My Long Day Off—Four Mile Trail, Panorama Trail, and…Honesty

I’m going to start off this post by saying that when I created this blog, I always intended to be as honest as possible. So today, when you read this, know that I’m just being as brutally honest as possible—I intend to mislead no one.

Let’s just get this out in the open that I hiked about 17 miles today. I left my tent cabin at 8:00 in the morning and did not return until almost 5:10, and only about 45 minutes of that was spent not actively walking/hiking. I want to cut my feet off. The last few miles were spent less in enjoyment of the scenery and more in the mindset of “I want to get this over with”…for more than one reason.

When I viewed the employee calendar, comparing my days off to the activity schedule, I headed over to the wellness center to sign up for their Bridalveil Creek Hike. The person who essentially runs the place (I’ll call him Bob) convinced me to un-sign up for that hike and go instead with him on Four Mile and Panorama. It was on my to-do list, so why not?

That same night I participated in the employee bonfire—free s’mores—no one can pass that up! Well I ended up leaving that early to distance myself from the activities going on. Here’s the thing, anyone who has ever said that the employees at Yosemite have a drug and alcohol problem were extremely right. Larry told me that because their son came out to work, but quit because he couldn’t get any sleep and kept being offered marijuana. A large number of park employees smoke pot. There it is. I said it. And as soon as that started happening at the bonfire, I went back to my cabin. I’m still in Week 1 and I feel like that was only the first of many times I’ll do that this summer.

Oh and by the way, since the wellness center is in charge of all those employee events…that’s right, you guessed it, Bob was totally at that bonfire—and definitely participating in the shenanigans. Perfect.

So when I showed up at the Stables in the morning to meet Bob to go on our hike, he still smelled terrible. I mean, ridiculously terrible. My roommates at Coe can attest to the fact that whenever we walk into the building they gag from the smell and I can’t smell a thing. Well I could definitely smell it on him. Going to be a long day…

Anyways, we walked probably a mile and a half to two miles to the beginning of Four Mile Trail (which is actually 4.8 miles). Four Mile Trail is known for being a killer—it’s all uphill. Well I didn’t think it was that bad, but Bob’s lungs weren’t exactly in tip-top shape, so he was struggling a bit. Don’t get me wrong, it was in no way easy—I was most definitely breathing hard, but I didn’t find it impossible, just strenuous as the trail map says. Lots of switchbacks! Bob struggled and we took breaks pretty often at times. Good thing the views were fantastic so I wasn’t bored staring at my shoelaces. There were great views of Yosemite Falls, El Cap, and all the surrounding mountain structures.

Yosemite Falls from Four Mile Trail

Cathedrals and El Cap 

Notice all the everbrowns on the valley floor--due to the evil bark beetle.

Sentinel Rock far left, Yosemite Falls far right

Just a tree that I thought was cool because it looked like a ladder.

SNOW!!! In MAY!

Let me also say that when we were within earshot, we actually had an interesting banter going, seeing as how sarcastic I am. I don’t want you to think Bob is a terrible, terrible person because that would be really mean of me. He actually reminds me a lot of my friend Grant that was a few years older than me at Coe. Similar backgrounds, personality traits, and outlooks on life.

Fast forward a couple hours and we get to the top—Glacier Point! Bob goes to get lunch and lie down and I went over the lookout points. It was extremely crowded with tourists because you can pay to take a bus up there ($25 per person), as hardly anyone takes Four Mile Trail. When I was done playing tourist for the moment, I ate my PB&J, waited for Bob to finish his mini-nap, and soaked up the scenery. It really was absolutely stunning.

 Half Dome, Nevada Fall, and Vernal Fall

 

 Nevada Fall above, Vernal Fall below

Then we started on the Panorama Trail. This 8-mile trail down from Glacier Point has some of the best views of many things in the valley.  I give it a five out of five for scenery! (I’ll give Four Mile a four.) I dropped the ball on getting a face-on shot of Illilouette Fall, but other than that, it really was great. This trail, while still challenging, was not nearly as difficult as Four Mile. Keep in mind though that it is May, so parts of the trail were dealing with significant amounts of water. Also, the last portion of the trail going down from Nevada Fall to Vernal Fall back to Yosemite Valley is stone stairs and was extremely wet and difficult. My feet did not hurt even a little until this portion of the trail. So, call me crazy, but if I were to do this hike again, I would start there and go up all of those weird stairs and stone paths, go all the way to Glacier Point, and down Four Mile Trail. Oh, and as much as I enjoyed his company most of the time (except for when he was well behind me, smoking away, knowing full well it bothered me), I would probably find someone else to go with other than Bob. :)

 

Double rainbow at the base of Illilouette Fall

 

Illilouette Fall

 

I thought this sign was really stupid; however, apparently about a dozen people each year die because they go over one of the waterfalls. A sign later said, "Is a photo really worth your life?"

 

Top of Nevada Fall---SO MUCH WATER going over right now!

Vernal Fall from the Mist Trail

Ready for some more honesty? This part makes me really upset and I forgot to mention it earlier. When I was getting trained for housekeeping, my trainer continually combined the trash and recycling bins in the guest rooms and threw them both in the garbage. When I asked him about it, he said we don’t have time or room on our carts to sort them into two bags. I was not very happy at all to say the least. So I asked what I would do if I decided to make time. The response—get a clear plastic bag for the recyclables and a normal one for the garbage, then throw them both in the garbage and the facility in Mariposa will separate them. THAT’S DIFFICULT?!? No, it is not I tell you, yet some of my coworkers think I’m a nut for separating them. However, that is exactly what I’ve done every day since then and I still get done with all of my rooms early and have to go help other people. That includes yesterday—Sunday—our busiest day. All of the employees were working because ~75% of our cleans were Departures. Yuck. I came in for lunch with five rooms left, then found out that two of my three stayovers (which I had already done) had turned into departures. So I had 18 departures and 1 stayover yesterday. Yuck yuck yuck.

Interestingly enough though, when I finished cleaning yesterday, Sabas asked me to clean/organize the office. This is not a task I mind at all. However, I found it really amusing that I was asked to organize somewhere that I’d been less than a week. Sound familiar? That’s right, my second day at Habitat last summer was spent organizing a warehouse that I had been given a tour of once. I found this extremely ironic and very funny.

Lessons to be learned within this post:

1)   If you don’t know someone very well, don’t agree to a 9-hour hike.

2)   If you have a problem with drug-users and alcoholics in general, don’t come work in Yosemite. Allow me to clarify. Some people, like me, are okay with the people but not the actions. If you are someone who is not okay with the actions or the people—don’t come work here.

3)   Aramark may have environmental standards and goals, but not all of its employees are on the same page. I gave one example here, there are many, many more that I could elaborate my frustrations about.

On my hike today (and other days), I kept remembering one of Dave’s sayings (Dave Mears), “It’s not about the outcome; it’s about the process.” Don’t think about the end of the trail or what’s next. Enjoy where you are and soak up the journey. I’m living in a beautiful place—a place that I still can’t fathom how God is so talented that He created all of this. I get to live in His magnificent creation, and for that—I am eternally grateful.

Now I think I need a boatload of ice cream. And ibuprofen for my feetsies. Ibuprofen I have, ice cream, though—only in my dreams.