With IOC Kansai friends Tetsuya and Marcus, and my ol roomate Richard, plus Yoko and Becky (who were waiting at the last bridge), I hiked to Lyell Glacier, a snow field on the side of Yosemite's 13,000 ft + Mt. Lyell. The glacier is one of only a few in the Sierras, where the latitude is generally too far south to keep these icy giants fed with the snow and cold that they need. I read somewhere that this glacier formed during the Little Ice Age of the 17th century, and that it's been shrinking since. Nonetheless, it's a spectacular sight in the otherwise dry and hot climate that characterizes inland California during the summertime.
The hike began near dawn at Tuolumne Meadows' Dog Lake parking lot, where the John Muir Trail passes through, at an altutude of about 9,000 ft. We took the John Muir Trail to the south. The first 8 miles or so were a very pleasant stroll up the gently flowing and meandering headwaters of the Tuolumne River's Lyell Fork, through open grassy meadows.
At the head of Lyell canyon, the trail climbed up about 2,000 feet along rocky cliffs and cascading waterfalls. At the top of the climb, a small plateau awaited. We rested in the meadow of the plateau, and admired the snowy scene above. The contrast between the summer meadow, with its flowers, grasses, and lake, and the wintery snowfield and glacier above, was a special sight to behold in California, even though this beauty might be taken for granted at higher latitudes, where such scenes are commonplace.
The hike back down from the pass and to Tuolumne Meadows was painful for me, as the altitude, combined with lack of sleep from waking up so early for the hike, caused a terrible headache and slight deliriousness. Nonetheless, I knew that descending to a lower altitude, plus a good night's sleep, would cure the problem, as it always does. We returned to the trailhead after dusk, marking the close of a 26 mile hike and one of the most beautiful vistas I have seen in my hiking career.
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