Looking Over the Edge

Just how much Yosemite can you pack into one day? We gave it our best shot - with a priority on trying to escape the crowds found in the Valley... But first, there was Junior Ranger business to complete. We went on a ranger-led Junior Ranger walk through an area called "the Fen" by Happy Isles where we learned about the unique marshy ecosystem in that particular "neighborhood," and how it had been restored from a former parking lot about nine years ago. Abby and Isaac added Yosemite to their Junior Ranger list of badges and we went looking for our next adventure.

Cycling is by far the easiest way to get around the Valley. I love how you can get most anywhere so quickly and easily (without sitting in traffic and fighting for a place to park). We continued cycling our way around to Mirror Lake for a quick stop and then made our way back to the campground for a hearty lunch to fuel up for an afternoon hike. We set out for Glacier Point and set our sights on Sentinel Dome and Taft Point - we could hit both places in a loop hike that seemed doable for the kids. The Glacier Point area is also in the high country, and is about 3,000 feet or more above the Valley floor - so it was about 15 degrees cooler up there, which was very nice after spending the previous afternoon hovering around 100 degrees in the Valley (no more cold weather here).

The sky was clear and the air was breezy as we made our way up to the top of Sentinel Dome, a huge granite dome towering above Curry Village in the Valley. You could see for miles and miles up there - a 360 degree view of the surrounding mountains and views of the waterfalls and rock formations that drop into the Valley like Yosemite Falls, Half Dome and El Capitan. It was a little nerve-racking to let the kids wander around the top knowing that one wrong step could be the first one of a slide that dropped to the Valley floor...but they didn't wander too far. As I tried to take pictures from the top, it seemed nearly impossible - to capture the magnificence of the scenery was simply not possible through the lens of a camera, especially in the mid-afternoon sun. I began to understand how Ansel Adams might have been inspired by black & White photography and the play of light and shadows on these granite cliffs.

Wandering around the trail to our next destination, Taft Point, we were treated to one surprise after another - more views of the falls, new wildflowers we hadn't seen before (our favorite was called Snow Plant we learned today), and even a rock point that went out to the top of a waterfall that fell hundreds of feet to the Valley floor. I don't know which one it was, but it was pretty cool to imagine that we were at the top of our very own private waterfall... except for trying to keep Isaac from falling over the edge (see the picture of Isaac and Matt laying on their bellies). At Taft Point, we were greeted with even more sheer cliffs and rock fissures that seemed to lead to the edge of the world. It was definitely a situation for keeping each child close by the hand... but you could see forever. It was amazing to get a perspective on what the Valley looked like from above and watch all the little tiny ant-sized buses and cars going by on the roads below. We felt like we were on top of the world.

At the end of the day, we were all tired and our muscles were weary, but after dinner Matt took the kids out to see the stars in the clear night sky from just outside our campground - the perfect end to a pretty spectacular day.

Tracy