Out There

Yosemite-Keep it simple

How green is the Valley

This was my fourth trip to Yosemite; the main objective this time was to spend as much time as possible up on the Tioga Pass, Touloumne Meadows and the Cathedral Peaks areas. A plan that was slightly curtailed by the advent of the first snow storm of the season that closed the road for four days. So having just set up camp at Porcupine Flat then spent a good few hours ‘playing’ around Olmsted Point. I had hiked out along the long arm of granite that stretches from the viewpoint to a small dome (can’t find a name for it on the maps) with Mt Watkins to the right and Tenaya Canyon snaking it’s way to the valley below me on the left. I decided a return to base was in order as the flurries became more frequent and my gloveless hands urging protection against the numbingly cold wind. The tent was well coated and where there had been a half dozen or so tents on site that morning there now remained only two. We debated the merits of staying or going, but then a ranger drew up and made the decision for us. The road down towards Big Oak was becoming dodgy. I passed up a number of potential good photographic opportunities, which I rue now, but at the time my ‘English’ driving skills were being tested and I need alternative accommodation, a very rare commodity on a Friday evening even at the bookend of the season.

This brings me to my dilemma and the problem that National Parks status brings to areas of outstanding natural beauty. On the one hand, I was surprised at how busy the Valley was, I know it’s the Valley and you will never avoid the traffic and the crowds and the absurdly oversized RV’s that chunter around, but mid-October?

The more disturbing element was the NPS insistence on showing us how our ‘dollars were being spent’. There were a number of construction projects taking place, road improvements, some straightening and widening. There were I believe plans afoot to build a viewing platform at the base of Yosemite Falls with better ‘interpretation’ facilities. It seems that more programmes and activities are being offered than ever before. Should we not be encouraging people to appreciate and understand the park as it should be, in the buff, raw, nude and natural so to speak? Lord only knows there is enough to look at without reams of ‘interpretation’ facilities to ‘aid’ the process.

That said, I’ll be back, I have to go back to the 20 Lakes Basin area where a good day was had filling up a 2GB memory card. I wasn’t quick enough though to shoot the Golden Eagle that lazily lifted off it’s stumpy perch as I came round to the southern end of Lake Helen. Next time.