A Day that Rocked in Yosemite

Dave killed his hiking boots in the Narrows.  When the new pair he ordered arrived, he was anxious to take them for a spin.  Now that we are in possession of a National Park Pass, we rather impulsively arranged a day off for a day trip to free-to-us Yosemite.  We joked that Delia has met her summer hiking quota, so she hung onto plans she had with friends, while we got revved up about the idea of a special Ella Day!  We weren't really sure what to expect crowd-wise, so we kept our plans flexible.  But, public schools are back in session around here, so crowds were minimal and the day was perfect.  We decided that since we had our rock climber with us, we'd make this Yosemite trip all about the rocks!

The morning started with the traditional hike to Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls.  But, different this time was allowing Ella to lead us through the maze of boulders to the misty base of the falls.  We'd never attempt this dangerous activity in peak waterflow season, when the boulders are slippery and the rapids below are turbulent, but the falls are slowing down at this time of year, so the climb was dry, easy, and safe.  See all the others who encouraged us? ;)

The up close view of the falls was pretty spectacular, and totally worth the aching thighs and arms we have today from the 4-points-of-contact climbing!

How many times have we stopped in this meadow to admire El Cap and search for climbers?!  On this trip we tried a new adventure-- getting our own hands and feet on this monolith that is a rock climber's paradise!  It takes about a mile of hiking, with a bit of elevation gain, to even get to the base.  But, once there, we learned it was not hard at all to climb a decent way up with no ropes!  This is called free soloing, and even though ours was a baby free solo compared to Alex Honnold's famous one, we still spent the rest of the day saying, "Yeah, we free soloed that" whenever we sighted El Cap!

Just the 3 of us chilling, taking selfies on an El Cap ledge!

We stopped at the famous Tunnel View for our picnic lunch. 

Then we made our way to Taft Point for the big hike of the day.  This was a new one to us.  My All Trails app told me to not even attempt it with small children, due to the sheer cliff drop offs and many hundreds-feet deep fissures you encounter on this 2 mile hike!  Before we got to these exciting things, though, we had a lovely hike through a wildflower meadow.

Taft point is 7,500 feet above the valley floor.  There is one section with a tiny guardrail.  The views are amazing!  But, anyone with any timidity about heights (me!) will be intimidated by the top of this hike.  I enjoyed most of it while sitting, and far far away from the ledge!  

The tip of the cliff at Taft point is a pretty iconic Yosemite destination.  Maybe you recognize it?  It's actually the cover of my Yosemite hiking guide!  When we considered walking out on it for THAT picture, none of us could do it!  Being that high up with nothing but the entire Yosemite Valley 7,500 feet below got all our knees knocking.  Stepping out to take this selfie, in the section WITH the tiny guardrail, was hard enough!!

These guys had no problem, though!  They are slacklining between the lookout points that we could barely step out on!  They were properly tied into harnesses (Ella watched and approved), but STILL!  A crowd of us spectated in awe and cheered when he made it across and did a fancy flip leap off the line!  Quite a show!

A stop at Glacier Point for an on-top-of-the-world view of Half Dome, Vernal, and Nevada Falls concluded our Yosemite Day.  It was fun to have a whole day with Ella, to talk all about her exciting new chapter and to watch her revel in the rock-climbing world she's grown to love the past few years!