SPRING HIKING IN YOSEMITE APRIL/MAY 2012

Not to be confused with my last post, "Spring in Yosemite", this post showcases spring on the trail where we leave behind cocktails and brunch (but not beer!) and get out into the wildflower-riddled landscape. Though technically spring did not arrive early in Yosemite, it had glamoured winter into thinking it was spring, so we went with it. Actually, spring has started to feel like summer on some recent days, so wacky weather is the order of 2012. Perhaps we've been transported to Westeros or perhaps it signifies the end of the world...

Either way, here's what the Mist Trail looked like in April:

Even without significant mist, we still got a rainbow at Vernal Fall. By now, the waterfall has swelled considerably, the hordes have descended on the trail and the rainbow is delighting hikers as they ascend the Stairs of Death to the top of Vernal and beyond.

Though we briefly experienced the Hite Cove Spring Wildflower Extravaganza as every good Yosemite local should, we also took a spring excursion down the Merced River Trail starting at Briceburg past Railroad Flat. Ted and I always seem to hike this one in the fall, so I was delighted by the wildflower show. We even brought along old Fleabag, who made an impressive showing by hiking almost 5 miles round trip to the North Fork and back. Friends Joe and Christy (and their much younger dog, Cody) patiently accompanied us as we shepherded the oldster along the trail. Fleabag is 15 years old and though he ran out of steam toward the end, had to be carried over rocky sections of the trail and even lost the trail a couple of times, he still navigated under his own power from beginning to end. What a champ!

Today I had to do a little work at Glacier Point, so I checked out the haps at the Sentinel Dome trail on the way home. Last year in June my mom and I could not hike to Taft Point from the same trailhead because there was too much snow. Not so in Westeros, the path to Sentinel Dome was sunny and clear with views of Yosemite Valley and Half Dome. Once at the top of the dome, you'll see one of the most photographed trees in the world, now just the remains of one of the most picturesquely-situated Jeffrey Pines in Yosemite National Park.

The Jeffrey Pine back in the day by Ansel AdamsFortunately for me, this spring has been conducive to hiking all over the park as I am in training for a trek to the top of Half Dome in June. I can catch any number of trails right out my front door and yesterday while out hiking somewhere between Church Bowl and Lower Yosemite Falls, I shared the trail for a while with a bobcat. And that's spring hiking in Yosemite.

SPRING IN YOSEMITE APRIL 2012

We had some special guests here in Yosemite over the Easter holiday weekend, Ted's mom Wenche and two very dear family friends. Earl and Marion planned a week in Yosemite to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary - and they've camped in Yosemite for almost every one of those fifty years, usually in Tuolumne Meadows. This outing they stayed at the Yosemite Lodge and we planned an Easter Anniversary Brunch at our place. We took our guests on a wildlflower walk and we also dined at the Wawona Hotel to enjoy the exceptional spring weather. We ventured out to every Yosemite locals' favorite spring wildflower hike, Hite Cove, located just outside the park in the Merced River Canyon. We were treated to quite a show of Sierra Nevada wildflowers, including Western Redbud and California Poppies, and ended the afternoon with a picnic lunch by the river.

Easter Brunch was a festive and al fresco affair. We dined in our completely and privately fenced yard on prosciutto-wrapped asparagus, deviled eggs, sliced fruit, Creamy Lemon Soup with Lamb Mint Meatballs, BLT Salad, and Crispy Potato Galette with Smoked Fish and Dill Creme (though I skipped the galette and used puff pastry cups instead). Since this is a crew that enjoys their cocktails, we naturally served Bloody Marys and Mimosas, but we also mixed it up with Shooters with Bloody Mary Granita (the original recipe calls for oysters, but we used shrimp) - a frozen Bloody Mary concoction with a seafood garnish. The day was sunny, the wine was flowing and the company was excellent.

To commemorate Earl and Marion's anniversary, we gifted them with a book created on Blurb, "50 Years of Camping in Yosemite (and Marriage Too!)" which included personal photos of previous visits to Yosemite. Personal photo books are easily created online at sites like Blurb, which provided exceptional and speedy service. We were all very pleased with the way the book turned out: seven inch sqaure hardcover with full color photos and text. See the link above to preview the book.

The visit from the LA crew wrapped with a trip to Wawona and dinner at the Wawona Hotel, where our friends Joe and Christy joined us. The Wawona Dining Room has a new chef, Dwayne McFann, and we were treated to some new and creative menu items after sipping pre-dinner cocktails on the veranda. We feasted on Crab Cakes with Red Pepper Fennel Slaw and Lemon Caper Remoulade, a California Cheese Sampler, Wawona's House Made Meatloaf, Grilled Big Bison Burger and a pork special, along with some lovely California wines. The crab cakes were a big hit with our table. As ever, the ambiance of this National Historic Landmark hotel at Wawona is relaxed and friendly, and I really dig the historic Sequoia tree lampshades.

After a disappointing winter, spring has been good to us here in Yosemite and we don't even need to leave the house to catch the wildflower show this year. First we were graced with purple Western Dog Violets which have now given way to entire bed of white-with-purple-center MacCloskey's Violets. Whitey approves.

Junket Rating:

Wawona Dining Room: Junk-O-Rama

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!

TRAVEL: FISHING AND CAMPING THE INYO NATIONAL FOREST EAST OF YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK JULY 2010

Ellery Lake Inyo National Forest

Ahhhh, the High Sierra in summer - blue skies, puffy white clouds, rock climbing, trout fishing, hiking, warm sunny days and cool nights.  But don't forget the mosquitos - all that melting snow creates picturesque creeks, lakes, meadows that provide perfect breeding grounds for Sierra Nevada bloodsuckers.  We spent our weekend camping in the Inyo National Forest, just east of Yosemite.  The 'East Side' of the Sierra Nevada mountains has attained mythical proportion for denizens of Yosemite and the western foothills - the biggest trout, the sickest ascent, the perfect hot springs, the most beautiful hikes, and the best lobster taquitos with the tastiest mango margaritas!  Accessible only from June through September every year (if we're lucky, a little May/October too), Yosemite residents speak of Tuolumne Meadows in awe-tinged voices as they plan their next dinner at the Mobil gas station in the east side town of Lee Vining.  Dinner at a gas station?

 

People travel for miles - and rightly so - to sample Chef Matt Toomey's menu at the Whoa Nellie Deli and down their selections accompanied by mango margaritas.  A social hotspot for the Sierra east side and Yosemite's high country, the Mobil hosts live music for diners on their outdoor patio, as well as providing gas, beer, fishing supplies, sundries and snacks.  Famous for lobster taquitos and fish tacos, the menu doesn't really change from year to year, but the kitchen staff strives to offer daily specials that will pique your culinary interest.

Legendary Lobster Taquitos

Oyster Po' Boy Sandwich Daily Special

Though we will always find a reason to visit the Mobil, this particular trip required TV time in the restaurant to catch the semi-final of the World Cup.  Camping in Inyo National Forest for two days was giving Ted World Cup withdrawal symptoms, so we joined mostly Euro tourists for inside dining to watch Spain beat Germany. Satisfied with the outcome of the game and satiated with seafood, we returned to our campsite at Junction campground near the Tioga Pass Resort outside the east gate of Yosemite.  Located at an elevation of 9600 ft, this is truly Sierra Nevada high country and lots of snow remained on Tioga Peak and the Dana Plateau, though the temps reach the 80s during the day.

Fleabag loves camping!

East entrance Yosemite National Park

Junction Campsite #12

Mine Creek behind campsite #12

Western Wallflower

Fleabag approves of our campsite

Junction Campground is located at the junction of Highway 120 and the Saddlebag Lake Road leading to Sawmill and Saddlebag Lake campgrounds.  Bennettville ghost town is just a short hike from the junction, originally founded by the Great Sierra Mining Company in 1882.  Junction is also located a short jaunt down the highway from Ellery and Tioga Lakes.  With snow on the peaks, daytime temps in the 80s was just my speed as our main objective for this trip was fishing for trout and eating said trout.  And trout fishing requires you to stand in the glacially cold creek water while you cast - aaaiyeee!  We spent the afternoon fishing in Mine Creek at the entrance to our campground and caught one beautiful and very large trout just in time for dinner.

Arnica and Indian Paintbrush

Beautiful Rainbow Trout

After Ted taught me how to clean the fish in the creek behind our campsite,  I believe we did this big beautiful trout some justice by cooking him up hobo pack style with potatoes, onions, lemon slices, seasoned with basil and rosemary, steamed in butter and white wine:

The next day's destination was Ellery Lake in an attempt to repeat another day of successful fishing and dining. Ellery Lake is one of the most accessible high Sierra lakes - the only delay between leaving your car and dropping a line is the time it takes to bait the hook.  For all it's access, however, Ellery Lake was very quiet on a Wednesday afternoon.  We couldn't even tempt the fish in this stocked lake, but we enjoyed the locale immensely.

We retreated from Ellery and stuck with the tried and true fishing hole on Mine Creek.  Every angler that fished caught something here, and though most were using some elaborate bait, we caught three more trout with a lure resembling a little Brown Trout.  I let two get away (subconsciously?  I doubt it - fish are yummy!) and my performance would not have made my fishing mentor, Roy Singletary, very proud.  But as long as Ted was fishing, we were guaranteed dinner.  So the second evening we smoked the trout on the grill:

The next morning it was time to return to Yosemite Valley for work - the complete opposite of everyone else on the Tioga Road.   Passing through cool green Tuolumne Meadows and passing by Tenaya Lake, we descended 5000 feet to the Valley to face the summer hordes.  The high country campgrounds in Inyo National Forest are a welcome respite from the Valley's summer heat, but they don't take reservations and are often filled by early morning, especially on weekends.  Take a chance during the week like we did and arrive early and you may luck into a campsite filled with mosquitos and trout.

Tuolumne Meadows Yosemite National Park

Tenaya Lake Yosemite National Park

Junket Ratings:

Whoa Nellie Deli at the Tioga Gas Mart Mobil Station: Junk in the Trunk!

Junction Campground Inyo National Forest: Junk-O-Rama

HOME: HIKING THE MONO MEADOW TRAIL IN YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK JULY 2010

It's cliche, but it's true: Yosemite National Park, one of the most visited parks in the world, is full of hidden gems that the average visitor misses altogether.  The Mono Meadow trail off the Glacier Point Road is a perfect example.  Just off the literal beaten path, the ever-popular Glacier Point Road is an out-and-back road that leads to it's famous namesake overlook.  From Glacier Point you have a bird's eye view of Yosemite Valley and a profile shot of Half Dome's round back that you share with thousands of people on a summer day (and good luck finding a space in that parking lot!).  Though the spectacular view from Glacier Point is worth enduring the crowds, if you want to experience Sierra high country with a more personal park experience, just pick a trail and get out of your car.  On this day, I chose Mono Meadow.

Half Dome view from Washburn Point just up from Glacier Point

Back of Half Dome from the Mono Meadow trail overlook

From the Mono Meadow trailhead parking lot, the path descends steeply through mature Red Fir forest until it reaches the meadow.  The meadow is wet and lush with downed logs criss-crossing the grasses.  Where the dry trail ends you can use the logs to cross the meadow without getting your feet wet and regain the dry path on the other side.

I was utilizing the first set of downed logs to navigate water on the trail at the entrance to the meadow when this guy showed up:

This oxymoron of a bear - cinnamon-colored Black Bear - popped out of the grass very close to me, intent on feeding, and didn't notice me for a minute.  I had the presence of mind to take photos, but was just uncomfortable enough with our proximity to abandon any ideas about video.  I was also stuck in a bend in the trail where it was necessary to go towards the bear to cross a small creek over a fallen log, or retreat back down the section of trail closest to the bear.  Once he noticed me snapping a photo, I opted for the creek.  Well past the bear and into the meadow, I tried to convince myself that I could not hear the bear behind me, but then realized I was hearing this:

Never been so glad to see a Mule Deer.  The trail exits the meadow and resumes a path through forest with sporadic granite outcroppings.  Fire swept this area in recent years and left patches of standing snags and downed charred logs.  The trail remains level with occasional rolling hills and goes from sun to shade and back again.  The birdsong was incredible and wildflowers were everywhere.

Charred logs with Lupine

Pussy Paws

Slender Triteleia

The trail crosses Illilouette Creek at a point where the creek descends down granite boulders on it's way to create Illilouette Fall in Yosemite Valley.  The pool of water where the trail crosses the creek was filled with trout zipping from side to side.  The pool of glacially cold snowmelt water was also deeper and wider than I wanted to wade despite the hot afternoon, so I looked for another place to cross and found this:

After spotting more trout while crossing, I was delighted by the creek fall downstream.  I noticed 'potholes' in the granite filled with water - a feature I've never seen here before.  Bright pink flowers grew in the granite next to the creek - California Fuschia.

I left the creek behind and resumed my trek to the Clark Range overlook.  More flowers, more burned trees with very green undergrowth and gigantic Sugar Pine cones lay scattered on the ground.  The vista ahead was beginning to widen and soon I could see mountains over the trees.  A long, low granite dome on the left side of the trail afforded a perfect view of the Clark Mountain Range and the rounded back of Half Dome.

Sierra Daisy

Woolly Sunflower

Mount Clark

Mount Starr King

The back side of Half DomeThe view is remarkable: Mount Clark, Mount Starr King and Half Dome from right to left with a turn of the head.  And so far, I had not shared the trail or the view with another human being.  I rested and rehydrated on the sun-warmed granite for the return trip.

I spied a lonely Snowplant on the way back.  More of a fungus than a plant, Snowplant is dramatic in it's drab setting.  I finally met other people on the trail in the same exact spot I saw the bear an hour earlier.  Shape shifters?  No, just a family of four from Fresno who were looking for bears and asked about my luck.  I shared my bear photos with them before ascending back to the trailhead parking lot.  That last hill is a doozy!