Greetings readers! I hope this Trail Report finds you “fit as a fiddle” and “happy as a clam”.

On a recent trip to Yosemite Valley with my wife and daughter we visited The Ahwahnee Hotel and The Mist Trail.

It was so very nice to have some family along on what was originally planned as my final section of the John Muir Trail. (See “Trail Report: Method to the Madness”)

Due to a National Forest closure back in September, one section of the JMT (mile 119 to 136) still awaits me.

On our recent trip, our objective was to complete miles two through five of the JMT. 

Although I have hiked to the top of Nevada Falls several times, I have never done so by using the JMT. I have always taken The Mist Trail – as most people do.

It was on the Mist Trail that The Peaceful Warrior lost his sleeping bag. (See “Trail Report Redux: The Lost Boys”) By going up the JMT and coming down The Mist Trail, we enjoyed the best of both worlds.

The JMT officially starts at the bottom of The Mist Trail near Happy Isles, but then veers south for a while until it reunites with The Mist Trail at the top of Nevada Falls. Originally, The JMT started at the Yosemite Conservation Heritage Center (formerly Le Conte Memorial.)

I love this structure. An example of Tudor Revival architecture, it was built in 1903 by the Sierra Club. In the early 1920s, Ansel Adams served as the lodge’s summer custodian. The design of the building is intended to reflect the vertical nature of Yosemite Valley and is made of rough-hewn granite stone walls. (The lodge was renamed in 2016 because of Joseph LeConte’s writings in support of white supremacy.)

Another Yosemite Valley structure that holds special meaning for me is The Ahwahnee Hotel. It was here that Karen and I honeymooned in the Spring of 1987. Upon revisiting the old hotel, I was delighted and a little awed at what good condition it was in.

Any hike leaving the Yosemite Valley floor is going to be a doozy, and the hike up to the top of Nevada Falls is no exception.

Even in the fall of a drought year, the Merced River was still flowing. It is very different from the Spring, when the Merced displays its deadly power. In its current state, it seems pensive, as if in repose. The small flow produces a perfect, peaceful cascade. Everything is quiet.

Along the loop route that we took, we eventually found ourselves playing “leapfrog” with a group of three young “tweens”. It was apparent from how they interacted with their parents, that their classroom was the outdoors. Impromptu geology lessons were given with a stick and sand instead of chalk and chalkboard. At the halfway point, the young adventurers were given the go ahead to complete the loop on their own – as long as they were back to camp by nightfall. As a retired educator, I can give my whole hearted approval to this method of schooling. It was wonderful to witness. They took their time. They would take frequent breaks and sit quietly, admiring the falls. They appeared quite “bookish”, which was confirmed when one commented: “We are young, but not spry”. For Karen and I, Yosemite is our honeymoon, it is our church and it is our cathedral. For these “free range” youths – far from the conventional classroom on a school day – it was their education.

As we sat around the campfire that night, comparing our different impressions of the young Yosemite scholars we had encountered on the trail, a pack of coyotes engaged in a spirited group discussion in the nearby meadow – their voices echoing off the granite walls of Yosemite Valley.

In the words of John Muir…

Our crude civilization engenders a multitude of wants, and law-givers are ever at their wits’ end devising. The hall and the theater and the church have been invented, and compulsory education. Why not add compulsory recreation?

Travel Tip: As a rule, we never visit Yosemite Valley during the summer months of June, July and August. If we want to visit Yosemite National Park during any of these months, we head straight to the high country – Tuolumne Meadows. Here, spring is perpetual, the evenings are cool and the crowds are light. If you follow this one simple guideline, a visit to Yosemite will never disappoint.  

(Originally published on October 15, 2021)