Panorama Trail

Our little Econ Department group struck out on the Half Dome lottery, so we resorted to Plan B: a 13-mile round trip trudging up the Four Mile Trail to Glacier Point and returning on the aptly named Panorama Trail past Illilouette, Nevada, and Vernal Falls. The descent from Glacier Point to Illilouette– through a burnt-over section colonized by buckbrush in full bloom and black oak all aglow, with an iconic Yosemite backdrop– makes it to my top ten hikes. Follow that with a scary and rollicking thunderstorm and a stinging bombardment with mushy hail– returning to the trailhead exhausted, soaked, sore, restored– and you have a perfect day in the Sierras. Oh, did I mention wrapping it all up with ibuprofen and the craft brews on tap at the Bug?