-2- Yosemite In The Early Spring

The best time to walk in Yosemite is in the early spring. It is a great place to walk just about anytime as it is truly an outdoors person's paradise. Flat trails, steep trails, very steep trails and solid rock faces if you must challenge yourself.

Early spring is the best for several reasons. The snow in the higher country is melting, so the waterfalls are in their prime. The main falls are really roaring and the seasonal falls are all adding their part to the experience. Each turn of the trail rewards the walker with unbelievable views. Early spring is best because the tour season is not yet in full swing. One has more of the trail to one's self. Early spring is best because the weather is cool, not too hot, not too cold, just right.

It was our 20th anniversary, so we decided to stay in the Ahwahnee and hike the local trails. The Ahwahnee was built in the early 1900s and has been in service ever since. There are pictures of Theodore Roosevelt, Ansil Adams, and other dignitaries scattered about the place.

The old hotel is fun, it is old and has its very own ambiance. That includes tea every day from 4-5 in the great room. The dining room is large and glorious with 35 foot ceilings . If you can get the alcove for breakfast, your seat will allow you a direct view of Yosemite falls and a smaller set of falls that drop right behind the hotel. The trails are convenient to the hotel, so ample walking opportunities exist.

We walked to the base of Yosemite Falls. The water drops from a cliff for a long drop and then a shorter second drop. Yosemite Falls are the tallest waterfalls in the United States. They are in fact the 6th or 7th tallest waterfalls in the world. On loses one's sense of perspective when looking at the falls, they are so tall they don't look tall if that makes any sense. The volume of water was so great that a perpetual wind exists at the base of the falls. That wind is result of all the water pushing the air out of the way as it falls. There was also a nice rainbow created by the mist from the mist at the base of the falls. As one faces the falls from their base and looks just to the right of the top of the falls, one see the Lost Arrow. This is a stone spire that stands out away from the main rock wall. It is one of the many climbs that rock climbers make in the area. Personally, it scares me just to look at the Arrow from the bottom of the falls.

We walked the trail to Half Dome as far as the top of Vernal Falls. This includes a section of the trail known as the Mist Trail. Let me assure you, there was mist and then some from all the water in the Merced River roaring by. The walls of the canyon are close, so the sound and the mist make for a dramatic hike. In the morning sun, we also caught a double and possibly parts of a triple rainbow close to the bottom of Vernal Falls. We walked aways on toward Nevada Falls, sort of the next stop on the pilgrimage to Half Dome, then turned around and came back by a section of the John Muir trail. The Muir trail had several sheltered sections still covered with snow which made crossing them interesting. The slopes were steep and the snow was melting, slippery in spots to say the least. The parts of the trail exposed to the sun were lined with early wildflowers, including big patches of lupine. It was all in all a very enjoyable walk.

Anyone who likes to walk should go to Yosemite some time, go in the off season and stay a few days. Walk and see what is to be seen. See it in the light of spring or fall rather than the glare of summer. The colors are subtle; grays, greens, browns, blacks splashed with with mists and and tumbling waters.

Go try it some time, it is worth the trip. Your life will be richer for doing it.