50 Best Short Hikes: Yosemite National Park and Vicinity. Elizabeth Wenk
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Название: 50 Best Short Hikes: Yosemite National Park and Vicinity
Автор: Elizabeth Wenk
Издательство: Ingram
Жанр: Книги о Путешествиях
isbn: 9780899976327
isbn:
John Muir, the man most associated with Yosemite, arrived a few years later. He spent the summer of 1869 in Yosemite’s high country helping shepherd 2,000 sheep and quickly developed a boundless enthusiasm for Yosemite’s landscape, geologic history, plants, and animals—as well as distaste for the damage to high meadows caused by sheep. His first attempts in 1881 to expand the Yosemite Grant to include the higher elevation reaches failed. For the following decade Yosemite’s landscape became increasingly degraded by excessive tourism and construction in Yosemite Valley and vast flocks of sheep denuding its mountain meadows. In 1890 with the help of Robert Underwood Johnson, a friend and influential magazine editor, Muir succeeded in pushing the bill for an all-inclusive Yosemite National Park through Congress. It followed Yellowstone to become the United States’ second national park.
Creating the national park was a veritable success, but Muir knew that a legislative designation was only the beginning. Next he needed to assemble a group of supporters to help expound the importance of undisturbed wilderness to a wider audience. The Sierra Club, founded in 1892, became his venue. It became and remains a powerful voice for both preservation of natural areas and the importance of people visiting these locations—for as John Muir knew well, the public will only become vested in a national park’s worth as a place of national heritage if they experience the wonders for themselves. The same debate rages today, with policy makers debating the right balance between keeping Yosemite wild and natural and encouraging people to visit Yosemite, thereby becoming stronger proponents of its future. During your visit, consider how important the story of Yosemite National Park is to the history of the conservation movement and the existence of public lands—and that you as an engaged visitor are part of its future.
If you wish to learn more, exploring the nature and science sections of the park’s website (nps.gov/yose) provides an excellent pre-visit introduction to Yosemite natural and human histories, while a trip to the Yosemite Valley Visitor Center, the Nature Center at Happy Isles, or the Pioneer Yosemite History Center in Wawona is a perfect way to begin your park visit. Many excellent books have also been written on its human and natural histories. Two of my favorites to read before your visit are Geology Underfoot in Yosemite National Park by Allen F. Glazner and Greg M. Stock and the out-of-print, but still available, history of Tuolumne Meadows, Meadow in the Sky by Elizabeth Stone O’Neill. Flowering Shrubs of Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada by Shirley Spencer and Wildflowers of Yosemite by Lynn Wilson, Jim Wilson, and Jeff Nicholas are excellent companions on the trail.
USING THIS BOOK
This book is written for everyone wanting to experience Yosemite’s wonders on foot, whether you wish to take short excursions to the base of waterfalls or to vista points, moderate hikes to a grove of sequoias or to the summit of a granite dome, or more difficult adventures to the top of a peak or to the shores of an alpine lake. The walks range in length from 0.4 mile to 8 miles, with the majority in the always popular 2- to 5-mile range.
The description for each walk contains information on general trailhead location, trail use, distance and configuration, elevation range, facilities, hike highlights, a short overview, a detailed route description, and GPS coordinates (WGS84), as well as directions to the trailhead. The majority of hikes included are only accessible to hikers, although eight allow baby strollers on much of their length. Each hike lists the starting elevation and the elevation change, with cumulative elevation gained and lost given if there are significant undulations along the trail.
I have included several walks that are not on official trails, but all follow well-worn use trails, defined as a trail created by the passage of many feet. I recommend following these routes only if you have some prior hiking experience, such that you are confident you can distinguish the course of the trail from the surroundings. They generally lead to less-visited corners of Yosemite, but with that treat comes added responsibility: unconstructed trails are less resistant to erosion, making them poor choices just after snowmelt or heavy rain, when they are likely wet and muddy and easily damaged.
SELECTING A HIKE
Whether you are a new visitor to Yosemite or wishing to explore a new corner of the park, it can be a challenge to select the hike that best fits your expectations. This will be especially so because there is no single best hike to which I can direct you—my enthusiasm extends to every corner of Yosemite. Instead read the list of “Very Best Hikes” or peruse the chart. I hope that this list and chart will let you pick a destination that perfectly matches your mood on a given day. And consider the following:
Most walks in Yosemite Valley are crowded, for you are not the only person to have heard that it is beautiful. It is easy to be turned off by crowds, but remember that everyone is here for a good reason—the location really is spectacular. The Mariposa Grove near Wawona is similarly busy during the summer. If crowds of people take away from your enjoyment, visit in fall or winter, midweek, or early in the morning. I am always pleasantly surprised by how few people are on the trails before 10 a.m.
Every walk included can be beautiful and rewarding, but some walks are most engaging during only part of the year. For instance, without flowers, the mid-elevation areas, such as near White Wolf, are less inspiring to me.
No description given is intended to be a euphemism for boring—if a phrase such as “quiet forest walk” strikes you as such, pick a phrase that better matches your persuasions.
The effort and time required to complete a given trail distance can vary enormously. Elevation (that is, low versus high), amount of elevation change, and trail condition all greatly affect your travel speed. In the high elevation regions around Tuolumne Meadows and Tioga Pass, you will walk more slowly than in Yosemite Valley, for there is less oxygen to breathe at the higher elevations. Use trails tend to be slower to walk than constructed trails, for they are narrower and often steeper. Consider, for instance, that the distance from White Wolf to Lukens Lake is nearly identical to the Twenty Lakes Basin circuit, but the latter will likely take twice as long.
WALKING WITH KIDS
The hike descriptions and recommendations are written with special consideration to families who are searching for the best walks to do with children. The introductory section for each of the seven regions highlights the hikes that are best suited to children. In this age of media entertainment and nonstop screens, it is incredibly important to introduce children to the outdoors at a young age. Most children love poking around nature, watching squirrels, finding a bird feather, collecting flowers, and jumping off rocks. Convincing them to hike (and simultaneously to leave Yosemite’s natural treasures unpicked) is a little more difficult, but with some forethought, perfectly doable.
If your children balk at the idea of hiking, here are a few things to remember and some games that friends and I have been successful playing:
Kids love rocks, including slabs, so pick a walk where they can enjoy a little rock walking.
Before your walk, take your child to pick up a Junior Ranger СКАЧАТЬ