2005 07 -- Yosemite Part I

YOSEMITE

In 1968 I was a university student looking for a bit of summer income. One of my dreams was to work at Yosemite during the heavy tourist season to combine my interest in the out of doors with my zeal for life. I applied for a job with the Yosemite Park and Curry Company and was accepted. When I reported for work, I was assigned to the night shift of stocking groceries in the Village Store. That meant that I needed to get to the store right when the last customers were leaving. My work partner and I got a big wheeled cart from the storage room, loaded it with product and spent eight hours a night transferring goods to the shelves. It was actually a pretty involved process.

First we cut open a box of 12, 24 or 48 product units. We compared the item with a price list. We inked a price stamp with purple indelible ink. We rotated the price dials to set the price. We stamped each can or box. We took the older product and moved it out of the way. Then we stocked the new inventory. Finally, we placed the older items in front so the buyers would get the benefit of lower prices and also keep the stock rotating. The idea was to make a nice neat row of cans or boxes so the buyer would be drawn down the aisle and easily find that for which they were looking. Finally, we collected the empty cardboard boxes, broke them down and put them in the trash bin. This was in the days before recycling was commonplace. To this day, as a result of this experience, I have a great appreciation for a well stocked store.

Our shift was from nine in the evening to five in the morning. That led to some interesting experiences. Quickly my buddy and I learned that we could work better as a team than alone in pushing the big carts. The normal work week was six days with one day off. That meant that two days a week, one or the other of us had to stock the store alone. That was really hard. So we spoke with our manager and negotiated a change. We’d both work seven days, but on two of the days we’d only work from nine to one. The hours were the same, the pay was the same, but the work was easier and more efficient. The manager saw the wisdom of our logic and allowed the arrangement. Labor codes probably would not allow that today (what a shame).

Working at night was a special experience for a couple of reasons. First, it was pretty quiet. The manager would occasionally come by to spot check our work and to resolve any pricing discrepancies. It was especially nice to be outside the back of the store in the dawn breaking down boxes. The valley was so still and lovely at dawn. When we walked from the store back to our tent cabins, there was rarely anyone else stirring yet, so it was as if we had the entire Yosemite Valley to ourselves.

Our usual pattern was to go to bed by 5:30 a.m. so we could sleep when it was pretty quiet. Then, we’d wake at about 1:30 or 2:00 p.m., have a lunch, and hike, read, swim or in my case, play the viola. I brought a viola since that was a less expensive instrument than my violin and I wasn’t sure if my violin would “appreciate” the dry summer outdoor air of the valley, nor was I sure of the security in the tent cabins we occupied.

Usually, when I woke up I would have a bite to eat, then go to the bank of the Merced river and play my viola. I’m not sure what others thought of my playing the cello suites of Bach, but I had a lot of time and I learned them really well. So well in fact, that some thirty years later, without rehearsal and from memory, I performed one of the sonatas (G major) for members of the Berkeley Breakfast Club when they were making fun of violas and viola players.

After a bit of practice or reading, my work partner and I would sometimes scramble up the face of Glacier Point. The trail said “closed”, but being young and immortal, we decided that the sign was for old folks. So we scrambled up the jumbled granite face of the mountain oblivious to any danger. Since then I learned that a major slide has obliterated the entire area. The reason we would scramble up the face (and we did it perhaps six or seven times) was to have dinner at the Glacier Point Hotel. As employees of the Yosemite Park and Curry Company, we had priveleges at any of the company’s dining facilities (except the Awahnee Hotel). So we’d eat a nice dinner at about six o’clock. Just before the sun set, we’d RUN down the regular glacier point trail in time to get to work at 9:00 p.m. That trail was clearly marked and well traveled. Nevertheless, it wasn’t a paved path. There were roots and rocks jutting out at odd angles. It was amazing that we never got injured. It is amazing looking back at the experience from the perspective of a thirty years later to think of the crazy things we did which seemed so normal at the time.

Another somewhat crazy experience which stands out in my memory about Yosemite was a night hike. I’ve already mentioned that we worked seven days a week. On the two half shifts we finished work at 1:00 a.m. So one night, we decided to ride my partner’s motor scooter up to the end of the valley, park it at Happy Isles and hike with stars and flashlights up the trail to Nevada Falls, Vernal Falls and on up the back side of Half Dome. The night we picked had no moon and in the clear mountain air the stars were spectacular. We were in really good shape, so we hiked fairly fast. A couple of times it was tricky to find the trail, but my boy scout experience helped keep us on track.

All of a sudden, we heard a kind of a grumbling noise. Just as we rounded a bend in the trail, just in front of us about 30 feet was a good sized brown bear. He was as surprised as we were. With our flashlights, we had the advantage, but being careful not to shine the lights directly at him, we let him go along his way. In might be more accurate to say that he let us go along our way! That gave us something to talk and think about for a long time as we resumed our journey up the mountain. Along about 4 a.m., we noticed what they call the false dawn. A faint blue wash of light near the horizon. We were at a place where the trees were thinning, so the false dawn was a special experience to see. We were anxious to get to the top by true dawn, so we picked up the pace and arrived at the base of the cable assist just as we didn’t need our flashlights. We had about half an hour to get to the top of Half Dome before the sun came up, so we scrambled up the side of the huge granite rock. I wondered if I could make it without the cables, but found it too steep for our sunrise objective, so by using the assistance left by previous generations of climbers we made it in plenty of time.

The sun rose directly over the peak called Cloud’s Rest. Dawn is a beautiful time of day, as it slowly unfolds leaving you with thoughts of unlimited possibilities. After our focus on Cloud’s Rest, we sat on the precipice edge looking down into Yosemite Valley and noted that the shadow of Half Dome starts big and gets smaller on the Valley floor as the sun rises. We had a nice picnic lunch, then started our uneventful descent to the scooter ride to our tent cabin where we soundly fell asleep until the alarm woke us at 8:45 p.m. to get to work.

The night janitors at the Village Store were two very colorful guys. One was a senior fellow who never had much education, but was quite refined and genteel. The other was a crude Vietnam vet who might very well have had a dishonorable discharge for his free and independent spirit. In other words, he didn’t always comply with societal rules. It was pretty clear that he enjoyed substances not approved by his doctor. However, he was a very entertaining story teller. So during our breaks, we’d sit around the aisles listening to his far fetched, unbelievable tales calculated as much to make him bigger than life as to tell a story. Every third word has to be censored in the re-telling.

I remember only one of these many tales. While it may not have been original, it was embellished and strung out with such finesse that even Mark Twain would have enjoyed it. It was about a little kindergarten girl, Suzy, who always wore a lovely yellow ribbon around her neck. Now as kindergarteners will do, some of the other children made fun of Suzy for always wearing the ribbon. But she refused to take it off. In particular, one little boy, Jason, teased her incessantly about her ribbon. It became an obsession with him. She told him again and again that she wouldn’t take it off. And she certainly wouldn’t tell him why she wore the ribbon.

Well, time went along and they stayed in the same class together all the way through their sixth grade graduation. This was in the days when schools had K-6 in one school. At the graduation, they were now eleven years old and had become pretty good friends. Jason said, “Suzy, I’ve known you since kindergarten and have become your good friend. Here we are at our sixth grade graduation. I think I am a good enough friend for you to trust me to keep your secret about your yellow ribbon. Won’t you please tell me why you always wear the yellow ribbon?” Suzy replied, “Jason, I cannot tell you”. Even though Jason was disappointed, he had been disappointed so many times before that he let the matter drop for the time being.

Jason and Suzy continued their schooling together and then went on to Junior High School. In those days, they didn’t have Middle Schools, so they stayed together for the seventh through ninth grades. Suzy continued to wear the yellow ribbon around her neck. At the ninth grade graduation, they were now fourteen years old and had become even better friends. Jason said to Suzy, “Suzy, I’ve known you since kindergarten and have become your very good friend. Here we are at our ninth grade graduation. I think I am a good enough friend for you to trust me to keep your secret about your yellow ribbon. Won’t you tell me why you always wear the yellow ribbon?” Suzy replied, “Jason, I cannot tell you”. Again Jason was disappointed, but he let the matter drop for the time being.

Jason and Suzy continued their schooling together and then went on to High School. Things between Jason and Suzy began to get pretty serious. Suzy continued to wear the yellow ribbon around her neck. At the high school graduation, they were now seventeen years old and had fallen in love. Jason said, “Suzy, I’ve known you since kindergarten. I love you so much. I’ve taken you to all the proms. I’ve given you gifts and have shown my devotion to you. Here we are at our high school graduation. You can trust me to keep your secret about your yellow ribbon. Won’t you tell me why you always wear the yellow ribbon?” Suzy replied, “Jason, I cannot tell you”.

In spite of his disappointment, on his eighteenth birthday, he proposed to her, gave her a ring and asked if she would marry him. Suzy replied, “Jason I love you too. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. But I have a condition.” Jason enthusiastically said, “Sure, anything you say, Suzy”. Suzy replied, “Jason, you have to promise never to ask me about the yellow ribbon again.” Jason was ecstatic. “Of course I’ll promise”. And they were married the next Spring. She wore a beautiful white gown with the yellow ribbon showing prominently around her neck.

Jason kept his promise for thirty years. They had two beautiful children together. Suzy always wore the yellow ribbon. And Jason never asked her about the yellow ribbon. Then one day, he thought to himself, “I know Suzy so well, and it’s been so long, certainly now it wouldn’t hurt to ask her what I have been curious about all these years”. So he called for reservations at the finest restaurant in town, told Suzy that he had a special treat planned for her, would she please get dressed in her finest so they could go out for a romantic time on the town. And that they did. After sharing stories and a bottle of wine, Jason got up his courage to pop the question: “Suzy, I have shared my life with you. We have two beautiful children together. I know you better than anyone else, but I really would like to know…why do you wear that yellow ribbon around your neck?” Without saying a word, Suzy slowly untied the yellow ribbon and her head fell off.

My stories of experiences in Yosemite will be continued…

©Frank Bliss 2005 All rights reserved.20050701