Day one on the John Muir Trail was easy. Well maybe it was easy because we weren’t hiking on the John Muir Trail. Due to permitting issues Molly and I had to start our hike from Glacier point and spend our first night in the Illilouette Valley. It was a pleasant five mile loop that led me to my first image of the trip, the image you see to the left. The image is of a Ponderosa Pine and Wolf lichen growing together. Wolf Lichen was frequently used as a dye by Native Americans and and it apparently got its name because it was used as a poison to kill wolves in Europe. We saw a lot of wolf lichen along the trail. The following is my Journal entry from day one on the Trail.
7-27-09
After three relaxing days, two in Tiburon and one in the Yosemite Lodge (we were upgraded from our hut in Curry Village), we finally started our hike. We did not plan on starting until tomorrow so I guess we actually started early. We started from Glacier Point and hiked towards Illilouette. We observed several deer–2 bucks and 4 does–as well as a few quail. The only difficult section was a stream crossing. We removed our shoes and waded across barefoot [in retrospect this was a bad idea, the rocky bottom made it almost painful to cross barefoot] halfway across we threw our shoes to the other side and were grateful for the improved balance. We are camped on the ridge to the east of Glacier Point and have not seen anyone since before the stream crossing.
Matthew Parker's photography is captivated by the challenge of catching
the beauty of creation, undestroyed by humans. Whether in distant
National Parks, urban parks or in his hometown of San Diego, Matt enjoys using the camera lens to
frame the incredible beauty around him. He seeks to capture both the
easily-overlooked beauty of subtle patterns in rocks and water
reflections, as well as the magnificent grandeur of mountain peaks and
grand vistas.
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Gonna love this!