North Dome via Snow Creek Trail

Today the plan was to hike to North Dome via the Snow Creek Trail starting just past Mirror Lake and then come down the Upper Yosemite Fall Trail. I intended to get an early start, as I try to on most of my long-ish hikes, but I woke up not feeling in tip-top shape…so I rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. After unsuccessfully trying to brainstorm what I’d do with my day if I didn’t go hiking—I got up and went hiking. I swung by the Ahwahnee to get some (free) hot chocolate to-go because it was a little chilly this morning. I ended up leaving around 7:40.

I finally remembered to put on bug spray before I left! I was so proud of myself. Everybody knows that the mosquitoes are extra terrible around the Mirror Lake area, and they were bad basically until I reached North Dome. So yay me, I did something right.

After the North Dome trailhead sign just past Mirror Lake, you begin an intense series of switchbacks. These switchbacks took me an hour and fifteen minutes to get up the roughly 2.5 miles of trail. I celebrated at the top with water and a granola bar ;) aka 10:00 break 10 minutes early.

Apparently I was in a picture-taking mood today because I took an absolute ton of pictures on the way up. Fun fact, while I was taking a picture of Snow Creek at one point in time, a nice long snake slithered by my foot. Also, there was a decent amount of snow on and by the trail in this area. Snow Creek had lots of little waterfalls and rapids—too many to take pictures of. There were also certain areas with this super bright green moss stuff growing on the branches and trunks of the trees, making it look like some scene from a Dr. Seuss book. I thought it was funny.

 

 

One of the Dr. Seuss trees :)

At Indian Rock, I ate part 1 of lunch because I was incredibly hungry. Today was an extra special day for lunch. Everybody knows that when you reach the end of the bag of bread and only have the heels and one slice left—you make a double-decker pb&j. So basically, today’s sandwich was great! :)

 Indian Rock

After my detour to Indian Rock, I continued right on down to North Dome, where I took even more pictures, ate part 2 of lunch, and since I had fantastic cell service (3 whole bars), I decided to call my parents. I didn’t end up leaving North Dome until 2:00. No joke—I was in no hurry today. It had only been about 11 miles to this point from my tent. I still had another at least 8 to go back down to the valley floor.

 On the way out to North Dome

 

View of Half Dome from North Dome

 Illilouette Fall from North Dome

 Valley Floor from North Dome

(And yes, that really is a 2006-2007 Jump Rope for Heart shirt.) ;)

So the hike up hadn’t really bothered me, although the ascent was supposedly crazy. I use this site called www.yosemitehikes.com to plan most of my hikes, as well as the stack of trail maps and info from the visitor center. It’s proven itself time and time again to be pretty accurate, so I trust it. Here’s what it had to say about the Snow Creek Trail:

You have two choices on this hike: climb up from Yosemite Valley or amble down from the Tioga Road. The former is one of the park's more sadistic trails, a relentless succession of switchbacks all the way from the valley floor (technically, it's actually the Tenaya Canyon floor) to the rim. It leaves hikers gasping for air and devoting what brain function they have left to murderous thoughts about the trail's designer, who was likely disappointed that so many people have turned out to survive it. Pack spare hearts and lungs. If you've done the Clouds Rest hike, you probably remember the challenging stretch a couple miles along where you climb a thousand feet in a mile. Stack two of those on top of each other, but make it a bit steeper, and you have the Snow Creek Trail. Want more evidence that this is a steep trail? The Upper Yosemite Falls trail goes from the valley floor to the rim in 3.2 miles, the 4-Mile Trail covers it in 4.7 miles, and the Panorama Trail takes 8 miles. The Snow Creek Trail, meanwhile, covers roughly the same amount of vertical in a single 1.7-mile stretch.

Yeah…so I did that today. ;) No spare hearts or lungs necessary. Unfortunately, I have a constant battle between wearing my hiking boots or my lightweight running shoes. As I’ve done for the past few hikes, I opted for my running shoes. Mistake! Major mistake—my ankles were absolutely killing me this afternoon (and now). The last time I came down the Upper Yosemite Fall trail—I jogged it for fun, and because it sucks even more otherwise. Today that was such a struggle right from the get-go that I gave up until the last mile where it gets all sandy and has less crummy rocks. Have no fear, I made it down, no SAR necessary. I was happily eating ice cream in the Lodge cafeteria at 5:20.

 North Dome and Half Dome from the trail somewhere near Yosemite Point

All in all, this wasn’t my favorite hike. The view from North Dome was pretty nice, and if you haven’t seen Upper Yosemite Fall or been to Yosemite Point yet, you could knock those out. But otherwise…meh. I’d rather go somewhere else—especially if I’m going to put almost 20 miles into it.

Also, to those of you that were helping pray for my friend’s mom—the surgery went about as well as it could have! Against all odds, the doctors were able to remove the entire tumor, which they didn’t think was going to be possible due to the high fatality rate. She came through and is experiencing some paralysis, but the doctors believe this is temporary and she should regain most of her mobility. So thank you, thank you, thank you! By all means, she’s not out of the woods, but she’s come a long way.

I know it’s cheesy, but I get a daily Bible verse in my email account, and the past few have just felt really fitting. I’d like to share this one with you all (and I can do that because this is my blog and I can write what I want). ;)

“Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone.”—Colossians 4:5-6 (NLT)

I can’t explain it, but there’s something about being here that makes me feel like I was called to be here. After every Wednesday evening service, Pastor Brent always prays that I don’t get sidetracked or succumb to the typical behaviors of most people here (at “summer camp”). That’s what people compare it to—adult summer camp. Clearly these people didn’t go to church camp in the summer like I did because it’s nothing like that. The similarities are: we live in cabins, you make friends, and everyone is actually really nice. The differences are endless. I’m excited for the A.C.M.N.P. worship services to start on Sunday mornings. (A Christian Ministry in the National Parks) They’re led by actual young people, and since the only people that I’ve met so far at the chapel on Wednesdays are about 4 or 5 old people, I’m really looking forward to Sunday morning service before work.

As I was writing this last paragraph, I was reminded of a Michael W. Smith song that I haven’t heard in a very long time. It’s called “Place in this World.” Listen to it. It describes where I’m at in life perfectly. (And if anyone has post undergrad suggestions, I’m all ears.) :)