Day 1 : We drove down from Carson City to Lee Vining and Mono Lake. After a hearty lunch at The Whoa Nellie Deli, we headed up over Tioga Pass to the eastern entrance of the park. Checking in with the permit office, we rented our bear canister, packed our food, and hit the trail. The plan: Take four days to hike 21 miles on the John Muir Trail from Tuolumne Meadows to Yosemite Valley.

We were prepared for everything - hot weather, cold weather, wet weather, bears, rough terrain, difficult navigation - everything. Or so we thought.

As the day progressed, powerful thunderstorms rolled through the Sierras. The thunder was echoing and the lightning was illuminating the darkening skies. The storms passed by us on either side, without actually getting us wet at all.

From Yosemite 2010

A few miles in, we encountered our first warning of our trip: a few hikers coming the other way said to be sure we had DEET - the mosquitoes were fierce. A quick check of our supply list revealed DEET was packed and ready for application.

As we got higher in elevation, nearing our first night’s camp at Cathedral Lakes, the ground was saturated with standing water - a breeding haven for blood suckers. We applied a hefty dose of DEET and hiked on, but it wasn’t much further before we realized we might have a problem. These mosquitoes were fearless and were out for blood.

Swarms of DEET resistant mosquitoes aside, we setup camp at Cathedral Lakes and enjoyed a beautiful sunset over Tanaya Lake. The salmon hued granite softly faded to grey as the sun went down, and we grabbed our first night in the back country - completely alone.

From Yosemite 2010

Day 2: We woke to a gorgeous sunrise breakfast on a granite ledge, overlooking Tenaya Lake. The swarms of mosquitoes were still at us, and our DEET supply was running low, so we broke camp and headed on towards Sunrise Lakes.

From Yosemite 2010

After a few more magnificent miles in the back country, we saw a ridge that promised a striking view - so we climbed it. A breathtaking panorama of the snow capped Sierras spread out in all directions - a perfect place for lunch.

This was, unfortunately, a turning point in our trip. While resting for lunch, the mosquitoes had found us and were as adamant as ever. Both of us had numerous bites that were swelling, some right on our eyelids. Preparing for another DEET application, reality hit: we were out of mosquito repellent. Our pump spray bottle had either been leaking, or the alcohol based solution was evaporating - either way, the bottle was empty.

Sunrise Lakes was less than an hour away, but with a heavy heart we turned around and hiked back out to Tuolumne meadows in search of industrial strength DEET. Our options after getting out of the woods and getting some heftier DEET were to hike in at Tenaya Lake to Sunrise Lakes and continue with our trek as planned, or drive back down to Lee Vining and crash for the night with my parents in their RV. Swelling faces, itchy skin, and sore legs from the unexpected 8 mile trek out, we opted for the night in the RV.

Day 3: Up early, we drove back into the park and continued all the way in to Yosemite Valley. We were really ready for anything this time so we started up for Little Yosemite Valley by way of the Mist Trail. The main challenge on the Mist Trail was maneuvering around other people - the trail is narrow and steep, and hikers of all levels were making the trip. For the most part, people were gracious and considerate of each other.

From Yosemite 2010

The crowds thinned out above Vernal Falls and there were only a few people on the way to Nevada Falls.

From Yosemite 2010

With most of the climbing done for the day, we stopped for a water break along the Merced River before arriving in Little Yosemite Valley. Despite the Day 2 detour, we ended up at the right place for this night. We had a mosquito free dinner and went to sleep - preparing for our early departure to climb Half Dome in the morning.

Day 4: Up at 5AM, we heated up some water for coffee, gathered our gear and hit the trail headed for Half Dome. The rangers warned us that since they instituted the permit process for Friday-Sunday, that Mondays have become very busy on the famous “Cables” - we’re slower hikers so wanted to beat the rush a little. Walking at this time of day is beautiful - quiet with soft lighting.

Once we made it high enough to see beyond the trees, we were treated to amazing views that only got better. By the time we made it to the base of the Sub Dome, the sun was well up and the valleys were beautifully lit.

Half Dome: Neither one of us were sure if we were going to tackle climbing the dome itself, but when we got to the base, it was difficult to resist. The path to the top is a narrow, nearly vertical climb over slick granite, bounded by steel cables at arm height for stability.

From Yosemite 2010	From Yosemite 2010
From Yosemite 2010	From Yosemite 2010

The climb itself is fairly intense, but the view from the top is absolutely worth it.

From Yosemite 2010

From Yosemite 2010

By the time we started climbing down the cables, they had become saturated with people - going up and going down. It made the descent a little tricky, and the fellow climbers were mostly in good spirits - but unfortunately there were some vocally impatient people near the bottom.

As we hiked back down to Little Yosemite Valley we were grinning from ear to ear. After another relaxing water and lunch break by the Merced River we broke camp to head back down the Mist Trail.

Our original plan was to hike one way, 28 miles, mostly down hill. Instead, we hiked 30 miles, up hill (both ways!). But it was worth every step and every mosquito bite.

The Rest of the Week: We spent another 4 days camping in Upper Pines, taking in Day Hikes and drives. The view of Yosemite Valley from Glacier Point really illustrated the path we had taken the week before.

At some point during the trip I reflected on the photos I had been taking - the attempts to capture every facet of a sparkling jewel. I realized that even with the millions of photographs taken by millions of visitors, of every nook and cranny of the valley and its surroundings, it was impossible to capture the whole essence of the valley in a single photograph. The steadfast granite changes appearance with every moment and with every tiny variation in the weather.

The best I could hope for was to capture the way Yosemite Valley was, on the days that I was there, in the way that I saw it - and hope in some way those photos might encourage one person to go and see their Yosemite for themselves.

On the trip, I was experimenting with a Tamron 300mm lens. The water was choppy and the lens doesn’t have image stabilization or a particularly fast aperture, but the day was bright and sunny so I managed a few nice photos of the magnificent animals.

There’s nothing like fresh air.

Lodging

The hotel we stayed in was the Canyon Ranch Motel, located at the north end of Springdale, UT.  The rates are reasonable, the rooms are clean, the site is relaxing, the WiFi is free, the Coffee is organic, and the hosts are great.  Even better is the location - right at one of the FREE town shuttle stops.  This was a welcome amenity at the end of a long day of hiking.  The only down side was that the hot tub and pool were closed during our stay.   I was a little disappointed, as it would have been very nice after the six hour flight and two and a half hour drive to get there.  Overall, it was a great place to stay.

Food

If you are the type of person who must eat at a different place each day, then I suggest you visit these two resteraunts last:  Cafe Soleil and Whiptail Grill.  We did eat at a few other locations during our stay, but we ate almost every breakfast at Cafe Soleil and almost every dinner at Whiptail Grill.  They are both just that good.

The Breakfast Burrito at Cafe Soleil is hearty, delicious, and fairly priced.  I usually eat a lot when hiking, but one of these burritos in the morning held me over until dinner without a problem.  The food at the Whiptail Grill is hard to describe - unique combinations and interpretations of common dishes that really knocked our socks off.  My favorite was the Chipotle Chicken Enchiladas - but the Spagetti Squash and Goat Cheese enchiladas were fantastic as well.

The Park

The National Park Service has a great website for Zion National Park.   The park service has also done some great things to make the park accessible while still preserving the natural beauty.  They provide a free, continuous loop shuttle service throughout the canyon.   The park shuttle combined with the Springdale shuttle made it so we never had to drive the car anywhere after parking at the hotel.  

One of the most famous trails in the park is Angel’s Landing.  You can’t go to the park without hearing other people talk about, the tour guides point it out in detail, and when you see it, you may not be able to take your eyes off of it.  

 As the rangers will tell you, this hike not for the faint of heart or for those who fear heights. At it’s most dramatic, you cling to a slice of sandstone about 3 feet wide with an 800 ft. drop on one side and a 1,200 ft. drop on the other.

There are many other wonderful hikes in the park - some on level ground, some with gentle ascents, and a few other dramatic canyon wall walks.  Or, you may be content to eat ice cream on the lawn of The Lodge while gazing at the cliffs. It may sound cliche, but there really is something spectacular for everyone.

A short time ago, I invited several friends over to join me in a little experiment.  The goal of the experiment was to taste the difference when a a high quality coffee is brewed in several different ways.  With the help of my friends, we were able to compare side by side a Drip Brew, the Technivorm Drip Brew, the Aeropress, and a French Press.  The coffee to be used was 100% Kona medium roast from a single farm, hand carried from Hawaii. 

Kona Cherry

The scientific method would have us change only a single variable between each brew method.  However, our plans were immediately disrupted upon realizing that each brew method also indicates a different grind coarseness.  Drat! How could we possibly evaluate, in a scientific way, the subjective reaction to a multivariate production process?  We’d wing it.

I know in the wine tasting world there is lengthy training in learning to describe how a wine tastes.  The same holds true in the Coffee world - “cupping”.   This includes a detailed description of taste, acidity, aftertaste, and body.  Originally, I planned to subject my friends to a detailed spreadsheet where they would be required to evaluate each brew method - but this seemed an onerous task for brunch.  So again, We’d wing it.  

Drip Brew

This is what most Americans use to brew coffee every morning. It’s easy to clean, it’s relatively fast, and the results can be pretty good. The main deficiency is precise water temperature control and distribution. My Cuisinart has a sprinkler-head type water distribution, but the temperature isn’t always perfect. It has served me faithfully for five years so far, and this morning was no exception. The resulting brew was smooth, rich, aromatic, and flavorful.

Cuisinart Drip Brew

Technivorm

The Technivorm family of products solve the aforementioned problems with drip brew: temperature control and an even water distribution. The water goes into the upper chamber, and then is heated in the lower chamber. It cannot go up the pipe to the drip until it is at the exact temperature.

Technivorm Drip Brew

Technivorm Brew Head

The end result: I was stunned by how much better this tasted. The smoothness was smoother, the richness was richer, every aspect of the flavor was just “better”. The downside of the Technivorm? It’ll set you back at least $250.

Aeropress
On the complete opposite end of the price spectrum we compared the $30 Aeropress, from the makers of the Aerobie flying disc. This simple method involves a single use filter at the bottom of a plastic tube for the coffee and hot water, and a plunger to press it all down into the cup. We boiled water, waited for it to cool to 185F, then poured it into the Aeropress and plunged!

Aeropress

French Press
Lastly we tried the age-old, simple French Press. The results here were as expected: really great. If you like coffee from a French Press, even the most precise machine will have a hard time matching the simple elegance. (The Aeropress came close in my opinion.) I did not get a photo of the French Press in action, so you might want to check out the Wikipedia article if you haven’t seen one before.

French Press Wikipedia

Summary
The fact that the same coffee can taste so drastically different when brewed by dripping water through it, or pressing water through it, or letting it soak in water, is nothing short of amazing to me. Yes, the chemistry is all science, but the effect of that chemistry on your tongue is totally subjective. What you like in Coffee is up to you, but I hope that doesn’t prevent you from exploring the other ways coffee can be consumed.

Oh, and does anyone have a Clover they’d like to loan me?

Island of Oahu
We were able to visit the USS Arizona Memorial and the USS MIssouri while staying on Oahu.  Many friends have visited the USS Arizona Memorial and told me how powerful it was.  They were not exaggerating.  The Park Service and the US Navy do an excellent job not only of marshaling large numbers of people through the memorial, but also of putting the memorial into context and allowing each person to have their own private experience.  

The USS Missouri exhibit is located such that the Mighty Mo is watching over the Arizona.  The staff at the Missouri are keen to point out that placing the two next to each other is a fitting way to symbolize the start and end of America’s part in World War II; the Arizona marking the start, and the Missouri marking the end where the enemy surrender was signed.  If you do visit the USS Missouri, I highly recommend the Explorer Tour.  It’s more expensive, but you get a small group guided tour of areas of the ship not accessible to the general public, from inside the Gun turrets down to the reduction gear from a steam engine to a screw.

Island of Hawaii

The big island of Hawaii is an incredible place.  With a varied and always changing landscape, it hosts most of the world’s climate types.  We started our day there by visiting the Farmer’s Market in Hilo.  Fresh papaya and bananas that we would eat for snacks the rest of the trip.

We spent most of our time inside the Volcano National Park.  Unfortunately, an erruption that started earlier in 2008 is still producing very toxic levels of Sulfur Dioxide, so there are some portions of the park that are proibited for your own safety.  This includes the long walk across the lava beds near the ocean where visitors used to be able to walk right up to the red hot lava.  Signs clearly indicate not to get much closer than a mile from that spot.   You can still see lava spewing in to the ocean at night, outside of the park at a site maintained by HI DOT.  Unfortunately for us, the night we went we had to leave a little early because the wind shifted and the plume of Hydrochloric Acid Mist and volcanic glass shards headed our way.  

Despite the rain, we managed a great hike through the Kilauea Iki crater. Feeling the heat of steam vents and scrambling over new earth that is less than 30 years old was exhilarating.

After visiting Kilaueau, we took a trip to the top of Mauna Kea (13,700+ ft.). The view from there at sunset is breathtaking. Or it might have been the thin air. Probably both.

We then headed over to the Kona side of the island, staying at a place called the Lucky Farm B&B, in Captain Cook, HI just south of Kona.  This is a fruiit, macadamia nut, and coffee farm that also runs a Bed and Breakfast.  My only advice:  Book now.  This place is fantastic.  As a coffee lover (and now a passionfruit lover) this was a perfect place to stay.  It’s also very convenient to two fantastic snorkeling sites and far enough out of the city of Kona to still be remote. I’ll have to write an additional post about Kona coffee.

As for the snorkeling, we went to “Place of Refuge / Two Step” and were blown away by the number and variety of fish and coral.  Then we took a trip via kayak to Captain Cook’s monument in Kealakekua Bay.  Also a spectacular experience.

Regardless of how he’s feeling, he’s always willing to greet friends with a wagging tail and a leaning greyhound hug. He still gets excited when we grab his leash, and as you can see, he still has that twinkle in his eye:

After much research and deliberation, we decided to use a composite decking. The main factors were durability, and low maintenance. After looking at a lot of different options, we settled on Veranda brand Golden Cedar distributed by the local Home Depot.

Since we still wanted to be able to use portions of the deck during the summer, the process has been incremental: Ripping off a section of old boards, cleaning things up, placing new boards down. The previous decking followed a diagonal pattern, but we wanted to go with a straight pattern:

We needed to keep the wrap around portion in tact as long as possible as it serves as the outlet to the yard for our dog Keeper (The World’s Greytest Greyhound). So we planned to do this section in a 2 day weekend push:

Unfortunately, some of the decking was delivered with significant permanent stains (the planks that were resting on some oil stained plastic wrapping the bulk of the boards). I thought I could clean it, but that turned out to be too optimistic. So instead of getting the whole wrap around section done in 2 days as planned, we got 90% of it done in two days and waited 2 days for enough boards to be re-delivered to fill in the remaining 4 ft. (At least I didn’t over-order too much)

Here’s a view of how the deck is looking:

Left to do:

• 4 more feet on the wrap around section
• Raise the Trapezoid section 6 inches (maybe) and place decking
• 3 sets of stairs
• New Railing

The new railing will likely be a project for late fall or early spring. Mostly because we’re still deciding on what we want to do. Besides, we have to have some fun this summer!