Thousand Trails - Yosemite Lakes
This has to be the most remote spot we have ever been to. It’s 18 miles to the nearest grocery store. It’s off-season so the park isn’t too full (I hope it doesn’t clear out on us; I sure don’t want to be alone out here)! For the past two days we have had a range cow roaming around eating what little grass there is (I’d like to know who is walking around with a pooper-scooper for him?) and last night we watched 8 young deer “frolic” right in front of the rig. Every time I woke up at night, I’d peek out the window expecting to see that bear they tell us to lock up our food for (against?). Truthfully, even with the beauty of Yosemite, I’m glad we’re only here for a week. 
Glaciers sculpted the landscape of Yosemite. Varied conditions formed four geographic areas: High Sierra, Granite Cliffs, Sequoia Groves and Valley. We certainly visited during the wrong season although a lot of people love it here at this time of year too...maybe because there aren't all those summer "crowds". But, Yosemite is known for its beautiful waterfalls and the only one "trickling" was Bridalveil Falls.
Two of the most recognizable rock formations in Yosemite are El Capitan and Half Dome (both of which are in the picture with that Red Sox fan above).
El Capitan is very popular with the experienced rock climbers. Rising more than 3,000 feet above the Valley floor, it is the largest monolith of granite in the world.
Half Dome is perhaps the most recognized symbol of Yosemite. Rising nearly 5,000 feet above the Valley floor, it is one of the most sought-after landmarks in Yosemite. Some people even hike or rock climb to the top!
We got these pictures when we visited Glacier Point. Glacier Point is most famous for the view you can see from it.
This picture shows Yosemite Valley and the rock formation points directly to Yosemite Upper Falls with Yosemite Lower Falls below. We can only imagine how fantastic that must be in the spring!The Glacier Point cliff itself is quite impressive. We had to leave the area to receive news from Susan on the east coast that there had been a rock slide that came from this cliff and landed in Curry Village (a camping area) below. Thanks goodness there were no fatalities.
Here's a shot of Yosemite Valley from the west.The park has a few tunnels carved through these granite rocks.
We took a trip to Hetch Hetchy Valley which is located in the peaceful northwest corner of Yosemite. Hetch Hetchy has been described as Yellowstone Valley with water. The valley name probably derived from the Miwok Indian word, hatchhatchie, which means "edible grasses". The O'Shaughnessy Dam, built from 1915 to 1920, delivers, via 156 miles of pipeline and 37 miles of tunnels, crystal clear drinking water to San Francisco.
And, again in the spring, you would see the Tueeulala and Wapama Falls coming down those granite cliffs.
If we ever came back to Yosemite it would be in the spring to see all those famous waterfalls and raging rivers.
During this trip there was a lot of climbing and descending roadways; switchback curves with no shoulder or guardrail and sheer dropoffs on my side!
We're heading next for The Lakes RV and Golf Resort for a week of golf...golf...and more golf!
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Many, many generations ago, long before the Creator had completed the fashioning of the magnificent cliffs in the Valley of Ahwahnee, there dwelt in the arid desert around Mono Lake an Indian couple. Learning from other Indians of the beautiful and fertile Valley of Ahwahnee, they decided to go there and make it their dwelling place. They began their journey into the Sierra Nevada towards Yosemite Valley, he carrying deer skins, and she holding a baby cradle in her arms and carrying a (wono) basket on her back. When the couple reached the site of present-day Mirror Lake, they began to quarrel. She wanted to go back to Mono Lake, but he refused, saying that no oaks or other trees grew there. He would not listen to her when she said she would plant seeds.
In despair, the girl began to cry and ran back toward the Paiute homeland of Mono Lake. Her husband grew angry and ran after her. To escape she threw the wono basket at him and it became Basket Dome. She continued running and threw the baby cradle at her husband. Today, we experience it as the Royal Arches. Because they had brought anger into Yosemite, the Creator became upset at the couple. The Creator in his anger turned the two into stone. He became North Dome and she became what we know as Half Dome. The Mono Lake Paiute girl regretted the quarrel and the rock wall she became, Half Dome, began to cry, thus forming Mirror Lake.
Today, you can still see the marks of those tears as they run down her face. And if you look very carefully at Half Dome, you can see it is fashioned after the way the Mono tribe looked, hair bobbed and cut in bangs. Her rock face stained with tears facing eastward towards their ancient homeland of Mono Lake.
In olden times the first white explorers called her South Dome, later Half Dome, but in Paiute she is known as T’ssiyakka or the English pronunciation Tissayack.
For decades many historians have scratched their heads to the meaning of Tissayack. Mistakenly they kept asking Mariposa Indians also known as Miwoks believing them to be the original Yosemite Indians and tellers of the legend, but if they had asked Paiutes in the area they would have translated it for them.
T’ssiyakka means “crying girl” or in Paiute “girl-cry”, which fits the legend of Half Dome and not the “Legends of the Yosemite Miwoks” of the girl turned to stone with tears running down her face.
Of course Yosemite National Park Service does not believe anything the Paiutes say, and would rather rely on the “stories” of Craig D. Bates and those claiming to be Southern Sierra Miwuks. But we can prove what we say…like always.
In 1997, Yosemite National Park Service paid Brian Bibby to interview elders who were descendent to the original Indians of Yosemite. The Park was looking for Miwok history and what they got was actually Paiute Yosemite history. One of those informants was Gene Watts who’s great-grandmother was Leanna Tom, a Mono Lake Paiute married to Mono Lake Paiute Bridgeport Tom. Leanna Tom is an important matriarch of those now claiming to be Southern Sierra Miwuks and surprisingly she only spoke to Gene Watts in Paiute. Watts stated in the Yosemite Oral History, January 22nd 1997, that he recalled his great-grandmother calling Half Dome the Paiute name of Tassiyakka.
T’ssiyakka in Paiute is Girl Who Cries or Crying Girl.
Even in the Legend of Half Dome in Yosemite Indians; Yesterday and Today (1941) by Elizabeth H. Godfrey, that Bates copied for his book “Legends of the Yosemite Miwok”, the Indian couple came from “the arid plains” and that they were entering Yosemite from the eastern side. Here is why. Mirror Lake is on the route between Mono Lake and Yosemite Valley. If the couple was coming from the west or Mariposa they would have reached Yosemite Valley first before they were by Mirror Lake, because Mirror Lake is located on the far eastern side of the Valley.
So the Legend of Half Dome, the story of Tissayack, is a legend directly tied to the Yosemite-Mono Lake Paiute people, and not the Miwok as has been falsely written.
The Hetch Hetchy valley was first visited, in 1850, by Mr. Joseph Screech, a mountaineer of this region, who found it occupied by Indians. This gentleman informed me that, up to a very recent date, this valley was disputed ground between the Pah Utah (Paiute) Indians from the eastern slope and the Big Creek Indians from the western slope of the Sierras; they had several fights, in which the Pah Utahs proved victorious. The latter still visit the valley every fall to gather acorns, which abound in this locality. Here I may also mention that the Indians speak of a lake of very salt water [Editor’s note: Mono Lake—dea]
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