Back in February, Patrick was gone a few weekends for various expeditions, so I decided to get brave and have a couple of my own. Plenty of my friends have been on solo hikes, but I had not yet done any outdoor trek alone so I decided it was time to give it a shot! As my family knows, I am completely navigational-challenged so I first chose a hike Patrick and I had been to twice. Remember last spring the photos of all the orange hillsides covered in poppies? It was a little early for the bloom, but I knew I'd be comfortable venturing there, at Hite Cove.
'Signage' (aka a giant metal pipe) pointing out some of the mining equipment ruins.
I
felt lucky spotting this pretty, lone succulent adorning a rock face
lining one side of the trail. I was tempted to pluck it to accompany the
ones I have at home, but decided it would be better to leave for other
passer-bys with sharp eyes to enjoy.
The flowers weren't out, but some berries were. They provided a lovely contrast against the green/brown atmosphere.
Sometimes it's easy to get tunnel vision on the trail, but I tried to take a moment every now and then to look at the dynamic skyline around me.
I was struck by how vivid green this section of stream and bordering moss were.
Made it to the mining camp without a problem (Patrick and I had a tough time finding it the first time.) Time for a photo to commemorate my first solo hike. I realized later that I think I had this same outfit on in the picture with Patrick here. :)
Felt like I was the lady walking up the stairway to Heaven. Kinda hard to capture in the photo, but the sunlight was casting this awesome aura being filtered through the branches and dully reflecting from the stone trail.
Lichen is like...
....nature's graffiti!
After my hike, I hit up Prospector Brewery in Mariposa, where I had the amazing limited time Vanilla Bean Porter to toast my success. Poor Patrick- I talked up the beer for two days straight until we went back there together. The keg had blown that morning. We hope they make it again next year, so he can get a taste and I can get more!
A couple weeks later I felt empowered after my first experience to strike out solo again. There is a path that follows the road to Yosemite National Park, just on the other side of the Merced River that I thought would be a another fail-safe route to follow w/o danger of getting lost, and I had a pretty good idea of where the parking lot and access to the trailhead were. I had the right parking lot but it turns out I missed the trailhead and followed a road up and around the backside of the hill (instead of along the river/highway side). I passed a few different groups of dirt bikers and ATVs, but it was miles by the time I ran into other pedestrians. I thought I should have reached the turn-around point by then, so I asked the hikers if I was close. Luckily, the man and woman seemed to be regular visitors and told me that I was close to a junction, and depending on which way I went, the trail could keep on going all the way to Tahoe! But since I told him I didn't plan on going there that day, he recommended veering to the right, up a short steep hill and a little further, for a peek into YNP with a view of El Capitan. It was a nice late-lunch spot, but I felt so exposed that it left me with a vulnerable feeling and I was on my return hike shortly thereafter. (El Cap is where that hill in the foreground overlaps with the hill in the background- near the white spot.)
I had some beautiful intakes of sky on my way back, but I should've brought sunblock! This hike gave me my first layer of "sunkiss" for the season.
A lot of the hike wasn't like this area in the photos. It followed 10-20' rock walls that harbored deep terraces above them, and rock perches or dugouts where I could just imagine a mountain lion having a fabulous vantage point. I think it was mostly my imagination getting the better of me, rather than there being any real threat (although there are warning signs posted in the Park, which I wasn't far from), since I ended up on a trail I didn't quite mean to be on and signs of other people were scarce most of the time. It kept me from enjoying this hike quite as much as the first one, and because of the slight anxiety, I took almost no breaks so I was pretty beat by the end of the 10 miles! Even so, it was nice to get outdoors, and I was rather proud of myself for making the venture, which might not be so bold for others but was for me!
