California Week 5 (Part 1): Up, Up, Up…To Yosemite and Beyond!

As promised, this edition of the Ramblin’ Bauers will feature a special guest star…BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!  This special guest’s visit was so eventful that it had to be split between two blog posts. That means you, reader, are getting two for the price of one!  We won’t stop there, though!  There are two more surprise guests coming up in Part 2 of this series!  Now, to reveal the much awaited special guest star…

IT’S NEWT; and not of the Gingrich variety.  This lovely lady is Bilbo’s sister, who ventured all of the way from WV to spend her vacation with us.  I know it was quite the sacrifice to leave those snowy hills for northern Cali’s temperate winter, but somebody had to do it!  Even though Newt landed in San Francisco, we put off exploration of the city and tucked in for some R&R before our big weekend adventure.   Unfortunately, we passed a restless and sketchy night at a motel where “complimentary rape” could have been listed among their amenities (per Newt’s observation).

So, if San Fran isn’t good enough for a CA initiation, what is?  Yosemite, of course!  That is where we took little sis for her first taste of CA adventure, and her first taste of hiking.  We had a bit of drive between the location of our restless night and the park, so we spent the first day checking out the visitors’ center and doing some flat, easy hiking in the East Valley Floor. 

We made sure that Newt was able to see an impressive view of El Capitan and the surrounding rock walls from the valley…

 

Took a walk to Bridal Veil Falls where we felt a cool spray…  

Got away from the busyness on the trail…

 

Drove to Tunnel View for some glamour shots…

 

 

Gained a new perspective of Half Dome at twilight…

 

And explored the village.

We passed a much more peaceful night outside of Yosemite at Cedar Lodge (where Bilbo and I stayed on our last Yosemite trip and will likely stay every trip henceforth) before heading back for more.  Day 2’s itinerary consisted of an early morning start and a hike to the top of Upper Yosemite Falls, the second tallest waterfall in the world!  I was so excited for this hike as I had been looking forward to it since January!  It is one of the few opportunities within Yosemite to begin on the valley floor and end upon the rim.  Lucky for me, Bilbo and Newt were willing to commit to my dream.  

We began our hike before the sun came up, and before the day warmed up (it was only 20 degrees that morning. BRR).

 

As we made our way up, so did the sun and we were soon taking in spectacular scenery.

 

Poor Bilbo’s back required a few stretch breaks, but we kept on trekking.

Here we are at the base of Upper Yosemite Falls/top of Lower Yosemite Falls. 

Because of the low temperature, the water from the Upper Yosemite Falls froze on its way down forming an ice cone at its base.  As water made its way over the Lower Yosemite Falls, hunks of ice were knocked loose from the cone with thunderous crashes. 

At this point we were around half-way up, but that meant we still had half-way to go.  So up we went.

When we finally reached the top, these three Bauers found ourselves overlooking the falls’ source.  A layer of ice lined the tope of the cliff, causing the water to pool as it made its way through a crevice in the ice.  

 

This was among one of the toughest hikes for all of us and a daunting task for Newt, a newbie hiker, but we made it to the top!  The view of the falls was amazing and we scaled some exposed stairs for nice pics down almost 3000 feet into the valley floor.

 

 

For another angle, we walked across a bridge to the other side of the pool and watched the water flow towards the rim’s edge.

 

 

Then back down we went.

After around 8 miles of hiking and almost a mile of elevation gain and descent, we were all pooped.  Although Newt was on vacation, I was not so it was back to Ferndale for the week.  Newt loved our little home away from home and found that solitude she was seeking…or as much as she could with Bilbo and me around.  The two congenital Bauers filled some of their day by strolling through downtown Ferndale.

 

When I made my grand return from work, we all went for an sunset stroll on the Ferndale beach.  Newt was very intent upon finding seashells, but without much luck. 

So she settled for running instead.

Throughout the rest of the week we worked our way further abroad, beginning with an drive up US-101 to Redwood National Park.  This time we actually completed the entire Lady Bird Johnson Trail before dark!

On the way back out of the park, we stopped to spend a few moments on the shore as the sun said “goodnight.” 

Newt finally found a seashell!

We wrapped up our week with an outing to the Loleta Cheese factory.  Newt, cheese-lover that she is, was swept away by the ample free samples and had to refrain from buying one of everything.  Bilbo and I stocked up on some more aged white cheddar, our favorite, as well.

Much cheese was eaten that evening as the week came to an end.  In our next post, we will tell you about our weekend with Newt in San Francisco…and don’t forget the two surprise guests!