Day 4 was our first hike where we had to drive to the trail head. We all got up a bit earlier, got everything packed and everyone in their cars and ready to go. We decided to put as many people into as few of cars as possible. When Mr. Stachwick started his Chevy, the guages indicated the battery was dead. We tried to jump the car with Mr Zimmer’s Ford, as payback for the jump he got at Lost Valley, but the Chevy wouldn’t take the jump. Instead of spending the day working on broken cars, we quickly repacked into the remaining vehicles and headed off to North Dome. The dead battery would just have to wait.
The trail head was about 30 minutes down the road to Porcupine Flat. It was nothing more than a pull off on the side of the road. The elevation was much lower and forest was much different here. The trees seemed much bigger in general and we also learned how to identify the Jeffrey Pine. One of the interesting ways to identify this pine is that it smells like Vanilla. So we all put our noses to the trunk of the tree and took a whiff. We also smelled some of the resin. Some liked the way it smelled and others did not. We learned the Jeffrey is often compared with Ponderosa Pine, but there would not be any Ponderosa’s where we were to compare it to. More info on the Jeffrey can be found by clicking here.
When people visit Yosemite and they want the up high view of the valley, many will go to the top of Half Dome. This is a great way to view the valley, but not such a good way to get a view of Half Dome itself. We didn’t really expect to see many people on our North Dome hike, but about a mile or two in, we saw the cross country team from Long Beach Poly High coming the other way on the trail. Even though they were going down when they passed us it was still impressive to see them running these trails.
The profile of the trip out, was some down hill, followed by some up hill, followed by some down hill, than a small climb up North Dome. There was one tricky down spot in the second down hill, but most of the hike out was fairly easy. Once we got to North Dome the view was spectacular. Everyone was instructed to stay clear of the edges and everyone did. We spent some time on the top having lunch, watching the squirrels and taking some pictures.
On the way back we took a brief detour to climb to the top of Indian Rock Arch. Most everyone went but some decided to relax and not go. The three days of hiking were starting to take their toll and everyone was pretty tired, but our spirits were still high.
Once we got back and got the cars packed up we headed back towards camp, but our daily hike wouldn’t be complete without a swim. So, we stopped at Tenaya Lake. The lake seemed colder than the swimming holes we had been in the previous days, but everyone got in, even if only to put their feet in. Our stop was kind of short since we all wanted to get back before the Grill closed, we made it back with about 5 minutes to spare and most everyone had a cheese burger instead of the bag-o-dinner waiting for back at camp.
Mr. Stachwick was dreading to have to deal with the battery, but his surprise, the car started right up. There wouldn’t be any more problems with it, the rest of the trip. Our evening finished up with another campfire with skits and songs.