Trailblazer: Notes from Yosemite

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Editor’s note: Princeton resident Brian Taylor, 25, is spending several months working and living in Yosemite National Park. He has agreed to send letters to the BCR, telling readers of his experiences. Taylor does not have access to any electronic equipment — cell phone, lap top, etc. All correspondence from him is via handwritten letters.

Greetings from Yosemite and from our final campsite of the season in Pate Valley. Our new home resides beside the crisp clean waters of the Tuolumne River, at 4,000 feet. Surrounding us is the Rancheria Mountains to the north and another range to the south, both overlooking us by 4,000 feet. Up river, a day’s hike, is Water Wheel Falls, Meir Gorge and the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne, seventh largest canyon in the world.

When we arrived at our new campsite, on the 22 of June, it was an empty plot of land. But, in a couple days of rigorous work, we created a comfortable and functional homestead. As a group, we put together an operational kitchen. As refrigeration, we have frozen milk jugs. Our pots, pans and kitchen utensils hang upon bended nails. We have a functional stove, oven and a jet burner, which all run on propane.

Every supply, from tools, kitchen equipment, tarps, first aid supplies, water system, solar panel and anything and everything else was brought down to us upon the backs of mule trains. An average mule can carry up to 200 pounds upon its back. The mule trains are our connection to the outside world and a necessity for our survival. Each week, usually on Mondays, our food and mail is brought to us via the mule train.

Camp life is good here. It is a system that has been worked out since the beginning of trail crews. There is, in all actuality, much about living a life away from modern conveniences that can not be simply expressed in words. The only way to translate such an experience is to live it. Camp life is only one aspect of our journey. Working also takes up a large majority of our time. On the trail, we started maintenance here in Pate Valley on the 24th of June. Our first trail was the Rogers switchback to the north of us. It is a tough trail, gaining 3,000 feet of elevation in just a few miles. For now, we let that trail be and began on the 6th of July “rock work” on the switchbacks connecting Pate Valley to Harden Lake and White Wolf, a steep trail just like Rogers. Actually, all the work from here on out will be steep and uphill because we are in the bottom of a valley ... all trails must go up.

Rock work is much more labor intensive and harder on the body. We have only been active on rock work for a week. I still have an immense amount of learning to do. However, the basic idea is to make the switchbacks safe and accessible for tourists and mules. As a group, our job is to construct and improve steps, terraces, rip rap, retaining walls and waterbars. One of the toughest parts is finding the correct boulder to fit into just the right step. Obviously, we can’t have rock brought in, so it is just a matter of hide and seek. When you finally find a good boulder, close to the correct shape, size and depth, it becomes a matter of shaping it. The tools for this are either a single jack or double jack. A rule of thumb is rock work is the bigger the better. A larger boulder is more stable than a smaller one. So some of the boulders used are up to 300 pounds. Rock work is hard work. It is also fascinating to learn this skill and know that my work may be around for hundreds of years.

Finally, besides work and camp life, we have the weekends. Thank God for the weekends, our time to decompress and really see Yosemite. The Fourth of July weekend was quite the holiday. It gave us a four-day vacation to explore. Three crew members, a NPS sponsor and myself decided to embark on a “death march.” This adventure consisted of 75 miles of hiking and 9,000 feet of elevation change in four days. Our ultimate goal was to ascend Mount Lyell, the largest peak in Yosemite, standing 13,400 feet. However, there was much hiking to do before reaching that goal. First, we had to exit the canyon. This meant heading east up river through Meir Gorge and the Grand Canyon of the Toulmne. This was a lot of uphill, but the views of slowly rising out of the canyon with the river nearby were powerful. In this portion of the trek, three waterfalls developed the three-tier Water Wheel falls, the powerful California Falls and at Glen Aulin High Sierra camp, the Glen Aulin Falls.

Once we were out of the canyon, it was on to Tuolumn meadows. Now I must say, I have seen some meadow in my lifetime, but this meadow blows them all away. The land was flat and carpeted with lush green grass. At this point, the Tuolumne River, seized by its surroundings, no longer raged with white water, but slowly flowed crystal clear. This was at 9,000 feet. I did not think anything so lush and gentle resided at 9,000 feet.

We left the meadow behind to make it to our base camp. The terrain slowly changed from less green to granite rock. Once we got to our base camp, it was very little vegetation; this was replaced by granite and snow. We got our fair share of snow hiking. Before reaching Mount Lyell, we had to pass over Lyell glacier. A glacier that has been ever present since the last ice age. Lyell glacier melt is also the beginning of the Tuolumne River. We caked ourselves in sun screen; the snow reflects the sun so greatly that it is blinding. Without sunscreen and sunglasses, we would be both poached and snow blind. From base camp over the glacier and to the top of Mount Lyell was a three and one-half hour journey and 2,000 feet of elevation change. I even got my first experience of actual rock climbing, which both filled me with terror and excitement. The view atop Mount Lyell was something to behold, nothing but mountain peaks, clouds and a vast horizon. The scene below looked like a patch work canvas of beauty and calm.

On top of Mount Lyell is a log book for all who climb it to sign. I wrote “Brian Taylor, back country CCC, Yosemite II, from Princeton, Ill. Enjoy the scenery, Peace.” I also placed a picture of my brothers in the case that holds the log book, so in a way, they have been atop Mount Lyell as well.

On the way back down, we did a bit of sledding on our bottoms. It was actually like 800 feet of sledding, and what took us three and one-half hours to ascend, took 30 minutes to descend. We took a different path back to camp, climbing the saddle of Amelia Earheart peak down to Ireland Lake. Ireland Lake lies between mountain peaks and tundra. Being a glacier fed lake, it is extremely cold, but I had to jump in. The sensation was both refreshing and painful. From Ireland Lake it was back through the meadow and down the canyon to camp. Though this is the first Fourth of July I did not get to ooh and ahh at the fireworks, I would say I saw the fireworks nature has to offer.

Peace.

Correspondence to Brian Taylor can be sent to the following address: Brian Taylor, Fickler Crew, P.O. Box 515, Yosemite National Park, Calif. 95389.

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