Guide to Yosemite / A handbook of the trails and roads of Yosemite valley and the adjacent region

by Ansel F. Hall

YOSEMITE VILLAGE TO POHONO BRIDGE via THE BRIDALVEIL ROAD

(5 miles—20 minutes by stage)

The Bridalveil Road parallels the south bank of the Merced from Yosemite to Pohono Bridge, five miles westward. This route is more attractive and more scenic than the northern, or El Capitan Road, which is often taken by the stages.

From Yosemite Village we bear westward across the meadows. The Sentinel towers above at the left and in the distance are the portals of the valley. About one mile takes us past a Park Ranger's cabin near the spot where Galen Clarke's house stood until 1919. Just northward, at the edge of a big meadow, was once the Indian village of Hoo'-koo-me'-ko-tah.

A little further and directly under the Sentinel stand the remaining buildings of old Camp Awahnee, occupying the site of the large and important Indian community of Loi'-ah. The name, which means "a long water basket," was also the Yosemites' appellation for the great rock tower above. The Short Trail to Glacier Point here turns to the left and begins its zigzag course up the canyon wall. The Ford Road, a subsidiary route branching to the right, leads to The Big Pine, which is the largest known specimen of western yellow pine in the park. During the flood waters of early spring, Sentinel Falls descend in a picturesque cascade at the western flank of the great obelisk.

Again continuing westward, we are treated to charming vistas across the Merced. Especially effective from this angle is the great triple pyramid of Three Brothers buttressing the north wall. Just opposite them on the banks of the river was Kis´-se, the westernmost of the large Indian villages on the south or "coyote" side of the valley. To the west a splendid profile of El Capitan is revealed and suddenly at the left of the road the Cathedral Spires, each rising 500 feet from its base, seem to tower above the south rim. The Yosemites called the latter Po-see´-na Chuck´-ah, or "mouse-proof rocks," from a fancied resemblance to their acorn caches. A village just below them in a small meadow near the river was called We´-sum-meh.

We now skirt the powerfully outlined Cathedral Rocks. At El Capitan Bridge one may cross to the north side of the river. Directly opposite is a ranger station at the foot of the Big Oak Flat Road (Road Trip IV). From that point the El Capitan Road (Road Trips I and VI) leads both up and down the valley.

Continuing along the shaded highway, we veer to the south, passing close to the foot of Bridalveil Fall, charming glimpses of which are here and there revealed between the trees. Just below a very large rock at the east margin of Bridalveil Creek is the site of the ancient village of Lem-me´-hitch´-ke. Perhaps the unspeakable awe with which the Yosemites were supposed to look upon Pohono, "the spirit of the evil wind," has been somewhat exaggerated in the past. A short subsidiary road turns to the left to the foot of the fall, a brief side trip which should be taken by all visitors.

A short drive now takes us to the junction with the Wawona Road (Road Trip III) which bears to the left at Bridalveil Checking Station and climbs thru the forests of the canyon-side. Turning to the right, we soon enter Bridalveil Meadow. Near the river was once the Indian village of Sap-pah´-sam-mah. At the edge of the meadow, about 100 feet north of the road, a dense grove of oaks and pines shelters the graves of two pioneers, Rose and Shurban, who were massacred here by the Indians in 1852. The view back across the meadows towards the Gates of the Valley is one of the best from this elevation. At the left is the great shoulder of El Capitan, with the Ribbon Fall almost hidden in a deep recess at its west. At the right of the portal the beautiful Bridalveil leaps gracefully from its hanging valley between Cathedral Rocks and the Leaning Tower.

Plunging again into the deep woods, we stop for a draught of ice-cold water at Fern Spring, and a short distance beyond emerge at the beautiful border of the Merced. Crossing Pohono Bridge we join the El Portal Road. El Portal is ten miles westward via Road Trip VI, and Yosemite five miles eastward via Road Trip I.