The Four-Mile Trail That Isn’t
July 15th, 2007
The inaptly named Four Mile trail in Yosemite Valley is, in fact, just over four and half miles each direction. The Yosemite National Park Web site list the trail as “strenuous,” but it wasn’t incredibly taxing for the distance. Besides, the trail terminates at Glacier Point where, unknown to us, there was a bus stop, gift store and snack shack. Maybe the mid-hike ice cream cone made the trail seem easier.
There are some incredible views from the trail. If one wanted to experience the trail but not commit a lot of time, taking a bus to the top and just hiking down is a nice option.
Four Mile Trail
About halfway up, Dave and Abigal look onto Yosemite Valley. El Capitan is on the right.
There are some incredible views of Half Dome on the way to Glacier Point. We hiked it the next day.
Dave takes a break at Glacier Point.
We saw a coyote on the way back to camp that evening.
We prepared for Four Mile Trail with roasted marshmallows the night before.
Sequoia National Park
July 15th, 2007
Everything Is Bigger In Sequoia
From Zion, we stopped outside Sequoia National Park for a night and spent the following morning playing in the Giant Sequoia forest in the park, which is only a small part of the very large Sequoia National Park / Kings Canyon National Park complex.
Group Hug
The forest is exactly what you’d [...]
Read full postThe Narrows
July 14th, 2007
“There is no maintained trail; the route is the river,” is part of the description of the Narrows on the Zion National Park Web site. And that is certainly accurate. One gets to the Zion Narrows by simply jumping into the Virgin River at the end of the Riverside Walk trail, a very easy one-mile [...]
Read full postAngels Landing
July 13th, 2007
As I said before, our day at Zion was my favorite on the trip. The Narrows stole my heart, but the Angels Landing hike after lunch was amazing on its on.
Starting at the valley floor, Angels Landing is two and half miles one direction, and it feels straight up. There is an elevation gain [...]
Rocky Mountain National Park
July 7th, 2007
After four days in Telluride, Colo., Scott and I met Abigail, Dave and Meredith to backpack in Rocky Mountain National Park.
We spent two nights in the Never Summer range in the northwest section of the park, entering on the Colorado River trailhead. According to rangers, Never Summer is one of the least visited sections [...]
Half Dome 1, Josh 0
July 6th, 2007
“It’s not that I’m scared, I’m just really tired,” one big burly guy said to another. The second looked at the peak of Half Dome, the largest granite monolith in the world, and agreed that he too was indeed too fatigued after the eight-mile hike from the floor of Yosemite Valley to finish the trail. [...]
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