Our destination on our hike for day 5 was Mono Pass. Mono Pass is on the very east edge of the park. The elevation at the pass is 1060 ft and we would go much higher than that during this hike. The trail head was about 5 miles east of our camp ground out near the Tioga Pass Entrance. Once on the trail, the boys once again broke out their note books and continued working on their Forestry merit badge. We saw plenty of little flowers, like the Lupine, Monkey Flowers, Elephant Heads, Ranger Buttons, Indian Paintbrush, Pussypaws, Swamp Garlic and so many more.
Karl, Laura and Steve were once again the sweeps for the hike and not too far into it began to come up with versus for their Yosemite Sweep Song. The tune was borrowed from the famous Army Life song also made famous on M*A*S*H*. This would keep those three occupied for the remainder of the hike. Karl of course continued to keep very good notes on the flowers, but he also wrote up all the lyrics that we used, plus lots of ones we couldn’t.
Most of the hike would be in the sub alpine zone of the park, meaning the area immediately below the tree-line. The trees we would see higher up were much smaller, often no higher than a foot or two. The hike was mostly uphill on the way out and downhill on the way back. Once we were at Mono pass, we hiked up to some old cabins and had lunch.
After lunch we headed out and walked up to about 11,000 feet. From there we hiked down to Spillway Lake. There wasn’t a trail to the lake, so we had to go in two groups and spread out so as not to damage the area. The stroll down was reminiscent of being on a ski run. The were some very wide paths clear of trees down to the lake and dense patches of trees on each side of the path.
The hike back was mostly down hill and it seemed to go pretty quickly. We got close to some deer on the way back. At the end of the day we headed back to our favorite swimming hole near camp. Everyone spent some time after they got back working on their songs and skits assigned by SPL David for the nights camp fire. By the end of this hike everyone had earned their merit badge and the boys would all meet with Dr Bryon and do their final conference meeting with him before the camp fire.
Here are the lyrics for the Yosemite Sweep song.
Refrain:
Oh that’s the Yosemite Life!
Gee mom I want to go, but the Doc won’t let me go, Gee mom I wanna go home!
Verses 1 through …..
I am the sweep I’m never in the lead
I took this job just to earn a bead
Yampah and Yarrow; I cannot keep them straight
Guess I’ll have to study, I will stay up late
The flowers at Yosemite are more than just OK
Doc shows us Buckwheat, we all say OTAY!
Songs and skits at campfire can be a lot of fun
If you choose to do one don’t kill or use a gun
A pack left on the trail means they’re in the bush
Keep you eyes straight ahead or you will see their tush
Elephant, mice and monkeys and so much more
Find them in the flowers in the great outdoors
Mushrooms are never green the firs are sometimes red
The pines are white and yellow; it’s mixed up in my head
Ten Clif bars later I think I’m going to scream
At the end of the trail I get to buy ice cream
Family, Genus, Species – we’re learning all of that
I can’t tell the difference between Phylum and scat
I am a sweep I never get to rest
One day you’ll join us band be one of the best
The marmot’s belly is yellow; he lays out on the rock
One hundred years later he may just be the Doc
Finding the animals can be such misery
Especially when you buddy says ‘it’s behind a rock or tree’
We swim each afternoon; our suits are in the trunk
We make the boys get in to wash off all the gunk
We are the sweeps and we kind of lag
If we do not on the dirt we will gag
When you leave Yosemite there are many pines
This can be a pain in you behind
Igneous, Metamorphic and Sedimentary
To figure out the difference is elementary
I never knew Karl was such a botanist
He is always pulling out that stupid little list
Steve has a lot of gear, he really brought is all
He stores it all away in his Taj Mahal
Brownies, cookies, candy – Barb brought all of that
I sampled all of it and now I’m really fat
Laura takes pictures of everything we do
Please smile when she point the camera at you
SPL David leads us on our walk
He gets us to the grill before 5 o’clock
Dirt, sun screen and bug repellent too
Who could dream up a finer feeling goo
Ansel, Muir and Margaret – they really are a group
The one that is our favorite is the one that leads our troop
Final Verse refrain:
Oh that is the Yosemite Life
Now that I’m in the know
I really don’t want to go
Gee kids we’re not going home!