Yosemite National Park

Dewey Point
Originally uploaded by Wayne-K

The Sierra Nevada mountain range is incredible and one of my favorite places in the universe. I must admit I haven’t seen much of the universe, or even the Earth for that matter, but nonetheless, I think I can safely say the Sierra’s are a great place. The Yosemite National Park is a four hour drive from my house, but I rarely go there. Why? Well, everyone and their brother (or sister) goes there and for me, the massive crowds ruin the wilderness experience. But, there’s a great way to avoid the Yosemite crowd…go there during the winter time.

I went snowshoeing yesterday in Yosemite National Park, from Badger Pass to Dewey Point. Leading me was the future world renown explorer and wilderness guide, Faye. She’s competed in 50 km, 50 mile, and 100 mile trail races, backpacked hundreds of miles in the Sierra Nevada, completed rigorous treks in the mountains of Alaska and South America, and can be seen leaping tall buildings in a single bound. You might call her crazy....but I just call her Wonder Woman. Well, I call her crazy too…

It took us about two hours to snowshoe/cross-country ski the 3.5 miles up to Dewey Point. The weather was extraordinary, the views were magnificent, and the sandwich Faye made me for lunch was delicious. To elaborate on the sandwich, it had whole grain bread (with unsprouted something or others), several thick pieces of turkey, cheese, hummus, and spinach. The sandwich was incredible, but I had a few concerns. First, my typical, boring ham and mustard sandwiches were no longer going to cut it when I got back home. Second, how was I going to finish the massive sandwich. And lastly (and most importantly), I hope the bowels don’t need to move on the snowshoe trip out because I’m surrounded by snow, there are tons of people on the trail, and I have no toilet paper! Hey, high fiber and hummus can be brutal in the wilderness, you know!? Fortunately, the bowels stayed put and we made our way back to the truck without incident.

After Dewey Point, we drove into Yosemite Valley so I could take a sunset photo of Half Dome. Like all great friends, Faye kept me company in the middle of the meadow, patiently waited as I took a few shots, humored me by looking at a few photos on the camera’s LCD, made believe she was having fun standing in the snow as I set up yet another shot….and headed back to the truck to take a nap while I froze my gluteus maximus off for another hour, waiting for the bloody sun to set. Just kidding....it was going to be a long drive home and she needed a nap.

Anyway, here are a few pictures from the long, but incredibly fun day.