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NoMoreSecretsMarty t1_j8kyf7u wrote

I was there that day.

Best part for me was how empty the park was during the day. They were limiting access due to the pandemic, so went early and spent the whole day. Lots of folks who did have tickets were just coming for the firefall, so at times we had bits of the park to ourselves.

At one point I walked in a bit to get a better photo of Yosemite Falls and when I got back over by that little stone bench where John Muir's cabin was there was nobody there at all. Like, I couldn't see anyone, I couldn't hear anyone. That part of the valley that never happens, at least not during the day.

So for five minutes I sat on the bench and felt like I was in the morning of creation. I'll never forget it.

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antarcticgecko t1_j8l4rvi wrote

I’ve got a family now and live far away, it’s been too long since I had that exact feeling at a National park.

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Masketto t1_j8l8ppm wrote

I seriously do not condone this and I understand that what I did was wrong and dangerous, might get downvoted to hell, but I'm gonna share anyway

There is a hike in my province that's been blowing up like crazy with instagrammers over the past few years (Joffrey Lake) because not only does it have some of the most beautiful views in our province's hikes but it's also fairly accessible (only 2hrs hike) and only a 1-2hr drive from a popular tourist ski village (Whistler).

I mean, they have built THREE big parking lots just to try to support the demand of tourists visiting this poor place.

During the peak of COVID, a lot of our hikes were put on a free reservation system to control overcrowding. But this place, Joffrey, they just shut it down for a good long time because I'm assuming even with daily reservations (which for other hikes have booked within 2mins of opening) it would be hard to control the population. So they just completely shut it down, blocked off the parking lots and put a very weak blockade at the entrance.

I had never done the hike though I had done a couple of the others in my province, and while I really did want to do the hike, I didn't want it to be with 1million instagrammers (I myself don't have Instagram or other social media; I just wanted to do the hike for the beauty of the place).

So.....I convinced my very hesitant dad and my 2 cousins to break into the park, lol. My dad parked a decent distance at another non related site, we hiked up, only came across 2 others who coming down and they told us there was only 1 person up there (who we never ended up seeing. Kind of creepy but 🤷‍♀️).

And my goodness, it was probably the thing in my life that I am most fortunate for because such a thing will likely never happen again, I'll never have that opportunity again. And yes the hike was incredibly breathtaking, made more so by the emptiness and solitude, and my gratitude for being able to do it under these conditions

A few weeks prior, I had gone on another popular hike (though this one is less accessible as it's 4-6+hrs each way) (Garibaldi lake), and this one was on a strictly controlled reservation system (took me 3 days to get 2 tickets), so while the population was controlled it was still quite crowded, I mean, enough to annoy my introverted ass, and as beautiful as the hike was, it was just ruined by the more-than-a-few people walking alongside the lake. It just made me all the more grateful for being able to hike Joffrey with no other visitors. A once in a million experience that I can only wish for

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hwmpunk t1_j8nir2b wrote

Why don't people hang out right on the edge of El cap or whatever that peak is, to get a more direct view of the waterfall?

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