Mono Meadow to Illilouette Creek

It was still dark when I woke up, I had not slept well, but I don't think anyone had. For breakfast we had one of the camper's meals that we had prepared a couple of days ago, I wasn't sure how the camping food would taste but I figured it was only for a few days, however, I was pleasantly surprised as it was easy to mix and tasted good. As soon as breakfast was over we packed up the tents and all our gear and headed for the cars.

We had to go into the village to get the permits for allowing us to camp and to ascend Half Dome, I was surprised and pleased to see that there was an Ansel Adams gallery in the village, I hoped there would be time to visit it before the end of the trip. We got our permits and Meg asked the Ranger about the conditions in Mono Meadow and the Illilouette Creek. Apparently Mono Meadow was a "bit boggy" and that only people experienced in river crossing should try to cross the river (I thought, that will be me then). Anyway we set off, leaving Meg's car in the Valley.

Meg and Chris had been amazing hosts and were clearly determined that I would have an amazing holiday, and see as much of Yosemite as possible. So the plan was to drive up to Tunnel View then on to Glacier Point, and then to the `Mono Meadow trailhead which was nearby (Meg the great planner!).

Although the valley is just 7 miles long, it is a 17-mile drive up to Glacier Point. We wound our way up the mountain on brand new roads, all the roads had been destroyed by last winter's snow, and had to be replaced, I guess that happens a lot here. The view of the valley from Tunnel View was quite spectacular and there was a steady flow of cars stopping so people could take photographs. Glacier Point was, if anything, even more spectacular, but busy, it was a bit more difficult to get parked, but it was worth it. Right across from us we could see Half Dome, that was our final destination in a few days time. There was a nice gift shop at Glacier Point, and so I got a few small, not heavy things to take home.

We managed to park Chris and Ethan's cars in the car park at the trailhead, and after a quick photograph at the trailhead, we began hiking in Yosemite. It was all downhill at first, but I had the nagging feeling that this would change as what goes down usually goes up.

It didn't take long for it to level out and we reached what I assumed was Mono Meadow. There is an old joke that the UK and the USA are two nations divided by a common language, and it very quickly became apparent that the American understanding of the term "a bit boggy" was very different from the UK understanding. Swamp-like would have been more appropriate. There were bits of wood that I think we were supposed to walk on but it was impossible as they were partly submerged and extremely slippy. It wasn't long before both Chris and I miss-stepped and ended up knee deep in very 'boggy' water. I was worried about Chris because he already had a bad knee, but we managed to get up out of the water and get moving with some directions from Evan. It wasn't a great start to the hike, but we continued on, the heat of the day would dry us out quite quickly.

What went down did begin to go up...endlessly. Meg had warned me not to be fooled by the short distances we would be walking in Yosemite, avg. 3-5 miles, compared to the 15-20 miles per day on the camino, and, as usual, she was right. The distances may have been shorter but the altitude was a lot higher and the inclines were steeper and more numerous. So, it was hard going.

The steady uphill hike, with one wet foot, was more than compensated for by Laura. Every so often as we walked along she would find a particular flower beside the path, and then tell me all about it. The simplicity of her joy in this was a delight, and I felt privileged to be invited to share in that.

We came to a little creek, in Scotland we would call it a burn, and I thought, this doesn't look too big a deal to cross, which, after a stop for some lunch, we did. We hiked on a bit further, checking out the flowers on the way, and then we came to the actual creek that the Ranger had spoken about, the Illilouette Creek, it was not very deep but it was flowing fast and was icy cold. I was the only one who had never done a river crossing, and so I was the last to go. After changing into the Crocs that I had bought for this very moment, I stepped in, as I said, it was icy cold, and the bed of the river was completely covered in stones that were very slippy. Evan came back into the river to give me a second walking pole and he stayed in the river, I think maybe to rescue me in case I fell. I made it across safely.

Within 10 minutes we reached the spot where we would camp for the night. It was a very beautiful spot with a plenty of flat ground for our tents and a good spot for cooking our meals. We set up our tents and spent a while chatting and admiring our surroundings.

All in all, it had been a good day, and as I lay in my sleeping bag, once again I felt that my life was blessed and that I had much to be thankful for.Read more