Shasta Glow '25

We've taken advantage of the proximity of Mt. Shasta (~4 hours from our house) over the past couple of winter seasons. Iver has become quite the good skiier in the last two years and last year, Niall took one day of lessons before deciding it was "not his thing." We tried again this year, with him (at first reluctantly) attending two days of ski school at the end of the Presidents' Week break (driving ~7 hours from Yosemite), and we all had another great skiing experience! After a Wednesday storm (our driving day), we had fresh powder on Thursday and two days of spectacular sunny and low-wind, perfect skiing weather!

With his rental, but not too excited about (re-) starting ski school.

Magic Carpet on the bunny hill

They gave the ski students bibs so they wouldn't get lost on the slopes!

One of the spectating siblings of a ski student had this really cool snowman-making mold and made a snow family!

 While Niall was in school (10a-12p and 1-3p), we hit the slopes. Iver was a bit apprehensive after a ~ year break, but, like riding a bike, his motor memory as right back, along with his confidence. 

He was soon taking off and speeding down, "shredding" the slopes ahead of us old folks!

Kelvin (who snowboards) and I stuck to the intermediate "blue" slopes mostly on Douglas and Coyote lifts. We only fell a couple of times (and didn't get injured), which is the mark of a successful day!

I realize that all my ski pictures for at least 15 years have been in this same trusty Columbia jacket, which you can easily spot on the slopes!

We met up with Brian, Hudson, and Gavin on the slopes (they are generally stronger skiiers than we are, though! Iver went on a few black diamonds with them!)

lunch break at the lodge!

After Niall's second day of ski school (during which he progressed to level 3 and did a practice run on a green slope off Marmot lift), he was ready to go with me. The leash from last year was not needed and Niall did amazing "pizza-ing" side to side down Fresh Air run, joined by big brother and alongside me (I can't seem to get them up here, but I have a few nice short video clips). I am so proud of him for sticking through it to get the basics down! Now he just needs practice. (He's already asking about going on the advanced lifts!).

After skiing, we relaxed at a super nice Airbnb "The vortex" in Mt. Shasta, which had tons of entertainment, including board games and this Virtual Reality headset, a novelty which thrilled our kids. 

We enjoyed spectacular Shasta views from our hot tub! 

Friends (Valerie, Greg, and their similarly aged girls Stella and Carter) joined us for dinner and playtime on our last night.  "Skyjo" game was a hit...

... as was movie time as the adults reconnected.

I'm not sure when our next ski trip will be (Iver and Kelvin have a season pass and may make another weekend trip this year to Shasta), but we're so glad that Niall has caught on and we can make it a family adventure for years to come! 

Spectacular Yosemite!

“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.” - John Muir

Iver holds a Fourth Grade National Park pass (which gets our family in free [assuming he's with us!] to the 63 National Parks during this school year!), and a few months ago, Kelvin had the idea to try to visit to Yosemite. I figured all the lodging in the park would be booked as it's so popular, but he found a cabin rental in Yosemite West, which is still within the park although about 30-40 minutes by car from the Valley.

I've been to Yosemite four times before-- in the summer of 2007 when I hiked Half Dome with Erin (an amazing experience!), in spring (April 2008 with Laura and Tony), and once before in winter with Kelvin and other residency friends (in January 2011).  It truly is one of the most spectacular national parks in the world, and the kids were excited to see it! It took us about nine hours from home to drive here on Saturday, Niall's birthday ("Why do I have to spend my birthday in the car?!" he whined. Road trips are not his happy place). In any case, we had good driving weather and have had a wonderful three days exploring.

There has been recent snow, and many parts /roads and trails of the park are closed for the winter, but the weather (30-50 F) was perfect for outdoor exploring.

We started our day with a short walk to see Bridalveil Falls (620 ft).

(these smiling photos don't capture all the wrestling and fighting the kids were doing on the trail and the responses of their annoyed parents).

We then parked at the day area and walked to see Lower Yosemite Falls.  The entire waterfall of Yosemite Falls is the highest waterfall in North America, plunging 2,425 feet to the valley floor.

 

We continued hiking on the Yosemite Valley Loop, passing the Ahwanee Hotel en route to Mirror Lake.

Amusing squirrel.

Mirror Lake (a bit of a disappointing pond! It was also cloudy)

We had some rain sprinkles and visited the Valley Exploration Center and the Ansel Adams Gallery.

We joined a guided naturalist walk through the valley and Leidig meadow, learning about the waterfalls and trees.

Sentinel Rock

We had other views of Yosemite Falls  - from the Lodge...

... and from Swinging Bridge

We were prohibited from parking in many parts of the park due to the Firefall event, which happened to coincide with our trip! In a couple week period usually in late February, the setting sun can illuminate Horsetail Falls (an ephermeral falls, meaning there is not water flowing year-round so the phenomenon does not happen in flip season, the fall), making it glow orange. (For about 100 years, Firefall was a man-made event where embers were thrown over the falls by Lodge employees but this practice was ended in 1968!)

(not my photo)

We, along with hundreds (thousands?) of other tourists (many with professional cameras) sat and waited for the sun to set, eyes on the falls as they came down the granite. 

We didn't get more "glowing" than this- but it was still cool to be a part of this event!

It was a LONG hiking day. Niall was carried for brief periods, but hiked most of this >14 miles in Yosemite Valley!

The next day, we (all tired!) slept in and ventured out for some playtime in the snow. 

Unfortunately, Badger Pass (ski and snowshoe area) was closed, so the kids played in the crunchy snow near the turnoff. 

Iver, football-obsessed, played catch with Kelvin for quite a while.

We then headed to near the park's South Entrance /Wawona, and and hiked (with some snow trudging) the ~4 miles roundtrip to Mariposa Grove. I had never actually been in this corner of the park before, which was neat! 

Much of it was in packed snow, which was challenging (as a result, we actually took the paved road, closed to vehicles in winter, on the way back!)

These Giant Sequoias are the largest trees in the world by volume (our Humboldt Coastal Redwoods Sequoia Sempervirens are actually taller). One of the trees near this grove (which we couldn't make it to), Grizzly Giant, is estimated to be between 1,800-2,800 years old!

"The Big Tree is nature's forest masterpiece and so far as I know, the greatest of living things." 

- John Muir

The kids (and adults) enjoyed soaking our tired legs in the cabin hot tub!

On our third day in the park, we got an early start, where we saw ice on the sides of Yosemite Falls. (Frazil ice, where mist or waterfall spray freezes and floats down the falls to the bottom is a common phenomenon here).

We hiked the trail to the Vernal Falls Footbridge (about 1.6 miles round-trip), which is the start of the (~17 mile round-trip!) Half Dome hike I did back in 2007, and quite steep in ascent.

The kids wanted to "lock" our gloves together!

Bear-shaped log

We tried to go ice skating at the Curry Village Ice Rink, but due to a technical malfunction, apparently all the ice melted, so we made it an early day and showed the kids the excellent documentary Free Solo, which chronicles Alex Honnold's amazing free climb up El Capitan.  

We had to pass by Tunnel View on our way out of the park, and caught some last lovely-view pics which included the classic El Capitan, Half Dome, and Bridalveil Falls. 

We had again been playing the "get points for spotting wildlife" game and Kelvin and I were ahead on this trip by fourteen points (mostly obtained from spotting gray squirrels), when Iver called out, "COYOTE!" (20 points!!).

(However, the kids were sorely disappointed when we made up the difference in lucky rapid succession with four deer [5 points each] near the western park gate).

It's been wonderful showing the kids this lovely National Park (Niall is even hiking by himself most of the time!). Until next time, Yosemite!