An essay by Kathrine O’Toole
One of my very first Sierra Nevada memories has to be Yosemite Valley. This was one of my first camping adventures. I remember the account well, do too many memorable experiences. These experiences ranged from what I thought was a killer squirrel, to a man attacking park rangers, bears coming in our camp, and even a coyote eating squirrel's in our camp site. We still did the camping thing, hiking to see the beautiful waterfalls, sightseeing and such, but those by far are not as memorable as the other amazing things that happened.
This was my very first week-long camping trip that I can remember as a young child. My whole family from all over California massed at Yosemite for a big camping get together. Once we arrived and unpacked our tents and supplies, we where overjoyed just to be at such a beautiful and amazing place. Soon though a park ranger stopped by to see how we where doing and to pass along some news. We were in for a big surprise, there was said to be a man on the loose hiding in Yosemite. They had said he attacked a park ranger and held her against her will, but let her go and ran off. The park entrances and exits where closed, no one was allowed in or out of the park for many hours. It was scary having to look over your shoulder and wonder where this man could be or what he might be doing next. Thankfully after only a week the man was found.
As a young child you go on many adventures and experience many new things. While at Yosemite I decided to scout out our camping site to see what was around, not many children would be able to resist the lure of open land and beautiful sights. Soon enough though I had found a fallen log and what I thought was a family of squirrel's who lived all around. I loved animals as a child and had thought that I could feed the squirrel's crackers because they looked very hungry. After sneaking back into the camp and grabbing crackers from the bench, I ran back to my new friends and began feeding them. Not knowing what was soon to happen, I continued feeding them until I ran out of crackers. The biggest squirrel was not happy about this and decided to try and run after me. I ran screaming back to camp holding my hands to my chest in fear. My poor mother thought the squirrel had bitten me and came running asking if I was okay and where I had been bit. Every one in camp came over and figured out what happened. To this day I'm not sure if he was trying to eat me or scare me out of area, but I never did return to see my friends.
Along our trip we found many beautiful sights. Hiking up to the waterfalls hearing them roar even before you have seen them. It’s as if some unseen force is pulling you along. I still can remember the first time I saw a waterfall, the most memorable thing about it was feeling the mist hitting your face and still being so close yet so far from it. As a young child you don't understand the real power behind a waterfall, but looking back at pictures and what I can remember it’s a sight I will never forget. It’s not the long hike to it, or the long hike back that I remember most as a child, but the excitement of seeing, feeling and hearing a waterfall for the first time. That is a memory I will never forget.
As the last few days drew near we thought our adventures where almost over. We where wrong, on one of our last few nights together, we all sat down for dinner to celebrate my uncle’s birthday. It was beautiful, the sun was starting to set and our campfire lit up our whole camp site. As everyone finished dinner and started enjoying the after dinner card game, the children went to bed. Not long after we woke up to screams in the night. As we all rushed out of our tent we saw a huge bear at our table enjoying the remains of the birthday cake. We learned what had happened by my frantic aunt. As the adults were playing cards and enjoying cake, my aunt felt warm breath on the back of her arm and what she thought were dog sounds. She turned around thinking there was a dog behind her, but she had to do a double take. What she thought was a dog really was a huge bear. As she was screaming “bear, bear”, the rest of the adults laughed not believing her until she jumped over the table and hid in her car. After they scared the bear off, one of my aunts slept in the car, the other aunt kept bagging pots through the night to keep the bear away. I think that’s when my family realized that Yosemite is wilder then they thought.
In conclusion I have learned never to feed squirrels saltine crackers no matter how hungry they look. It’s better to watch from afar than to be close and in the way. I have also learned to always watch the news before you go on a big trip, because you never know what kind of crazy things that can happen while your there. Last but not least, I have learned to always expect the unexpected, any thing can happen at any time when you go on a trip to the Sierra Nevada.
