2008 Peninsula Trail at Lake Monroe (October)

On October 4th we met at 8 and headed south towards Nashville, Indiana. The weather was gorgeous and the scenery on SR46 and SR446 was beautiful.We stopped at the Cracker Barrel at Edinburgh and arrived at the trailhead inside Blackwell Horseman Camp about 11:00.


We shouldered our packs (after an emergency repair by Pat) and I tried to remember what all the straps were for (it's been a while since we hiked with our large packs). The camp was clean and quiet and we set off along the Grubb Ridge Trail.


We mapped out an 8 mile hike to the Peninsula and the day was delightful. Some of the trail was also a horse trail, so we stepped carefully. The horses we passed were skittish and afraid of us - the owners said it was from the shape of the pack and for us to continue talking so that they would recognize us as people. The terrain was mostly level. We stopped a couple of times, once for lunch and another time for a quick break (just to take the pack off for a few minutes). We arrived at the tip of the peninsula about 3:00 and scouted out the campsites. The first one we saw had the promised fire ring and a level place for tents, but also had an unexpected picnic table! We immediately claimed that site with our backpacks and set off for an exploration of the area.


The shoreline as far as we could see was trees, trees, trees with just a hint of fall color. The sun was shining and it was quiet and secluded. We saw a couple of other camp sites inhabited, but they are so far apart that it's like being there alone. We explored for a bit and then returned to camp to set up the tents and get our gear organized. We got water from the lake and gathered firewood for later. Pat made us coffee (and tea), we wrestled our thermarests into the chair covers and moved down to the shore. We relaxed there for an hour or more, just enjoying the scenery and each other's company.

shoreline of lake monroe

relaxing on the shoreline of lake monroe

self pic!

flowers along shoreline

Back at the campsite, we prepared for dinner. Durena brought cheese and crackers for the appetizer, Pat made bratwurst on buns with coleslaw for dinner and I brought dessert (s'mores of course!). We enjoyed a peaceful evening sitting around the fire, watching a spectacular sunset, trading hiking stories, gazing at the stars, and roasting marshmallows, venturing further away each time for more firewood.

sunset over lake monroe

our campsite overlooking the lake

The temperature dropped overnight and we boiled water and started another fire as soon as we got up (firewood much easier to find in the daylight!). We were not in any hurry and spent a couple of hours over breakfast and coffee, discussing future planned and possible trips.

Eventually we broke camp, packed up and headed back along the Peninsula Trail. We took a slightly different route back, along the rest of the Grubb Trail loop. We had an option to make it an 11 mile day, but kept it to 8 as it was getting late and we still had a 2 hour drive back home. We stopped for lunch once at a great clearing (with logs to sit on!) and talked to some fellow hikers.

great lunch spot

It was another beautiful day with the sun shining through the trees. Not too hot and a nice level trail. Perfect!

Grubbs Ridge Loop Trail

happy hikers!

We all agreed that we would put this hike on the "keep" list and hope to travel back that way again soon!

great weekend of hiking!

2008 San Francisco and Yosemite

We had a great time on our annual hiking trip. This year we flew to San Francisco, spent a few days sightseeing and then drove on to Yosemite National Park, where we spent 5 days and 4 nights. We did some great hikes, saw some amazing sights, and enjoyed a girls week away.

Thursday, July 10
On Thursday, five of us flew directly from Indy to SF and met Durena there. We rented two cars and made our way to our San Francisco accommodations, the La Luna Inn. We arrived too early for check in, so we parked the car, left our bags and set off on foot to explore the area. We headed toward the water and explored the Fort Mason area. We continued on to Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39. We ate lunch at Boudins (a sourdough factory) and went on to watch the few sea lions. We rode a cable car from Hyde to Union Square and then walked back to Lombard Street and walked up the "crookedest street in the world"!

Lombard Street

We walked back to La Luna, met Kathy and set out on foot to find dinner. The recommended restaurant, A16, was packed and there was a wait, so we found a pizza by the slice storefront and ate our dinner there!

Carryout dinner

Friday, July 11
On Friday morning, we walked back to Hyde Street to the Blazin' Saddles bike rental and set off for our ride across the Golden Gate Bridge. We followed a bike path through the Marina, stopped at the warming hut and made our way up to the bridge. The sidewalk was fenced from the cars and we dodged walkers and fast riders. The views were spectacular and we enjoyed the ride across.

bike ride across the Golden Gate Bridge

We rode downhill into Sausalito, where we (eventually) were able to lock up our bikes and set out exploring. We bought our lunch (sandwiches, salads, fruit) from a market deli and sat by the water and ate. We boarded the ferry with our bikes and rode back across the bay and returned the bikes.

figuring out the locks was the hardest part of the day!

We walked back to La Luna, by way of Chestnut Street and enjoyed all the new sights. There was a long line at the Apple store for the new iPhone. We all went to Kathy's room while the second one was being cleaned and waited for Pam to arrive (from her river rafting trip with Bill). I had a wonderful surprise waiting for me - Sarah and the kids had arranged to have a birthday cake delivered to the hotel!

happy birthday to me!

Pam arrived on a shuttle from the airport and we visited for a while, enjoyed coffee and cake and then I was honored to receive presents from the group as well. Kathy had hand towels embroidered with "Indy Lady Hikers" and we all got a different color. We set out for Chinatown, riding bus #30 and making our way to the official 'gate' in Chinatown. Durena had copied a walking tour and we took that with us and followed it for the 20 spots of interest.

Gate to Chinatown

We enjoyed the stops along the way and one of the most interesting ones was a fortune cookie factory. Two women were hand shaping hot baked wafers into the cookie shape, and there was a sign that said you could take a picture for 50 cents!

Chinese Fortune Cookie assembly

reading our fortunes

Lots of shops and restaurants closed early (by 6 pm) but we found a Chinese restaurant and had a nice dinner. We walked and found a bus that took us back to the hotel and we were finished for the night!

Saturday, July 13
The next morning we went to the lobby for their continental breakfast (weak) but we took our own loaf of sourdough bread, along with peanut butter and bananas and had a delicious toasted meal! We walked to Pier 33 (up and down STEEP San Francisco hills!) and got in line for the 9:30 ferry to Alcatraz. Durena purchased our tickets in advance and it was a good thing, because that morning, there were no tickets available until the following Wednesday! The audio tour of the island was very well done and we all had individual headsets. The narration was thorough and included sounds of doors slamming, prisoners talking, dinnerware, and occasional gunfire.

Alcatraz prison cell

The island is slowly reverting back to a bird sanctuary and the seagulls have taken over some spots. There was definitely a bird odor in the air. It was all very interesting. One of the prisoners on the narration said that some days they could hear the sounds of San Francisco over the water (music and voices and parties).

We rode the ferry back to Pier 33 and Kathy met us at Pier 39. We ate lunch and made another visit to Ghirardelli's for more free samples of the new flavor: milk chocolate with a peanut butter filling. We walked back to Lombard Street for a look with Pam, walked down Chestnut Street and saw street performers, dogs at outdoor cafes and shopped at a market for avocados and strawberries.

sign outside a bar (dog inside the bar)

We met Kathy back at the hotel and began our drive to Yosemite. We were using the Garmin navigator and it kept losing it's signal downtown and on the bridge. Every time it recalibrated we had to switch all the lanes on the bridge and it was confusing then but funny afterwards. We stopped for gas after a couple of hours and no-one could figure out how to use the pump. Lots of suggestions and comments, but as is turned out, they were out of regular unleaded and did not post a sign or come out to tell anyone!

no gas?

We got to Oakhurst and did some grocery shopping for our stay in Yosemite. We checked into the Best Western and had a picnic in the room (turkey sandwiches on sourdough with fresh avocado).

Sunday, July 13
We ate breakfast at the restaurant next to the hotel (20% discount!) and then we began our drive into the park. We followed a route and schedule suggested by a blogger. We entered off Highway 41, with the windows rolled down to smell the bear clover! We stopped at Tenaya Lodge in Fish Camp for a pit stop and continued on to the park entrance and Marisposa Grove (giant sequoia trees).

tree huggers

After a cold diet coke and a quick snack at the car, we continued further into the park, stopping at the Wawona Hotel for a pit stop and a look around.

The Wawona Hotel

The park is so enormous, it's hard to take in (1200 square miles!). We drove another 45 minutes and stopped at Glacier Point. From there we could see the entire Yosemite Valley, along with Half Dome, El Capitan and Nevada and Vernal Falls. Awesome!

lookout from Glacier Point

We ate lunch in the parking lot, fighting off the gray squirrels and then continued driving down into the valley, to the Yosemite Valley Lodge. On the way we stopped to look at the famous "Tunnel View", walked down to the base of Bridalveil Falls and walked across the Swinging Bridge for ever more spectacular scenery!

classic view of Yosemite - the Tunnel View

Bridalview Falls

view of Yosemite Falls from the Swinging Bridge

We continued on to the Lodge to find out that check in was at 5:00 and our rooms weren't quite ready. We walked over to the food court where the coffee was hot, strong, and FREE! We sat and talked for a while and then took the shuttle over to the visitors center. We watched a movie about Yosemite and explored all the exhibits. We returned to the lodge and got our keys, two rollaway beds and an extra mattress and made our plans for the next day.

Monday, July 14
We got up early today and went to the food court for blueberry pancakes (thanks for the tip, Judi!) We drove two cars up to Tuolumne Meadows and then split into two groups for different hikes. Three of us hiked to Cathedral Lake and it was a great day! The trail was steep in the beginning (1200' elevation gain) but it leveled out and the remainder of the day was mostly on level ground. We had lunch on the shore of Cathedral Lake and the view was gorgeous - blue water, pine trees, mountains all around (even some snow pack still visible!) We took our time, rested and talked and then walked over to examine the snow. Durena made a snow angel. We had a delightful walk back and even found my sunglasses on a rock where I had left them hours ago (thanks Jan!).

hike to Tuolumne Meadows

Cathedral Lake

happy hikers

We had an hour and a half drive back to the Valley and we stopped at Olmstead Point for a view of Tenaya Lake.

view of Tenaya Lake from Olmstead Point

We made our way back to the lodge, got some coffee and sat on the room balconies (with a view of Upper Yosemite Falls. We rode the shuttle to Curry Village but the pizza lines were too long so we ate again at the food court. Good conversation, good stroll afterwards. We got ice cream bars from the gift shop/grocery store and went back to the rooms. Discussed hikes for the next day :)

Tuesday, July 15
We slept in this morning and caught the shuttle at 7:15 to the Ahwahnee Hotel for an incredible breakfast buffet. We enjoyed fresh orange juice and coffee, fresh fruit, banana pudding with strawberries, an assortment of pastries and muffins, made to order omelets, bacon, yogurt, bagels and lox, biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs, pancakes, waffles, oatmeal with brown sugar and raisins and breakfast potatoes. The food was delicious and the dining room was beautiful (34' ceilings!).

breakfast at the Ahwahnee Hotel

We strolled in the giftshop and around the grounds after breakfast and decided to do the valley loop hike. We made our way through Cook Meadow, to Mirror Lake and Happy Isles before heading back to the lodge for an afternoon snack of chips & salsa, avacado and cheese on the balcony.

hike to Mirror Lake

Everyone got cleaned up and some of us drove to the meadow under El Capitan, hoping to see climbers on the rock face. The typical length of the climb is 5 days. We could not spot any climbers but did talk to a guy in the meadow who had climbed it previously and was also looking. He said that the weather was most likely too hot this time of day/year and that two climbers had set a new world record a few weeks ago - Two hours and 43 minutes! He also said that when there were climbers you could spot their lanterns at night as they bedded down (attached to the rock face!) We drove back around the Valley loop, returned to the lodge, ate at the food court and then took an evening walk to Lower Yosemite Falls. It's paved and an easy walk, with great views of both lower and upper Yosemite Falls. On the way back to our rooms, we stopped at the ranger talk about bears, but fatigue set in and we went on up to bed.


Wednesday, July 16
We boarded the bus and rode to Glacier Point at 8:30 this morning in preparation for our hike back down to the Valley by way of the Panorama Trail. The driver provided the narrative during the 1 1/2 hour trip and we learned a lot about flowers and rocks and animals. He also pulled in to the Badger Pass area, used for winter skiing. Our hike was 8.5 miles down to the Valley Floor and it was spectacular. We had amazing views and vistas every step of the way: Illilouette Canyon and Falls, Nevada Falls, Vernal Falls, the Mist Trail and new views of Half Dome around every bend. It was our favorite hike by far! We stopped for lots of pictures, and for a leisurely lunch at the top of Nevada Falls. When we hiked down alongside Vernal Falls, we did so by way of the Mist Trail and the spray from the water was a welcome cool down.

view of Half Dome along the Panorama Trail

taking a break at the top of Nevada Falls

rainbow at Vernal Falls
Mist Trail along Vernal Falls

Our hike ended at Happy Isles and we caught a shuttle back to the lodge. We started packing up and played games that our entertainment coordinator arranged (thanks Deb!). The card game "99" challenged us to think and the prizes were all in chocolate!

Thursday, July 17
On our last morning at Yosemite, we packed up the cars and split up for a few different activities: hiking, photography tour from the Ansel Adams studio, errands (post office, download photos). We all met at 11:30 and started our 4 hour trip back to San Francisco. The rest of the day was uneventful and we checked into our hotel about 5:00, did laundry, ordered pizza, used the computer to check in and print boarding passes, played catchphrase and worked on our group logo.

Ansel Adams photography tour shot

Friday, July 18
After breakfast in the lobby, we drove the cars back to the rental drop off and rode the tram to the airport. We got our bags checked and spent a few minutes together. Four of us headed to the gate for the flight back to Indy, Debbie and Jan flew on to Las Vegas to visit the Grand Canyon and Durena went on to Seattle and then to Alaska for her next adventure! We had an awesome time together and will get together soon to settle up, exchange pictures and start planning next year's trip!

farewell at the airport

Specifics about the trip (itineraries, lodging, costs, etc. can be found here

2008 Planning pays off!

After a few months of research and planning, we have all of our plans made for this summer's hike to San Francisco and Yosemite National Park. We met for the last time for a delicious meal at Durena's and went over our itineraries. Looking forward to our trip in July!

February - Visit to the Eiteljorg Museum to see the Ansel Adams photos of Yosemite

March - Research at Durena's

May - research at Starbucks and a visit to Rusted Moon