Yosemite (11/01/2025)

350 Miles From Home Base — YOSEMITE

STORMZ OVERVIEW

I am 350 Miles from Home Base, after 6 hours of driving, the sunrise peaking over the panorama point was definetly worth the drive, and the hike to the summit of sentinel. Goregous views and perfect conditions.

TODAY'S CONDITIONS

Clear conditions 🌤️

Minimal Snow & great air quality, be sure to bring lots of water and protein for a hike like this!

HIKE DETAILS

Trail: 4 Mile Trail
Distance: ~7 mi
Gain: ~2,300 ft
Difficulty: Moderate/Hard
Dur: 3.5 hrs

WAYPOINTS

Yosemite Lodge → Union Point → Glaicer & Panorama → Washburn Point → Sentinel Dome

NOTABLE MOMENTS

Friendly Hikers, great scenery, and beautiful wildlife. I met Lacy along my hike, who I kept pacing throught the entire hike up the mountian, ended up sharing a boysenberry sandwitch at sentinel summit with her before we parted our ways.

FOR NEXT TIME

Start earlier, download the map of YOSEMITE there is NO cell service. Get gas OUTSIDE the park & prepare better for Half Dome

Yosemite Valley still half-asleep as I arrived at the lodge. The sky held the last shades of night, and the granite walls around me were nothing more than outlines waiting for the sun. After six hours of driving through the dark with leftover October laughter echoing faintly in my head from the night before, the quiet of the valley felt like stepping into cold water. It woke me up. It steadied me.

I told myself I came here for the challenge, for the climb, for the day I had promised myself weeks ago. But there was a kind of pulse behind the determination, something softer. A feeling that hadn’t faded even though I tried to leave it somewhere along the highway. Limerence¹ is strange that way. You can push past it, but it stays in the seams of your thoughts, barely noticeable until the world goes quiet.

The trail started behind the lodge, moving through pockets of chilled air and pine. Morning light seeped in slowly, brushing the tops of the trees first before sliding down the trunks toward the ground. Squirrels darted between roots, ravens called overhead, and somewhere deep in the meadow the faint rustle of deer moved through the tall grass. Yosemite wakes gently, as if the valley breathes before it speaks.

The first stretch of the hike climbed steadily toward the Mist Trail junction, and the sound of Vernal Fall reached me long before the water came into view. It thundered with a kind of certainty that made everything else feel lighter. The spray floated in the air like a veil, settling across my skin in cold bursts that sharpened my focus. At times I wondered if this was why I came, to shake something loose, to let the noise of the water drown out the quiet places where memory likes to linger.

The climb toward Nevada Fall grew steeper, weaving through granite steps and narrow turns carved by thousands of boots before mine. The sun finally reached the canyon walls, painting them gold. Hikers passed with quick greetings, and each one reminded me that I wasn’t truly alone, even if I had chosen solitude. There is comfort in being surrounded by strangers who are all moving uphill for their own reasons.

From the top of Nevada, the trail shifted into something softer. The forest opened into wide sweeps of meadow and long shadows cast by pines that had survived fire and storm. The air carried the scent of sap and wet earth. Every now and then I could hear branches rustle with something unseen…Maybe a fox, maybe a coyote, maybe nothing at all. These forests hold a kind of quiet that feels both ancient and forgiving.

By the time I reached the approach to Glacier Point, the valley had changed shape beneath me. El Capitan stood far off, steady and unmoving. Half Dome glowed under the rising sun. The river wound through the floor like a thread of silver. Looking down at it all, I realized how small heartbreak looks from above. Not gone, not meaningless, just small. Just one part of a much larger landscape.

From Glacier Point to Panorama Point, the trail rolled along the ridgeline with views that seemed too wide to fit in a single moment. The wind carried a cool bite, pushing through the pines with a whisper that felt almost familiar. There were moments when I caught myself wishing someone else could see what I saw, someone who once filled the quiet places in my life without trying. But the thought passed like the wind itself: felt, acknowledged, and then gone.

The final push to Sentinel Dome was steady. The dome rose ahead like a smooth gray swell, its curves softened by centuries of storms. The climb to the top was short but steep, the granite cool beneath my hands as I made my way up. And then suddenly the world opened.

Yosemite stretched in a full circle, 360• peaks upon peaks, valleys layered with morning light, forests rebuilding themselves from fire-scars. Everything around me was living proof that beauty isn’t lost when it breaks. It shifts. It rebuilds. It grows back in ways you don’t expect.

Standing on the dome, I felt a quiet clarity settle in. The determination that carried me here came from a place still healing, still wanting, still trying to make sense of what was gone. But up there, surrounded by stone shaped by time and forests shaped by fire, I understood something simple and true.

Some feelings fade. Some remain. But neither one defines the whole story. What matters is the choice to keep moving, to climb toward a place where the view widens and the weight thins out. Where the echoes of old emotions soften enough to let new light in.

And up there on Sentinel Dome, with Yosemite spread out like a living map of everything that endures, I knew the climb wasn’t a rebound. It wasn’t a distraction. It was a return, to myself, to breath, to becoming.

A reminder that even after loss, the world keeps rising. And we rise with it.

— Where The Determination finds It's Own Light

Footnotes & quick facts

• The first humans of Yosemite called themselves the Ahwahneechee, meaning "dwellers" in Ahwahnee
• Start at Glaicer Point for a faster loop up to Sentinel, with 360 view of the valley, creek, campground & lodges below.
• ¹Limerence: An emmotional state of being infauated or obsessed with a person, typically characterized by a strong desire to have reciprocation of one's feelings.