I was camped across the valley at Summit Lakes by a waterfall. The sun came up, I opened my eyes - and there it was. I leaped out and took the picture.

Conditions in the high country this year are extraordinary. Snow pack is 200%, or more, than average. Water levels are very high,and crossings are dangerous. Right now, there’s snow above about 9,600 feet and hiking consists of navigating snow fields. Crampons and/or an ice ax are a good idea. If I never see another snow field or late afternoon snow “cup from hell”, I’ll be happy. This picture, taken on Island Pass, gives you an idea of hiking conditions: on and on, endless snow.

River crossings are another problem. This picture is of the bridge at Rush Creek Trail near the junction with the Muir Trail. I knelt and gave thanks to heaven when I saw there was a bridge at the crossing.

I took the picture first thing in the morning. By late afternoon water would have been two feet over the logs, and this probably couldn’t have been crossed until the next morning.

Yosemite Without People, photo by Harold Davis.

This photograph is a view looking down on the top of Vernal Falls. I took the photo last month during the high water. Recently, I edited it in Photoshop to remove the people and fence from platform beside the top of Vernal Falls. So this is probably pretty much how it looked before there were people (at least European people).

With the people and fence in the picture, things look a little bit junkier - but it doesn’t really spoil the grandeur of the falls. But taking the people out has set me to musing about what Yosemite would be like without people - and also what appropriate stewardship of a unique place like Yosemite should be.

I think that actually the National Park Service does a pretty good job all things considered. From above, human footprint in the valley isn’t all that extensive, and there are some places you really can’t see it at all. The shuttle bus system is really a good way to get people to drive less in the valley, and still get them about conveniently. But I hate the feeling of constant construction and tourism in the summer months in the valley, and despair at what at times feel likes sacrilege towards one of the greatest temples of nature.

John Muir would probably have missed the serenity of the valley, although in his time there were other eco-scourges: for example, the sheep herds he called “hooved locusts.” (Muir originally came to the Yosemite on a summer job tending these very sheep.)

I’d like to think that there might be a better way to manage the valley without excluding anyone who really wants to see it, but I do realize this a big political problem.

But suppose there were another “almost-Yosemite” to start over with? I’m speaking of Hetchy-Hetchy, which is now filled with water as a reservoir for the Bay Area. Muir himself described Hetchy-Hetchy as another Yosemite. The defeat of the efforts to conserve Hetchy-Hetchy and the victory of pro-development water interests were a great early defeat for this country’s environmental movement.

The defeat at Hetchy-Hetchy helped fuel the rise of the Sierra Club, the National Park movement, and - following other defeats, notably Glen Canyon - a de facto moratorium on development in areas of scenic wonder.

There’s now talk of draining Hetchy-Hetchy and restoring it (for example, see the Yosemite Blog coverage). This may all be a dream, but it could happen. If it does, and if we can restore Hetchy-Hetchy, let’s make it a temple to the grandeur of nature, not (like Yosemite sometimes feels) a temple to tourism, autos, buses, and park concessionaires.

Wild Orchid, Tilden Park, photo by Harold Davis.

Tilden Park is a great and extensive wild area very near me. It is about 1/2 a mile up to the top of the hill and to the park entrance (right by Nicky’s pre-school).

The park is part of the California State Park system. Although bisected by high-tension power wires, and with wonderful attractions such as a narrow gauge steam railroad, animal farm, and merry-go-round, it is really, truly pretty wild. Wildlife includes the occassional mountain lion, eagle, and rattlesnake.

The park has miles and miles of trails and views of San Francisco Bay to the west, Mt Diabolo to the south and east, and Napa and the Straits of Carquinez to the north. It includes the entire Wildcat Basin, Wildcat Peak, Lake Anza, a botanical garden featuring California native plants, and an extensive nature preserve.

Mid-June is a little late in the year for wild flowers in the park. Mostly, everything turns a golden brown - and will keep getting crisper until the autumn rains. But even when everything is dry, one can still find treasures - witness the photo of the wild orchid hidden in dry grass that I found along the Meadows Canyon Trail this afternoon.

Here are a few more images from my set today taken along the Meadows Canyon Train in Tilden Park:

View from Inspiration Point Trail, photo by Harold Davis.

This is a view from the Inspiration Point Trail looking down into the Valley and at Bridal Veil Falls. (Here’s another photo in this series and more about the Inspiration Point Trail.)

I like the way the tree appears to be the center of interest of this image until you look closely and see the water fall. If you look even more closely, you can see Halfdome, mountains, and clouds hidden behind the tree.

If you are planning a visit to Yosemite, you might want to check out the Yosemite Blog for information about logistics and attractions.

Land’s End, photo by Harold Davis.

A windy day on Point Reyes - this great bare peninsula jutting out into the naked windswept ocean. This view is near the end of Point Reyes from the Chimney Rock Trail.

Here’s Julian, my hiking companion on Sunday, who was almost swept off the trail in the wind.

You can see the wind in this picture of the Gulf of Farallon with the breakers roaring into North Beach:

Point Reyes is amazing land, at once desolate, barren, lonely, rich, and wonderful. It is true wilderness, and the uttermost West in this continent. How fine that it is so near metropolitan San Francisco, and about an hour drive from our home in Berkeley. Across the Richmond bridge, up Highway 101 to Lucas Valley Road (yes, that Lucas!), past the little town of Nicasio, and the more touristic Point Reyes Station, around Tomales Bay and one is there.

Julian and I explored Chimney Rock Trail, listened to the sea lions, visited the light house (the stairs were closed because of the high winds), and built an intricate castle on Drake’s Beach (sheltered by the bluffs). What a fine day!

More Point Reyes photos:

Nevada Falls, photo by Harold Davis.

“What! does a stream rush out of a mountain free and pure, to roll through fair pastures, to feed and throw out bright tributaries, and to end in a village gutter?” — William Makepiece Thackeray from The History of Henry Esmond

View from Inspiration Point, Yosemite, originally uploaded by Harold Davis.

There are some names that crop up again and again in Wilder Land - “Horse Heaven,” “Mirror Lake,” and “Inspiration Point” among them.

Yosemite’s Inspiration Point is not as well known as it once was. Today, photographers, tour buses, and the Winnebago crowd mostly stop at the Wawona Tunnel vista point, which has roughly the same view about 1,000 feet lower.

You can get to Inspiration Point up a mile and a half long hike, which is moderate to heavily up for the duration. I took this photo along the trail with Bridal Veil Falls in the background.

There used to be a road to Inspiration Point (off the Glacier Point road) but the Park Service is letting the road (and terminal parking lot) revert to the wilderness from whence it came.

If you’re ever passing through Yosemite, and stop at the Wawona vista parking lot, if you have an extra couple of hours, I highly recommend the walk up to Inspiration Point.

Looking down Nevada Falls, originally uploaded by Harold Davis.

It’s a long way down from the top of Nevada Falls. It made me dizzy to take to take this photo.

I like the sense of being in some kind of bowl - in fact the geology around Nevada Falls has made a giant punch powl of sorts. You can see the far edges of the “bowl” with the run-off waterfalls coming down in the picture.

An unusual amount of water due to the season and this wet, wet year in the Sierra.

I’m posting this photo from a trip I made a few weeks ago because I am getting so bored with working *for real* - it would be nice to be back in Yosemite.

Looking down Vernal Falls, originally uploaded by Harold Davis.

I spent some time hiking around Yosemite about a week ago. It’s one of the most wet years on record, and the waterfalls are terrific: thundering, full, sensous, and infinite.

Leaning over the edge of Vernal Falls was scary and I was glad for automatic mode (I could extend my D70 out and take the picture with one hand). How cool to see the rainbow below the waterfall and above the Mist Trail!

Mirror Lake, Yosemite, originally uploaded by Harold Davis.

As you can see in this photo, Mirror Lake was full of water (and like a mirror) a few days ago. This is unusual - in part it is true because of the time of year (spring), and in part because it is one of the most wet years on record in California and the Sierra.

Most times you go to visit Mirror Lake (and it’s a gentle one mile walk from the Yosemite Valley shuttle bus stop) you’ll find a sandy basin, and no lake it all. This was my experience when I visited with Julian at the end of last summer.

Mirror Lake was a stop on the great tour of Yosemite around the turn of the century when tourism of the rugged West was still somewhat novel. They had a hotel, boat houses, and (in the winter) ice skating. The lake, however, was artificial, and it took more and more dredging to keep it a lake. When the Park Service stopped keeping it artificially moist in the middle of the last centruy, it began reverting to its natural state: very seasonal and mostly dry.

My photo echoes views made by great 19th century photographers and painters of Yosemite (Mirror Lake was a favorite view).

Thanks to Phyllis for post-processing this photo.