Winter has come to Yosemite without snow. We heard a lot of things about Yosemite in Winter; It’s the best time to explore without crowds. Wrong. We saw so many people exploring places, all Lodges were full, and the worst part, we had to wait in line to take a picture in front of the waterfalls! And every year they reasonably close a half of Yosemite and blocked trails because of the amount of snow they are getting. Wrong again. We asked a staff member at View Lodge (where we stayed for 4 nights), they got snow two weeks before we got there and all melted. Pity.
The first morning, it wasn’t that bad; 36 degrees. We decided to see some snow. Well, we didn’t know where exactly we should go. Because of the government shutdown, nobody would give us any tip like, “can we hike to the North Dome?” or “should we take any gear when we hike to a higher point?” We got up a bit late to start the day so we decided to do something simple. First, we had to go to the Curry Village to have breakfast. After we were done, it was almost 11 am. Auch. Luckily, we found one that was very close to where we were. 2.4 miles round trip from the trailhead. Which means add an extra 1.5 miles round trip (without shuttle bus of course). It’s only 100 feet gain; we were about 4,000 feet. They had opened a free parking lot; mixed with white snow and dirt, it looked really massy. However, what a chance, we found a spot to park.
Not to see a lake, it was a pretty hike for sure. Probably not worthy of the heavy crowds even though it was cold. The pool (Mirror Lake, I don’t know why they called it pool, well, actually it was like a pool). It was surrounded by Mt. Watkins, which rises above the far north end of Tenaya Canyon, were the scenic highlights. It wasn’t that great an angle to see Half Dome for sure but still, it looked gorgeous. Hiking was easy. Not much was gaining elevation, and much of the trail was paved. I saw some people riding bicycles most of the way to Mirror Lake.
Following day was bright but colder, 28 degrees. We decided to get up earlier than the first day and do some serious hiking. So, we stopped by reception and grabbed whatever was available and coffee to go. We were ready to hike right there! Originally, we wanted to hike up to Glacier Point but again, nobody warned us of anything so we forgot to carry our gear. So, we ended up hiking to the trail gate which was where we would get our first wide-open views of Tenaya Canyon and Half Dome. I was catching glimpses of some vistas through the trees on the turns. My expectations will start building and I would have a premonition that something extraordinary is coming up, but it’s still a little overwhelming to round the corner and finally find the view.
