HOME: HIKING TO THE BASE OF EL CAP AND HORSETAIL FALL

Ted lured me into a hike to the base of El Capitan with tales of the alcove rope swing.  I'm no climber, but swinging on a rope over the expanse of Yosemite Valley?  I can do that, I thought.  I looked at videos on the web and decided swinging was within my skill set.  Little did I know how far up it's actually based and how steep the granite is below.  But well before we caught sight of the swing, we hiked up the talus slope at the base of El Cap near Horsetail Fall.  Spring is here, the waterfalls are huge and Horsetail is ephemeral (seasonal) so the view is spectacular.  You can see Horsetail clearly from the Valley but the cascade of water at the base is quite a sight.  Horsetail Fall is most famous for a winter phenomenon where the angle of the setting winter sun lights the fall as if on fire for one short week each February.  The fall dries up as summer approaches and the snow in the high country has melted away.  We had two crazy winter storms in early April that actually closed the park for a week, so there is still plenty of snow up top.

Climbers approach the base in several ways and we elected to hike up the talus slope between the "nose" of El Cap and Horsetail Fall, walk the trail that follows the base and then descend where the trail that parallels the nose until you reach the Valley floor.  Talus is comprised of rock and boulders that have fallen from the cliffs above over time, creating a pile at the base.  Hiking on talus requires both hands and feet, also known as scrambling, a mild form of climbing.  Hiking on talus also requires caution as plenty of boulders are loosely piled and will move from time to time, so watch where you place those feet and hands.  Finally, hiking on talus requires sunscreen because the granite boulders are great reflectors on a sunny day.

As you reach the base of El Cap, two things are immediately apparent: here there be rockclimbers and the view of the Valley below was worth the climb.  Climbing detritus like ropes and suspended packs litter the base (to be retrieved after the climb by all those climbers with a good conscience and solid investment in their gear).  The Merced River meanders through Yosemite Valley, green in the sunlight and at this height, you no longer notice the cars on the road.  We took time for refreshment and picked our way along the base toward the fall, watching the spray from the fall at the top.

Trader Joe's finest!

The base of a waterfall is usually an active pool of water feeding a stream or river, but water behaves differently on El Cap.  Most of the water is blown away as spray at 7500 feet, and some of the water cascades down the granite face randomly with no true course.  It still reaches the river below, just not in one thundering drop.  However, Ted said he had never seen so much water coming from Horsetail.

After the refreshing water break, we headed for the rope swing.  Along the way, Ted pointed out where Chongo used to hang out and was pleased to find a toy airplane.  We walked in the shade as the sun had disappeared behind the mass of El Cap.  Scranmbling over more talus, we located the alcove where the rope swing is installed.  The alcove rope swing on El Cap is installed, ridiculed, enthused about, derided and removed by climbers on a regular basis.  A fixed rope attached to a bolt in the rock allows you to swing out over a granite apron using a climbing harness and piece of climbing equipment known as a gri-gri (belay device to adjust the rope connected to your harness).  No climbing skills are required beyond basic working knowledge of your harness.  However, the granite underneath is much steeper than it looks on video and I spied a worrisome knot in the middle of the rope so I had to pass.  Instead we sat in the alcove and listened to the mating calls of Mountain Chickadees and ate potato chips.  Ted inspected the rope but was chased away by a climber dude in a huff who wanted to connect his Port-a-Ledge to the bolt holding the rope at the base.  Huh? 

Our friend Dalius has a great video of his encounter on the swing.  Ted says we'll be back and I think next time I'll be ready.

 

P.S. The name of the belay device, gri-gri, is also spelled gris-gris and is a term from the practice of voodoo.  "The gris-gris are both the physical objects that used (such as gris-gris bags, Voodoo dolls, love potions, etc.) and the verbal invocations that are made to effect the magical properties of Voodoo."  I wonder if the inventor of the gri-gri knew?  Are you wondering how I know about Voodoo?  I'll never tell.  But I am from Louisiana.

HOME: WHITEWATER RAFTING ON THE MERCED RIVER MAY 2011

To quote my friend Barb's question, "Don't you have the life?" and to answer said question: yes, sometimes, we do.  We live in a place like Yosemite so we can do things like whitewater rafting in photo above, and though I long for a real grocery store and often despise the isolation (2 hours to the nearest Target!), the fact is that most days here can be really great.  Spring in Yosemite is all about the snowmelt: roaring waterfalls, blooming wildflowers, and the Merced River raging through it's course as the high country snow melts and plunges to Yosemite Valley in the spring sunshine.  Each year as we emerge from the Sierra Nevada winter, rafting companies set up shop on mountain rivers like the Merced and escort rafters through the icy cold whitewater for a thrill.  Yosemite's concession company (Ted's employer), DNC Parks & Resorts at Yosemite, has a great employee recreation program that schedules a group rafting trip each spring with local operation Zephyr Whitewater Expeditions.  Everyone piles on the bus for a ride to El Portal, just outside Yosemite's west gate and gets kitted out for whitewater fun.

Though you can float on a much calmer Merced River at the height of midsummer inside the park, whitewater rafting is prohibited, so you must ride the rapids outside of the park about a half hour drive from Yosemite Valley.  The Zephyr guides and staff are friendly and knowledgeable and give you many, many saftey instructions before and after you set foot in the raft.  On this day the Merced River water was a brisk 44 degrees, so we wore bathing suits under wetsuits and splash jackets under lifevests.  Some opted for wool sweaters under splash jackets and wool socks under water shoes.  No kidding - that water is cold!  Our raft guide, Max, made sure we knew what we doing before setting out for a full day trip on the river that includes a lunch stop in the middle.

This stretch of the Merced, from Indian Flat Campground to Railroad Flat just before you reach the North Fork of the Merced, is 22 miles comprised of mostly Class III rapids with a few Class VIs (Ned's Gulch, Split Rock, Corner Pocket) thrown in that are great fun. 

• Class 1: Very small rough areas, requires no maneuvering. (Skill Level: None)
• Class 2: Some rough water, maybe some rocks, small drops, might require maneuvering. (Skill Level: Basic Paddling Skill)
• Class 3: Whitewater, medium waves, maybe a 3–5 ft drop, but not much considerable danger. May require significant maneuvering. (Skill Level: Experienced paddling skills)
• Class 4: Whitewater, large waves, long rapids, rocks, maybe a considerable drop, sharp maneuvers may be needed. (Skill Level: Whitewater Experience)
• Class 5: Whitewater, large waves, continuous rapids, large rocks and hazards, maybe a large drop, precise maneuvering (Skill Level: Advanced Whitewater Experience)
• Class 6: Whitewater, typically with huge waves, huge rocks and hazards, huge drops, but sometimes labeled this way due to largely invisible dangers (e.g., a smooth slide that creates a near-perfect, almost inescapable hydraulic. Class 6 rapids are considered hazardous even for expert paddlers using state-of-the-art equipment, and come with the warning "danger to life or limb." (Skill Level: Expert)

We stopped to eat on "Lunch Island" and enjoyed a spread of lemonade, sandwiches and fruit while everyone warmed their toes in the sun.  Apparently cookies are usually on the menu but river guide Joe failed to notice the cookies stashed under his seat in the paddle boat so we had to go without, making Joe somewhat less popular for the second half of the run.  Otherwise, the lunch was great and once we were fed and sun-baked, we launched our flotilla for the trip down through Briceburg and on to Railroad Flat.

Emily (Yosemite Employee Recreation Manager) with Carly and Eric

In the calm stretches or easy rapids of the river the guides would encourage rafters to swim, though the water was far too cold for me.  Practicing their form, swimmers get hauled out of the water and back into the boats by the straps on their lifevests.  Luckily no one took an inadvertent swim on this day and our lifesaving instructions were not put to the test.  We ended the day with two wild Class IV rapids before reaching Railroad Flat and the takeout.  Zephyr provided cold drinks and pulled the rafts out of the water for the half hour bus and trailer ride back to the Zephyr shop in El Portal.

Thanks to our river guide, Max, and our raftmates Teri, Brent and Anna for a great day on the river.  We'd go rafting with Zephyr again anytime.  The whitewater was spectacular and just challenging enough for a novice like me.  Please note that I could not film or photograph during the actual rapids on the river so if the video or photos look tame, beware!  The two fantastic shots of us in the raft mid-rapid were taken by a professional photographer that makes the shots available for purchase after the trip and their office is right next to Zephyr in the same building.  Finally, thanks also to Emily at Yosemite Employee Recreation for making it happen.

Junket Ratings:

Day Trip on the Merced River with Zephyr Whitewater Expeditions: Junk in the Trunk!!

TRAVEL: SAND IN SAN DIEGO AT THE DESERT AND BEACH APRIL 2011

My friend Beth hustled back to California to start a new job with the National Wildlife Federation, relocating back to her home outside Yosemite, just in time for an invitation to her long-time friend John's wedding celebration in San Diego.  Coming from Yellowstone and her home in Gardiner, Montana, Beth was essentially driving the American West from Canada to Mexico in a week.  She needed help with that, so she recruited me to assist with the California portion of her road trip.  I am, after all, the Queen of Road Trips and I am always happy to blow off every obligation for a trip in the car to places unknown (and known).  So I booked us into a motel north of San Diego in Encinitas two blocks from the beach and we jumped in the car Kerouac-Style for an eight hour trip south to sun and sand and fish tacos.

After a mostly uneventful drive south (with the exception of a maddening crawl across LA during rush hour where I thought we may petrify), we checked in to the Days Inn Encinitas and headed for Juanita's Taco Shop.  Included on most people's list of the where to find the best fish tacos in San Diego, Juanita's status was well-deserved.  Excellent fish tacos with just the right trimmings (though lettuce is never a substitute for cabbage in the realm of taco creation), we both ordered one too many but ate them anyway.  We consumed too many tacos while tippling Moet & Chandon and viewing the royal wedding in a low-brow/high-brow effort to celebrate Beth's return to California.  Though we were blocks from the beach, I persuaded Beth to take a drive into the desert east of San Diego the next day before evening wedding festivities.  Driving an hour or so we crossed several low mountain ranges to enter the Borrego Valley, home of Anza Borrego Desert State Park.

If you know me, you know how much I love the desert.  If you don't know me, you don't know how much I love the dry crunch under my feet, the spiky and scaly flora and fauna, the alien climate and the alien sightings, the supercool modern architecture, the sheer scale of nighttime sky with stars and the daytime sky with sun-blasted heat.  There's also the dark poet appeal of the wasteland: the desert should always be experienced with a bottle of whiskey, well-worn boots, aviator sunglasses and a sweaty cowboy hat.  Preferably in a muscle car from the 60s or 70s.  Of course we were in a Subaru wearing shorts and sandals, listening to the GPS after a stop at the Starbucks in Encinitas, but it didn't lessen my enjoyment of my favorite landscape.  And how lucky were we?  Besides catching the tail-end of the spring wildflower bloom, we were lucky enough to see desert bighorn sheep - a rare occurence in the wilderness of California.

After a short loop through the park, a stop at the visitor center with it's endangered oxymoronic desert pupfish pond, cruising through the desert town of Borrego Springs (where I could easily have my bottle of whiskey next to a motel pool), we sighted the Turkey Inn in Ramona on the way back toward the Pacific.  Another thing I love: turkeys.  Love to eat them, drink them, sight them in the wild and ponder the fact that Benjamin Franklin thought it should be the national bird and I tend to agree.  Turkeys are cool.  Kitschy roadside Americana also tops my list of loves, but I digress.

The wedding celebration for John and Jenny was hosted at the Naked Cafe in Solana Beach, some five miles south of Encinitas.  All the beach towns north of San Diego are clean and beautiful and the Naked Cafe faced the Pacific across the street from Fletcher Cove Beach Park.  The restaurant doesn't serve dinner, so the party was private.  Not only were the food and service swell, but the party was filled with lovely people.  John and Jenny were extremely gracious about my party crashing and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting them along with their family and friends.

John, Beth and Michelle at the Naked Cafe

Beth shows off her blingSpending about a minute in Encinitas during the entire stay, we were nevertheless impressed with the town and our proximity to Moonlight State Beach.  The quintessential SoCal beach, Moonlight was crowded with surfers and families, concession rentals, kelp strands and swanky cliffside homes overlooking the ocean.  Next to fish tacos, San Diego is best known for surfing, and Encinitas is home to Hansen Surfboards.  We checked out the surf shop and the beach before heading back to the Sierra Nevada via the 5, the 99 and the Central Valley.

Between the beach and the mountains of California lies the Central Valley, home to the largest agricultural operation in the country, providing 8% of America's agricultural output on only 1% of it's farmland.  Not scenic when compared with California's coast and range, a trip through the Central Valley can educate about California's culinary delights.  A road trip must-see on the culinary tour is the Bravo Farms Cheese Factory ("A Taste of the Valley!") south of Fresno in Traver.  Local cheeses, olive oils, raisins, dates and other California delights await in yet another example of kitschy roadside Americana.  The raw milk Western Sage Cheddar is a true palate pleasure.  We loaded up on California bounty and hit the road home.

Junket Ratings:

Days Inn Encinitas: Junk-O-Rama

Juanita's Fish Tacos: Junk in the Trunk!

Anza Borrego Desert State Park: Junk in the Trunk!

The Naked Cafe: Junk-O-Rama

Hansen's Surf Shop: Junk-O-Rama

Moonlight State Beach: Junk-O-Rama

Bravo Farms Cheese Factory: Junk-O-Rama

Update on Monday, May 16, 2011 at 8:50AM by Michelle Hansen

Apparently the "Surfing Madonna" of Encinitas pictured above was creating quite a stir for the citizens, according to an article in the LA Times.  The artist is a mystery and the artwork is tile mosaic - not paint like I thought originally.  We need more anonymous artwork in this country!

HOME: HIKING THE YOSEMITE FALLS TRAIL APRIL 2011

Dangerous to stray from the trail?  Dangerous to stay on the trail in the spring after a series of lovely spring snowstorms.  Disclaimer for the rest of this post: do not try this at home.  Nothing quite like a brisk death march, I mean hike, to the top of the falls in spring when the waterfall is roaring and the dusty trail is cleverly masked with mud.  The Upper Yosemite Falls Trail is a tough one in the summer with no obstacles but tourists, but it is mad difficult when the top half is covered in snow.  Oh, and - spoiler alert! - you can't actually get to the top of the falls when the trail is obscured by 6 feet of snow.  But we went anyway.

Arguably the second most popular trail in Yosemite Valley after the Mist Trail, the Yosemite Falls Trail involves a seven mile round-trip and an elevation gain of 2600 feet that is achieved by ascending 8000 switchbacks equivalent to climbing the stairs of the Empire State Building twice.  But the views of the Falls and Yosemite Valley are fine and you won't need to workout for the rest of the week.

In the spring the trail is muddy from constant snowmelt and the trail itself is often the runoff conduit as the water trickles its way from the High Sierra to the Merced River on the Valley floor.  In some places the granite block-reinforced trail has far more than a trickle of water, so wear those waterproof shoes and bring extra socks.  Soon after the point where you view the Falls for the first time the trail disappeared into the snow, but many intrepid souls had broken trail long before we got there.  Though it was treacherous going in the snow, using our trekking poles like ice picks we scrambled and heaved to ascend 8000 more switchbacks through the small canyon behind the Falls in order to make it to the overlook.

Ted contemplates the trail, the snow, our mortalityThe weather was strange this day.  You could plainly see blue skies above the Falls and Half Dome, and yet we would be covered with swirling snowflakes.  Yosemite Valley does have its own microclimate and the granite walls were creating their own weather.  We moved through mist, rain, snow and sun in varying degrees both up and down the trail.  Slogging through the snow was both painful and exhilarating.  But had I known we wouldn't make it to the Falls overlook, I may not have slogged so much.  At the top, we were stymied by the loss of the trail to the overlook and what appeared to be a bona fide snowstorm, so we hustled back out of there.  Once we traveled the snow-covered portion of the trail we only met five other people in that last mile or so.  Three people were sliding back down the trail on their butts, and the other two guys were going up as we were coming down (only occasionally on our butts and not intentionally) at around 6:00 PM.  Good on ya, mates.

Ted tries vainly to find Yosemite Falls

Only three miles to go!But on the way back down, still slogging through the snow, you get gobsmacked with views like this:

And I also realized that the view above was the inspiration for this:

"Evening Glow at Yosemite Falls" was created by Japanese artist Chiura Obata in 1930.  This color woodblock print is one example of Obata's prolific body of work with the Sierra Nevada as his subject.  He took his first trip through Yosemite and the Sierra in 1927 and used traditional Japanese painting techniques and his own innovations to recreate the landscape he encountered.  If you live in California, you are likely familiar with Obata and his work - he was an influential artist and teacher in the Bay Area for decades.  Though many artists have been inspired to pay tribute to Yosemite, no one shows you the Sierra Nevada quite like Obata.  My friend Kimi Kodani Hill is the Obata family historian, and she shares wonderful stories about her artist grandfather.  Obata's history is also representative of life in the American West.  As a Japanese immigrant he found great success but was also sent to an internment camp during World War II along with thousands of other Japanese Americans before becoming an American citizen in 1954.  If you've never seen Obata's work, check out "Obata's Yosemite: The Art and Letters of Chiura Obata from His Trip to the High Sierra in 1927".  If you make it to San Francisco, you can view his artwork at the de Young Fine Art Museum.  Obata was also featured in the Ken Burns' documentary "The National Parks: America's Best Idea."  By the time I took the photo above, Ted was well ahead of me on the trail.  He looked back at me, puzzled, as I yelled "Obata!" and gesticulated wildly toward the waterfall.

Hiking the Yosemite Falls Trail April 2011 from California Junket on Vimeo.

Eager to leave the snow behind and get back to the mud, we realized the snow level had fallen while we hiked and though the bottom half of the trail was still clear, the trees were dusted with snow.  We emerged at Columbia Rock just as the sun was setting at the west end of the Valley and spied a smidgeon of alpenglow on the far side, affording the best view yet.  I stumbled after Ted down the rest of the switchbacks in the evening glow.

P.S. I want to point out to my friend Carl that no food was mentioned in this Yosemite adventure post, but that's only because I neglected to take a photo of the well-earned pizza we inhaled for dinner.

HOME/TRAVEL/FOOD: ORGANIC FARMING IN THE CENTRAL VALLEY AND OUTDOOR GRILLING IN YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK PART ONE

Yosemite Valley is roughly two hours and 4000 vertical feet above the Central Valley of California, America's Vegetable Garden.  Culturally, it can be light years away - from mostly white outdoor enthusiasts desultorily working in the service industry to maintain a residence in the rarified atmosphere of Yosemite National Park to mostly hispanic farm workers breaking sweat and backs to harvest the nation's largest agricultural operations to maintain a basic living in the state of California.  What do they have in common?  An ever-expanding web of food harvesting, purveying and consumption feeds the visiting throngs of Yosemite National Park, including some 2000 employees at the height of the summer season.  The farms of the Central Valley indiscriminately feed Yosemite tourists and residents alike, but there is choice in the matter.  Restaurants serving visitors at the Ahwanee Hotel and Yosemite Lodge are choosing more organic and local products for their fancy dining rooms, and local farms like TD Willey Farms are very happy to provide those products.  Park residents have access to the Community Supported Agriculture of Mountain Meadow Farms in Mariposa.  Operated by Brenda Ostrom, the CSA 'veggie boxes' are delivered every Tuesday to Yosemite and surrounding communities, consisting of local and organic products including eggs and olive oil besides vegetables and fruits.  Brenda partners with TD Willey to provide many of the vegetables found in the boxes.

To explore this connection further, I went on a farm tour.  Having become more and more interested in the origin of my food, I regularly read books like The Omnivore's Dilemma, Fast Food Nation and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.  I also try to follow legislature that affects the distribution of food in this country.  Though the romance of food and cooking is the inspiration, the acquisition of food is the key.  Sponsored by the Employee Recreation department of DNC Parks & Resorts at Yosemite, we bundled 10 people into two vans and trucked out to Madera, southwest of Yosemite.  We toured TD Willey Farms, an organic farm surrounded by a sea of industrial farming in the Central Valley, with owner Tom Willey.  Tom looks like a farmer: bearded, with dirt under his fingernails and suspenders holding up his trousers, he walks with a limp as if the burden of the organic debate in the agriculture industry may be weighing him down.  But Tom has a pronounced enthusiasm for organic farming, dispensing pearls of wisdom in his low-key manner.  After waxing poetic about soil microbes, "Agriculture is just an experiment," he says before taking a call on his cell phone and conversing in Spanish.

Tom Willey of TD Willey Farms

Tom preaching to the choir: Emily, Molly, Erin, Sarah, Ola, others

I asked Tom what he thought about Bill S 510, also known as the Food Safety Modernization Act, that seems designed to benefit industrial agriculture corporations, but would require sweeping and potentially detrimental changes to the way small organic farms do business.  The bill is currently on hold but will be scheduled for a Senate vote.  "Food production is not industry, it's biology," he stated.  I expect his opinion is much more involved, but the point he wanted to get across was that nowhere in the bill are animal industrial farming operations addressed, as if all the recent food safety issues are due to produce alone.  Tom also pointed out that Big Ag corporations, often the source of food safety issues, offer to 'solve' safety issues through application of expensive technology and spin - making them look like the heroes of the food industry.  Of course, the meat processing industry in this country has powerful lobby interests in Washington D.C., not to mention that the bill may have been inspired by reports from the Trust for America's Health, whose members are solidly entangled with corporate agribusiness giants such as Monsanto.  But despite these issues, organic operations at TD Willey roll on year-round, growing over 50 types of vegetables and fruits on 75 acres with 65 workers at the height of the summer.  They often harvest their own seed to use for next year's crops and provide food for 825 members of their own CSA program. 

TD Willey harvests basil seed from their crop

Warning sign in Spanish to keep crop for seed collectionPotato plants - never could have guessed

Though the CSA aspect of their operation accounts for only 20% of their production, Tom says that it is the aspect of sales he enjoys the most.  The other 80% is in high demand in the San Francisco Bay area, but is also trucked as far away as Minnesota.  As the tour winds down, Tom frankly voices his concern for the sustainability of his farming operation, though TD Willey has been certified organic since 1987.  However, he notes, "Nothing is pure," referring to the organic designation.  In reality, organic produce has 2/3 less chemical residue than conventionally farmed produce and that's little enough to earn the organic label.

Sugar Snap Pea sample - thanks to Ola the hand model

Tom hopes that young people are attracted to agriculture as a career, since the current problems surrounding food production need fresh minds to resolve these issues.  After two and a half hours of farming wisdom, Tom sent us on our way with samples of fine strawberries and delightful sugar snap peas.  He also recommended Quady Winery, not too far down the road from TD Willey Farms in Madera.  All this talk of food inspired me to cook out that evening for dinner: country-style pork ribs with grilled onions, grilled green salad and peruano beans.  Look for recipes in part two of this post.

 Junket Ratings:

TD Willey Farm Tour: Junk in the Trunk!

Mountain Meadow Farm CSA: Junk in the Trunk!