Mariposa Grove

This will be my last post on Yosemite…at least until I return again.  Packed up all of my gear and headed to the Ahwahnee for my $50 breakfast (see a couple posts below).  Visited the park office and spoke with a ranger who recommended the Upper Yosemite Falls trail as a good option for a 3-4 hour hike.  I knew that I wasn’t going to try to make it all the way to the top of the falls because I also wanted to try to make it to the Mariposa Grove to see the redwood trees.

The UYF trail is a slight incline that quickly becomes a long series of ass-kicking switchbacks up the mountainside.  I can’t remember how many switchbacks I counted before the trail levels off but it has to be 50 plus.   Once you reach the top, there is a 20 or 30 minute relatively level walk to you get a good view of the falls.  I stopped once I got to the viewpoint and took photos for 30 minutes or so and then headed directly back down.

I hopped in the car and took CA route 41S for the 90 minute drive down to Mariposa Grove.  45 minutes of the drive was spent behind a blue VW Beetle that  drove an average of 30 miles an hour.  I felt like I was in a funeral procession as there was a 15 car long line of vehicles behind this car.  Some people are just totally oblivious; my biggest test of patience the entire trip.  It was so bad that the drive in the car behind the VW must have dozed off and almost drove off the side of the mountain–their car quickly swerved to the right and kicked up huge puff of dirt.  They would have fallen several thousand feet if they wouldn’t have caught themselves.

Oh well, that was the excitement for the day but both trips were great and I have many photos to share below.

Merced River at the top of Nevada Falls

My Yosemite plans originally included hiking the Panorama Trail on Saturday and the Mist Trail on Sunday. Because the hiker’s bus to Glacier Point wasn’t in service yet, I decided to do the Mist Trail on Saturday morning. I headed out on foot directly from the Lower Pines Campground, walking the mile or so distance to the trailhead. The trail started gradually uphill on a paved trail along the Merced River. It quickly steepened running along the right side of the Merced to Vernal Falls. This is where the Mist Trail gets it’s name as the wind blew mist from the waterfall directly in the hikers direction. I was completely doused but it felt really good. I decided to continue up to Nevada Falls–a 3.7 mile hike from the beginning of the trailhead–all of it uphill. This is when I realize that my physical conditioning was awful. I started and stopped every 50 yards or so. I eventually made it to the top of the falls and was planning to return to the valley via the Muir Trail. Unfortunately the trail was closed due to potential rock falls so I had to return the way I came.

A very good hike that left me wasted. Thankfully, there was Degnan’s Deli in Yosemite Village to fuel up. Thieir #9 sandwich (chicken waldorf) is phenomenal and I lived off of them over the weekend. I followed this up with a grilled cheese, tomato and onion sandwich, two beers, milk and a bag of peanut M&M’s. By 7:30pm I was 90% recovered.

After my dinner plans at the Ahwahnee fell through, I decided to take a drive up to Glacier Point. I picked up two Austrian hikers half way up–they apparently became separated from their buddies somewhere along the Panorama Trail. I drove them 16 miles or so all the way to Glacier Point and dropped them off–hope they were able to hook up with their friends.

The view from Glacier Point is stunning–even with the evening fog rolling in. You can see a full view of the valley and all of the waterfalls from thousands of feet above. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a camera so you will have to be content with the other photos that I took during the day which I have posted below.

My breakfast table at the Ahwahnee

With all of the spectacular scenery in Yosemite, I feel a bit ridiculous making my first real post about Yosemite’s Ahwahnee Hotel. There is a reason that a room here will set you back $500 a night. The grandeur of each room is beyond impressive and on a scale that mirrors the scenery of the park itself.

It was difficult to go back to my $20 a night campsite after visiting the Ahwahnee. However, although I couldn’t afford a room, I decided I would try to go back for dinner. Unfortunately, awful park traffic and bad timing prevented me from doing this but I did manage to go back for breakfast on Sunday morning. I was seated at a table I photographed two days earlier (see above–a premonition of sorts, I guess).

I was asked by the waiter if I wanted a menu or planned to partake in the breakfast buffet. I decided on the breakfast buffet, site unseen. When I walked the football-field length of the room to get to the serving area, I was immediately flabbergasted by the amount, presentation and quality of the food. If I was a person that isn’t easily embarrassed, I would have taken out my camera and started taking photos of the food–it was simply beautiful. However, the surroundings dictated a modest amount of decorum so I will have to burn the experience into my fragile memory banks.

Of course I had no idea what all of this would cost–I didn’t see a menu and I didn’t ask. If a room at the hotel is $500 a night minimum, what would the breakfast buffet cost? I am not talking about a breakfast buffet at Denny’s or the Golden Corral. This buffet had, among many other things, raw oysters on the half shell, smoked mussels, smoked trout and salmon, prime rib and smoked whole ham, a chef that prepared gourmet omelets–and that was just a small sampling of the items. I have never seen anything so decadent and over-the-top in my life. I am not sure if the Ahwahnee does this every morning but if they do, it is a feat comparable to scaling El Cap.

Again, each time I went back to the serving area (I tossed decorum out the window at some point), I tried to determine what this would cost. Well, after I paid the bill and the tip, I spent $50 even. The best $50 breakfast I will ever have, I am sure of that–and, believe it or not, I still felt like I got a bargain.

Great food and even better service.  Much thanks to the chefs and wait staff at the Ahwahnee.

Yosemite Falls

My 3 day visit to Yosemite ended yesterday and there really isn’t much more I can say about the experience that hasn’t been documented by countless folks.  Spectacular and humbling are the two words that come to mind.

I really need to start carrying a paper journal with me so I don’t have to try to recall all of my thoughts three days after the fact.  My advancing age makes it much more difficult though I will try my best to piece together my thoughts over the next couple of days.

The easiest thing I can recollect is the realization that I am in awful physical shape.  I would like to blame it on the altitude but I have to be honest with myself.  Though I did hike 16 miles over two days–most of it up and back down some steep terrain–I still felt completely spent afterwards.  I most definitely need to lose 15 pounds if I have any chance to complete our 8 day, 60 mile hike through the Sierra’s in July.

As mentioned, I will post more about the trip in the coming days including lots of photos.  As usual, I took about 600 photos but only 10 or so that I really like.  One of them I posted above–although I am not thrilled with it.  I am becoming my own worst critic–one of my biggest character flaws.

Keep an eye out in the next few days and, as usual, feel free to comment or ask questions…or just say hello.

Dave

Mammoth Cave National Park - Kentucky

It seems this will be the year that I will stay within US borders and visit some of our National Parks.  This weekend I began by visiting Mammoth Cave National Park just a couple of hours down the road.  Two things I learned after scouring through the photos this evening: it is impossible to take a good photograph inside a cave; second thing–who the hell wants to look at photos taken inside a cave (at least the awful ones I took).  Still, I will post one and hope that my future trips–all outside, thankfully–will produce much better results.  Up next is a short weekend trip to Yosemite Valley at the end of this month and then up to the Badlands in South Dakota in late May.  I will finish up in late July/early August with a two day trip through Death Valley National Park then on an 8 day hike along the John Muir trail.  If time permits and lottery luck is on our side, we may head back to Yosemite Valley for the Half Dome hike….where my fear of heights will be tested.

That leaves me with September through December without any plans…..maybe there will be some international adventure after all.

My preparation has started as I try to get back into reasonable shape….which hopefully means dropping about 20 lbs by early July.

I am quite certain that the Quest Outdoors store is very appreciative of my month-long spending spree in all three of their Louisville stores.  I thought this was going to be a reasonably inexpensive trip until I started reading outdoor gear magazines and online equipment reviews.  Of course I needed the latest and greatest gear and now the expense for the trip rivals some European luxury vacations.

I will try not to think about it too much…just glad that the planning and spending are (mostly) behind me.

Police stationed on the walls of Topkapi Palace

Because I missed an opportunity to visit the Archaeological Museum yesterday, I decided to visit this morning before I went to the airport.  My alarm did not go off and I woke up 40 minutes late.  I also had little Turkish Lira left so I had to visit a money exchange before heading over to the museum.  As I was walking towards the museum, a fleet of police and ambulance went streaming by.  As I walked past the Hagia Sophia to turn up Bab-I Hamayun street towards the Topkapi Palace (the Archaeological Museum is next to the Palace), I saw a medium sized crowd gathered and no one was proceeding up the street.  The large gate to the Topkapi grounds was closed.  Police cars and ambulances lined the street.  After a few minutes, I heard rifle fire followed by a brief machine gun round.

Initially the police seemed a bit disorganized and allowed me and others to proceed up the street towards Topkapi and I got as close as 200 yards away.  Don’t ask me why I wanted to get closer but I think I was just dumbfounded that something like this was happening.  I shot some photos and videos as I walked toward Topkapi.  Soon the police were pushing everyone back toward the corner of Ayasofya and Bab-I Hamayun streets.

I stationed myself on the corner as I watched waves of police, ambulances and armored cars go by.  Gunfire continued the entire hour I stood on the corner.

About 40 minutes into the incident, the media started arriving with local media on the scene first followed by CNN Turkey and CNBC.

I finally decided to head back to the hotel after an hour or so as gunfire still rang out.  The walk back to the hotel took about 20 minutes and when I arrived, the receptionist told me that they had apprehended the gunman and that he had wounded two people.  I later learned on an Internet news story that the gunmen was shot dead.

I guess I have my alarm issues and lack of money to thank otherwise I could have been right in the middle of the mess.

And I though my last day would be uneventful.  More photos from the scene:

Dome of Ayasofya

At this point in the trip, I am suffering from a serious case of Stendahl’s syndrome and my senses are overloaded.   I visited the Hagia Sophia today and the Islamic Art Museum.  The Hagia Sophia is a place I have been wanting to see for over 20 years; even since taking an Intro to Art class at the University of Pittsburgh.  I guess I have prof. David Wilkins to thank for all of this traveling–he let me into his over-booked intro class (even though I was an Econ major) and I was hooked.  The next semester I took his Italian Renaissance class and I have since traveled to see most of the things he taught me about in both of those classes.

I followed that up with some serious shopping; so much that I am not sure they are going to let me on the plane tomorrow.  I have seen some amazing carpets and iznik pottery–I would be dangerous if I actually had money to burn.

Now that I have bored you to tears, I will share what might be my last set of photos.  Not my best, for sure, but my concentration and what little creativity I have are beginning to wan.

Blue Mosque

Well, I have recovered a bit from my travel-related malaise and Italy seems like a distant memory.  I received an Istanbul 101 course today courtesy of my tour guide, Serhat.  We had a small tour group consisting of me, a couple from Scotland–Dundee, I believe and a gentleman from San Francisco.  We started off at 9am and visited the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, the underground Basilica Cistern and the Grand Bazaar (the classic Istanbul tour).   We also visited a carpet shop and had a very good lunch on a terrace overlooking the Hagia Sophia.  The Islamic museum and the Hagia Sophia are on the agenda for tomorrow morning and then I will improvise the remainder of the day.

Visited a very nice ceramic shop tonight and bought one tiny bowl–so the Istanbul shops only have $25 from me so far….but there is certainly a lot of nice things temping me.

I was relieved to learn that my nephew and my friends made it safely home without experiencing any major delays; I am hoping for the same in a few days.

Before I head to the restaurant across the street, I’ll share some more photos from today:

Tea Man

It was very tough leaving everyone behind and heading to Istanbul myself.  It was especially difficult leaving my nephew at the Rome airport–he had never traveled overseas before and I didn’t want him to encounter any unforeseen issues.  Honestly, I think I was ready to head back also but I am pressing on to experience new places.

First evening here and I think I am going to use it for some down time.  I am not even hungry after eating like a king for over a week.  I did manage to walk up the steep hill from my hotel to view a couple of Istanbul’s mosques and have a cup of freshly squeezed pomegrante juice.

I think I will stay in this evening and try to find some NFL games to listen to over the Internet….may head out for a late bite.

A few photos from tonight: