I was up at 5:00am on a Sunday. That's early, even for me when I'm on a camping trip, but I had a reason. It was quite cold as I got dressed in my tent, in layers of clothing suitable for winter. I wanted coffee, but couldn't spare the time to set up the stove and heat water. It was late May, but there was frost on my car as I drove out of camp in the dark.
Crane Flat campground is in the high country above the northwest end of the great Yosemite Valley. Glacier Point is high above the southeast end of the Valley. The roads connecting them are mountainous, all ups-and-downs, twists-and-curves, so even without traffic, the drive takes an hour or more. That's why I was up so early, and skipping my morning coffee: I wanted to be at Glacier Point when the sun came up.
It was a holiday weekend, and a lot of people had the same idea. The parking lot was filling up when I arrived at about quarter past six. When I walked out to the first overlook, a bride and groom were having photos taken, with the sunrise behind Half Dome as their backdrop. It's a very popular spot for wedding pictures. The paved path along the edge of the mountain was already crowded as I worked my way through. I found a place for my tripod and got set up, then shot the sunrise over Half Dome, the surrounding mountains with their distant waterfalls, and the valleys below. When the sun was up well above the line of mountains, I strapped the tripod to my backpack and began to work my way to places further along the trail.
The scene unfolding as the day brightened was breathtaking. From anywhere I stood, the views were magnificent. I moved along the edge of the ridge, staring in wonder. After two hours, I found a patch of ground that was off the paved walkway, on a rocky area where only a few other people occasionally came past, and I dropped my pack and sat down on a rock. I dug out my water and a snack, and simply stared across the mountains. Eventually I stood up, gathered myself, and headed back toward the car. Looking at my watch, I realized I had spent three hours at the Point. It didn't seem that long.
Coming down the mountain road toward Yosemite Valley, I drove straight into a massive traffic jam. Memorial Day weekend is the busiest weekend of the year. When I finally reached the Valley, a ranger was trying to direct traffic. "I'm not headed into the Village," I said. "I'm just trying to get across and back home to Crane Flat." He smiled. "Good luck. People are parking three or four miles out along El Portal Road and walking in. We're trying to keep a lane open, but it's bumper-to-bumper." The drive that had taken me just over an hour at 5:30am took more than three hours going back. When I finally made it back up to the highlands, I stopped at the gas station just outside the campground to get a large coffee.