Yosemite Facelift - Part 2

On our second morning in Yosemite, we got up, cleaned up and had our breakfast before making our way back across the valley, once again, to sign up for another day of service.

We volunteered to go to a place a bit out of the way this time. It is the trail to the Golden Wall. Christian wanted to get familiar with this trail anyway, as there is a climb there that he wants to do. The hiking was a bit harder and the air was infested with gnats so it was pretty miserable. First we headed down a hiker's trail for a bit and we were supposed to turn off to find the climbing trail. We went down quite a way but did not manage to find the climbing trail.

The view, however, was spectacular. But we knew that we were really getting away from our destination, and decided to back track to find the right trail. It was a bit warmer today and it was already lunch time. Christian decided to go scout around while we worked on getting lunch together. Unfortunately, we had all our supplies except for our stove, so we had to go back down to the car to get the stove first. We picked up some more trash on our way back near the logging areas. When we got back to near where we were supposed to meet up with Christian, we actually found the trail. It was probably only about a hundred feet or so from where Christian headed into the brush to locate the trail!

After some time and much bush wacking, Christian found the trail and checked the area for trash and headed back down the trail to where we set up for lunch. Needless to say, it was a lot easier going on the actual trail!

Afterwards, we had a bit of time left and went in search of more trash at the El Cap Meadow. We were also searching for a particular climbing ranger that we had met several times previously so that Caitlyn could get an interview for her paper. We did not find him. We did manage to get a bit more trash there though as the kids were a bit disappointed at our progress on this day.

After another 6 hours of service rendered, we managed to collect another 7 pounds of trash, so it was not as bad as all that. We found some place to have a quick dinner while we waited for the evening raffle. The kids were heady with excitement over the possibilities after our first day of winnings.

Caitlyn got a cute little daypack. Emily got a water bottle. I got another jacket but it was too big for me, so I gave it to Christian. Christian got a goodie bag full of miscellaneous products (books, climbing chalk, chalk bag, etc.). We could not believe our luck! 

After the raffle, we went to watch a film that we bought tickets for at the Yosemite Theater called, "Return to Balance: A Climber's Journey." It was a 1.5 hour film presented by Ron Kauk. We stayed to talk a bit with him afterwards as well.

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On our last day, we took it easy. We slept in and got up to do some scripture reading before breaking down camp. We needed to check out and head home in the evening. After breakfast, we headed back once again to the visitor center to check in for our last day of service.

This time, they sent us to another off the beaten path climbing area. The hiking was moderately difficult but the views were gorgeous.

We got to go inside and check out the Yosemite Valley Chapel on our way to our first destination. We found and explored that area for a bit. The approach was difficult and dusty. Afterwards, we stopped for lunch on a giant boulder before continuing on our way to our next destination. We hit a field of boulders that we had to head up and it took a lot of time and effort. We did not quite find what we were looking for, however, and it was getting late. They were cutting the day short today because it is the last day for the event and they were preparing a dinner for all the volunteers in the evening. Christian sent us back down while he made one last effort to make it to the top to see if he could find what we were looking for. He did not.

Meanwhile, we raced back to hand in our meager offerings. Fortunately, and unfortunately, there was not a great deal of trash for us to collect. Only 2 pounds of trash altogether after we each put in 3.5 hours of work. The kids were pretty disappointed. On the one hand, we don't want people leaving trash everywhere, but on the other hand, we wanted to feel like we were making a big difference so we were a bit conflicted about our accomplishments for the day.

We had some time afterwards to walk around a bit before the afternoon raffle, so we headed for Lower Yosemite Falls. It was bone dry. Apparently, this is where we should have gone to clean up though because Christian easily picked up another pound of trash there. Too bad it doesn't add to our total but we made the place nicer by picking it up and depositing it in the trash anyway. That's why we were there after all.

Christian and the girls looked at some climbs near the falls. I was too tired to clamber over polished boulders and stayed behind.

Afterwards, we raced back for the raffle. It was crowded, as usual, and we just made it back in time.

Christian and I didn't win anything on this last day but counted ourselves pretty fortunate, nevertheless. Emily got a long sleeved Yosemite Tee. Caitlyn got a Scarpa t-shirt, a North Face trucker hat, chalk bag and even more climbing chalk. She made off like a bandit.

Afterwards, we stuck around for dinner. We thoroughly enjoyed the meat fest after three days of camping and hiking. It was much appreciated. We headed home after that. We arrived home at about 1:30 am. The kids slept on and off in the car. They took their showers and got back to bed at around 2:am as they had to get up for school the next morning...or later that same morning, that is. It was totally crazy, but we all had a blast.

After carefully reviewing all our swag, some of which I didn't even name before (like free park passes for volunteering on National Public Lands day and commemorative Facelift Klean Kanteens for water), we estimate our free swag at a retail value of over $900. Is that crazy or what? We just wanted to help clean up one of our favorite places in the whole world. How's that for good karma?

Facelift was another total success. These are the current numbers on all our efforts. Every year, the number of volunteers increases while the amount of trash decreases. I can honestly say that Yosemite is definitely one of the cleanest parks we've been to due to the unceasing efforts of so many volunteers.

2016 Totals:

Volunteers

• 1,477 Unique Volunteers
• 2,493 Volunteer days
• 11,714 Volunteer hours

Weights

• 5,733 Lbs. of litter
• 6,464 Lbs. Special Projects
• 12,197 Lbs. Total removed from Yosemite National Park

Yosemite Facelift - Part 1

This year, our family decided to get involved with Yosemite Facelift. The Facelift is a volunteer park-wide clean-up effort held each September to clean up trash in the park after the busy summer visitor season. This clean-up effort is a joint project between the National Park Service and the Yosemite Climbing Association. This will be their 13th year.

Unfortunately, Facelift starts after the school year begins, so in order to go, the kids had to play hookie from school for at least a day as Yosemite is a good 6 plus hours away from us...depending on how fast we drive.

We left home in the wee morning hours between Thursday night and Friday morning. We arrived and checked in to our campsite in the Upper Pines Campground and then headed over to the Visitor Center to check in as volunteers. We set up our tent and put away all our food stuffs into the bear box before heading out. As parking in the valley is a bit of a nightmare, we decided to just make our way around by walking or taking the shuttle. The new concessionaire in Yosemite does not run shuttles nearly as often as before, however, so we ended up just walking all over the place since it was faster than waiting for the shuttle. It was pretty tiring and took a lot of time but we picked up micro-trash all along the way, so it was not totally a waste.

After checking in, they assigned an area to us and we were on our way. We stopped back over at our campsite to pack a lunch for ourselves and walked along the river to pick up trash. After six hours, we accumulated a total of 10 pounds of refuse...mostly micro-trash that did not add much bulk or weight. The bulk of our micro-trash seemed to comprise mostly of cigarette butts, the tips of candy and granola bar wrappers and the stickers off of fruits. What gave our trash any weight were mostly items of discarded clothing like t-shirts, socks, shoes and hats plus a few bottles here and there.

We stopped a bit early because Christian wanted to attend a walking tour through Camp 4 with Glen Denny. They were giving away 20 free copies of his new book, "Valley Walls." Christian did not arrive in time to get the free book, but he did get to go on the tour. Most of the people that ended up getting the book did not get to go on the tour as space was limited and they spent their time getting the book. Christian did end up buying the book for himself later when he met back up with us.

Meanwhile, we returned our equipment and weighed in our trash for the day.

We got raffle tickets when we signed up to work in the morning and they planned to have a raffle for neat prizes and gear every evening. The girls and I stayed to see what we would win with that and Christian went back to collect our dinner. The kids are pretty much assured some kind of prize but we thought that it was highly unlikely that we would win anything.

Sure enough, Emily won a really nice Osprey hydration bag and Caitlyn won a neat Mammut camp pillow. Plus they got a couple of mini Cliff Bars. The surprising thing was that Christian and I won gear too. Not just any gear but I got a really nice Fjall Raven jacket and Christian won a pair of Butora Climbing shoes. It was totally crazy.

There were people there that had been there for three nights and had not won a thing. We really raked it in! We felt a little bad for the others though...

After all the craziness was done, we found someplace to have our dinner. We wanted to take Caitlyn to an evening program about Stephen Mather and the National Park Service. It was being presented by Steve Hale, historical interpreter. It was sponsored by the Sierra Club and was being presented in the LeConte Memorial. We had not been inside the Memorial and were excited to get to go in there. Plus Caitlyn's History Day Project is on the National Park Service, so this was a great opportunity for us. Unfortunately, it was an hour long and it was late in the evening so Caitlyn was fighting to keep awake as we have had a very long day. It was a good program though with lots of great information. We bought a small booklet from Hale with all the information that he covered and more for her so that was a great find as well. We spoke briefly to him at the end and he signed Caitlyn's book and offered to answer any questions she runs into in her research by e-mail!

We headed back to our campsite for some well deserved rest. We did not plan ahead and bring headlights. however, so we trudged back in the dark of night. Luckily Christian knows his way around the valley very well, whether we can see or not! We crashed in the evening after cleaning up a bit.

September

The kids are officially back in school by now. We are just trying to get used to our new schedules and routes to pick up and drop off the kids. Emily also has Seminary in the mornings. I thought that we were going to have a lot of trouble getting her to Seminary on time. She's not usually much of a morning person, but she has taken to her new schedule remarkably well. She sets out her clothes in the morning. When her alarm goes off, she gets dressed, eats breakfast and cleans up and takes herself off to church. She has been pretty responsible for herself lately, for which I am very glad.

After Caitlyn gets up and gets ready, we pick up Emily after Seminary and I drop the kids off to their respective schools.

The weather is still pretty atrocious, so we have still not spent much time out of doors. We have been spending a lot of time getting ready for the Mid Autumn Festival. We have made a ton of moon cakes. We have made many kinds and have been slowly learning a lot.

We even made our own salted eggs to go into the mooncakes. Lots of friends and neighbors have tasted some of our creations. We even dropped some off to my mom to try.

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Christian has also been spending a lot of time trying to figure out what is wrong with my car. He's been doing a lot of research and we started ordering some of the parts but we have yet to make any other repairs yet.

On Labor Day weekend, we got one slightly cooler day but unfortunately, we spent the day clearing out our drains. We have been having some problems with our main sewage line for some time now and no matter what we tried, it would not drain quite completely. So, Christian finally went and rented an industrial snake and we cut through whatever was blocking up the pipes. He ended up snaking the whole thing up to the septic tank just to be sure. We had the equipment rented out to us for a few more hours anyway!

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We ended up celebrating my birthday a bit early because we would be really busy that next week. Christian spent all weekend making all sorts of tasty food. He made us some homemade smoked corned beef and sourdough bread one night. The next night, he made my favorite smothered cabbage and naan. Emily started to make some cream puffs for me but it didn't quite work out and we had to let the batter firm up in the refrigerator for a while before it could be used. She used a new recipe and I guess it was quite different.

I got lots of fancy new cookware for my birthday.

On my actual birthday, I was able to use some of my new cooking swag and we finally got to have Emily's tasty cream puffs.