Muir's valley

Back in 1851, the militiamen of the "Mariposa Battalion" became the first European-Americans to enter Yosemite Valley. They arrived with the intention of moving the local Indians out of the valley and onto a reservation (or, in the alternative, killing them), so that American immigrants could pursue the joys of Gold Rush prospecting downstream, without risking Indian attacks.

Later generations were less interested in genocide, and more interested in the geologic oddities and scenic beauty of the Yosemite Valley and its surrounding areas. Notables such as Frederick Law Olmstead, Josiah D. Whitney and John Muir successfully urged protection for the region. Yosemite became the world's first state park in the 1880's, and then, in 1890, was created a National Park by act of Congress. Muir went on to help found the Sierra Club, for the purpose of protecting Yosemite and other areas in the Sierras from hostile local developers, and became the club's first president.

It was with this rather impressive history behind us that Doug, Denny, Chris, Clinton and I packed ourselves and our gear into a couple of cars and headed down to Yosemite for three nights of camping. As most of us know, Yosemite Valley has had its ups and downs over the past century. The invention of the automobile, with improved roads and resulting mass tourism, transformed the valley from Muir's isolated paradise into a small urban community, equipped with stores, service stations, lodges and cabins, and a luxury hotel (the Ahwahnee). The valley was overrun by casual tourists, not all of whom shared John Muir's ideals. The nadir was perhaps reached in 1970, when mounted park rangers broke up a mass encampment of young people, precipitating a riot with 175 arrests and 30 hospitalizations.

Conditions have improved somewhat since that time, with careful land management and required reservations for valley camping. Outside the sliver of Yosemite valley, and apart from the east-west highway over Tioga pass, the park is managed largely as legal wilderness, with access by trail only.

Even so, Yosemite Valley remains overly popular, and probably overly developed. However, on Halloween weekend, and with the Giants playing in the World Series, we discovered that most of the crowds had other things to do elsewhere, and we had the park largely to ourselves. The weather was great, aside from rain on Friday night that merely added to our sense of coziness inside our tents. The hiking trails were in excellent condition, with few fellow hikers to compete against. On Halloween night (Sunday), sightings of occasional costumed ghosts and zombies were made along the valley floor roads, and we shuddered at the cry of banshees from the far reaches of the campground. But better a visitation from a banshee than from a hungry bear, we figured, of which we encountered none in the camping area.

We undertook two reasonably strenous hikes: to the top of Nevada Falls and on to Little Yosemite Valley, and to the top of Upper Yosemite Falls and on to Yosemite Point. Both climbs were sufficiently challenging to keep our heart and breathing rates elevated, and to burn off the rather hearty breakfasts that Denny and Chris whipped up for us each morning. In the evenings, we repaired to the bar at the Yosemite Lodge and watched the World Series on large screen TVs. Unlike the trails, the bar was packed. It was also partisan -- the Giants were cheered lustily, and the Bush family was booed with vigor whenever their grumpy countenances were caught on camera.

It was a great time of year to make the trip, and a good bonding experience for our little group. Now that we're home again, I don't understand why we haven't done things like this more often. I suspect we will in the future.