Day Eighteen - The Mist Trail and Tuolumne Grove

A couple months ago, I visited the travel section in the Towson Library and borrowed nearly every book they had on the Grand Canyon, Sequoia, and Yosemite for research. The book I ultimately brought on the trip for Yosemite rated this hike as 'Strenuous'. As a point of reference, I had intentionally avoided excessively challenging hikes because it was assumed that, when Evelyn could/would not walk anymore, she would be on one of our shoulders - and it was always a crapshoot which Evelyn we were getting: the rock-climbing adventurer or the pick-me-up chorus. I wasn't certain that there would be consensus amongst our crew regarding the fitness description, so I told nobody.

The Mist Trail begins with a series of switchbacks and climbs along the Merced River - at times calm and tranquil...

...others fierce and powerful...

...leading to steep staircase, slick with the mist of Vernal Falls. We were cleansed and renewed in its gentle shower.

Where else can you frame your friends in rainbows?

This was Evelyn's time of greatest achievement. She climbed up nearly 1,000 feet of stairs to the top of Vernal Falls and beyond, refusing my help and maintaining a solid pace. She drew impressed gazes of those we passed, and I overheard several versions of, "That little girl over there is doing it" to my greatest joy and delight - the pride of a parent watching his child assert herself in the world successfully.

Catching our breath, we settled into Emerald Pool and went for a quick dip. 

We climbed further, gaining spectacular views of Vernal Fall from above...

...and became acquainted with Half Dome. Took the scenic way back down and traveled along a portion of the John Muir Trail, letting gravity do its job - pulling us into a slight jog down the mountain, Evelyn giggling and bouncing on my shoulders along the way.

After Evelyn's nap and quite beat from our long morning, we chose to take it easy at Tuolumne Grove, a small grove of a dozen or so giant sequoias. Admittedly, in contrast to the rest of the day, Tuolumne Grove was a bit uneventful - especially given the expansive sequoia groves we walked through the previous week - but we did get to see this awesome tree standing on one of the first roads that passed through Yosemite. The road was cut into this dead sequoia tree in the 1860s, meaning that it has been standing for the past one-hundred-fifty years, and given its girth, most likely stood for over two-thousand prior years. It reminds me of some sort of villainous helmet...