An Unforgettable Journey: Hiking in Yosemite

Maddy Payne with her mom Karen after reaching Yosemite Point. 

My mother is a sweet woman. She always cuts apples for me, finds my phone in places I never know I was and is eternally patient with me. She vacuums five times a day to keep the house nice and never complains when I sing.

My mother is a sweet woman.

This being said, my mother also has moments of slight deception. Not straight-out lies, but she likes to cleverly twist her words, bringing us to the beginning of this journey.

“Do you want to go rock climbing?”

This was the phrase that trapped me. Hiking is very different from rock climbing, but my mother is as clever as she is sweet. In Yosemite National Park, there is a huge mountain called Half Dome. The hike is 14.2 miles round trip. The elevation is 8,842 ft., the difficulty is categorized as “strenuous” and it takes a total of 10-14 hours. The rock climbing portion comes in at the end with 400 feet of vertical climb with cables to prevent you from falling. So you can understand my slight displeasure when I discovered this “rock climbing trip” was referring to a mere 400 feet.

A photo Maddy Payne took during the photography class. This was of Tunnel View and the waterfall in the picture is Bridal Veil Falls. 

Bottom line: my mother loves to hike. She’s the type of person who will hike five miles, look back to you while you hint a break would be nice and respond: “Keep up - I can’t hear you!” And so, even though when we arrived at Yosemite National Park and were informed the necessary cables would (unfortunately) be delayed this year due to melting snow, my mother was not discouraged.

This summer I had the pleasure of experiencing almost 27 of those miles in Yosemite in California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains. We arrived in the evening and dined at The Majestic Yosemite Dining Room. If you ever find yourself in Yosemite and about to hike a marathon, treat yourself at this restaurant.

The next day, we woke up early and walked a half-mile from our lodge to the trail head. From there we hiked past upper Yosemite falls and on to Yosemite Point. This hike was 9.4 miles round trip. The elevation gain was 3,000 feet, and it took a total of seven hours to complete. And in the evening, I took a photography class.

Day two we did a shorter hike, roughly around three miles, to Tuolumne Grove of Giant Sequoias where we saw a male bear.

Always smiling - this was at top of Glacier Point. Maddy Payne said the 13.5 miles were brutal, but the view was definitely worth it. 

And finally, on the third day we hiked Four-Mile Trail from the valley to Glacier Point and then hiked the Panorama Trail back down to valley. The hike was 13.5 miles total. The elevation gain was 3,900 feet, and it took eight hours to complete. During the hike we saw Vernal Falls, Nevada Falls and a small bear cub digging for grub.

And the biggest surprise (to my mom)? Not one complaint during the hike. Although, I did look like this after the trip.