Quick Visits to Mono Lake and Yosemite

The kids and I headed to the National Speleological Society (NSS) Western Regional in Sonora, CA at the beginning of October over a long weekend. We left after school on Thursday and made it to Tonopah, where we stayed the night (but not in the Clown Motel). Then we got up early and continued west on Highway 6, watching dawn break on Boundary Peak, the highest peak in Nevada. The tallest part of the mountain is actually in California.

We kept driving until we got to the South Tufa area at Mono Lake. Tufa is formed from spring water bubbling up and depositing minerals in interesting shapes.

There's a trail with interpretive signs. Desert Boy really wanted to know if Mono Lake was so salty that a rock would float. He tried it out. The rock sank. Now we know.

I had fun taking photos, and we all enjoyed stretching our legs on the one-mile long trail, as we had already driven over two hours that morning.

More pretty views. Sometime I'd like to have a relaxed trip to the area, with time to explore more.

We couldn't stay long because we were meeting friends in Yosemite. The approach from the east side is spectacular.

It's amazing there's a road!

We stopped at Tuolomne Meadows and Desert Girl immediately ran to a rock so she could become the queen.

Desert Boy didn't want to be left out of the fun.

Desert Girl offered to take a photo of me.

There sure is a lot of airplane traffic! This is another spot I'd like to spend more time.

We stopped at this overlook and I noticed the granite on the side opposite the pullout. So we went for a quick hike.

Desert Girl led the way.

We had some nice views of Half Dome.

And at the top we had a nice view of the lake we had just passed.

There was another lake that was kind of hidden.

If it's a challenge, the kids generally like it.

A quick shot of the kids and Half Dome.

We kept driving and driving--it's a long way across Yosemite, and the roads were crowded. We thought visiting on a weekday in off-season it wouldn't be so busy, but we were wrong. Our friends said the campground was full. We met them and went down into Yosemite Valley, parked far away because it was so busy, then waited a long time for the shuttle bus.

Yosemite is getting a lot of beetle kill in its trees. I've learned that often the beetle kill is just another way to clean out the forests, something fire historically did but now we are often too afraid to use wildfire as a tool for promoting forest health. Anyway, the bark patterns were pretty.

We went to the visitor center to get junior ranger booklets, but you have to buy them. How lame, Yosemite, you have more fee dollars than most parks. Way to encourage the next generation of park stewards. Not. (Sorry, I couldn't help a little rant.)

We went for a little hike to Lower Yosemite Falls. Here's Ron playing hide'n seek!

He was found, and Desert Boy was glad to go walking with him.

The dry Yosemite Falls.

So we found entertainment climbing a big boulder.

The kids found that if they took their shoes off, it was easier.

Desert Boy kept trying until he made it to the top.

We took the shuttle bus back (after I had relocated my camera that I had set down to make a purchase).

Then it was on to the activities the kids really wanted to do in Yosemite. And what might those be? Swimming and building sand castles. Go figure. So we waded across the Merced River and found a sandy beach and the kids wallowed in the water and made sand castles. The adults watched climbers on El Capitan.

Desert Boy wanted to get in more swimming.

He found a big log to jump off of.

Splash!

It was worth it!

He did it a couple more times.

Meanwhile, Desert Girl was watching this tame duck.

A view of El Capitan. That's a big piece of rock! Due to time constraints we left soon after and headed off to the caving event. At least now the kids have a tiny idea of what Yosemite is like. I'm hoping some day we'll go explore the backcountry some more.

Return to Kanarraville Falls

The kids had a dentist appointment in Cedar City, which meant that I had to take the day off work and they got out of school for the day. With beautiful weather and 0% chance of rain, I thought it might be a good time to go back to Kanarraville Falls, a lovely slot canyon hike south of Cedar City. I asked the kids, and after thinking about it a little, they agreed. Last year we did this hike and all had cold feet, so this year we had neoprene socks. I also packed some extra layers in case they got cold.

Then we set off down the trail. We quickly got hot and were looking forward to the cold water in the creek.

In fact, the kids couldn't resist going down the water slide.

We continued on, finding more small waterfalls and having fun climbing over obstacles.

It didn't take too long until the creek turned and we entered the high canyon walls.

We reached the first waterfall. Some other people were climbing up the ladder next to it. Desert Boy said, "Can we go into the cave?"

"What cave?" I asked.

"The one behind the waterfall."

I shrugged. I didn't know there was one. "Sure."

The kids scampered behind the water.

Sure enough, there was a little alcove. And they were so proud  of themselves for finding it.

We climbed up and continued to another little waterfall. Guess where Desert Boy wanted to go!

A bit further on are more waterfalls that seem like they would be super fun with full sun. I convinced Desert Boy to slide down one.

Can you see his blur?

It was fun, but it was also cold, and we weren't finding much sun in the canyon now. So out came the jackets, balaclavas, and gloves. The kids started finding the drier passages through the creek.

We took a group shot before the second ladder, which has deteriorated a lot. We decided this was a good place to turn around, especially since the kids were so cold.

I did get in a few more photos.

At the top of the first ladder I saw the crazy amount of bolts everywhere. It was seriously out of control. Right above the drop I saw a yellow rope. I went and took a closer look and saw that it was the cheap rope you buy at the store that might hold 200 pounds. Except someone had girth-hitched it to each of the hangars. Girth hitching is one of the ways to reduce your strength the fastest, by \about half! Plus there were knots in the lower part of the rope as hand holds and the rope was seriously frayed. It very well could have broken with just 50 pounds on it. I didn't have a knife, but I pulled it up so at least anyone who put it down would see just how awful condition it was in. The old webbing that was being used as a handhold on the ladder side wasn't in much better shape.

I felt good about the ladder though, it seemed solid.

We warmed up as we hiked downstream and got into more sun. We started running into a few more people, as it was after school. I've seen photos from people who go on weekends, and it's a constant stream of people through the canyon, so I highly recommend trying to go at a non-peak time.

We got back to the first water slide and guess who had to give it a go! It was fun enough I went several times.

Desert Girl says she would write about this photo: "We went to a hike near Cedar City. We found a water slide. A rock water slide. It was very fun. But a bit cold."

Here's a link with directions on how to get to this hike. Make sure to check the forecast before you go to avoid flash floods, and have fun!