Yosemite is iconic. Her granite towers, cascading waterfalls, and jagged Sierra skyline are practically synonymous with beauty and adventure.
The valley floor with bumper to bumper traffic, gawking tourists, and congestion can take the serenity out of the experience. How then does Aspire unlock this epic terrain?
Park vs Wilderness
Yosemite the backcountry and Yosemite the park, are two very different places. The park consists of gift shops, tour buses, overpriced restaurants, a couple of swimming pools, and generally bad wifi. It’s mayhem when it comes to parking and making camping reservations. It’s beyond maddening if you hold onto a shred of hope for peace and quiet. However, the reality is most park visitors never stray far from a trailhead or the valley floor. If only there was a way to circumvent the chaos and sink into the rhythm of backcountry miles.
The Flying Spur Basecamp
On the western edge of Yosemite National Park is the small community of Foresta, an enclave of private land and homesteads dating back to the 1800’s. One of these plots is the Flying Spur. Homesteaded by one of Yosemite’s lesser known heroes, Theodore Solomons, who mapped and surveyed significant portions of what would become the John Muir Trail. Passed onto 4 generations of family, the homestead lies at the end of a meandering dirt road leading to a grove of poderosas pines. Here amongst the grass and trees, for a couple weeks each year, is the Aspire Valley Views basecamp.
The Spur is home for our runners for the week. Our camp is simple and functional, a shade tent, a cook tent, an outdoor shower, and a portable toilet. Simple amenities like hammocks, camp chairs, and mood lighting, yoga mats, and portable power capture the needs and most wants of our runners. We prepare delicious meals, cooked fresh each morning and evening. The coffee is hot and the beer is cold. Individual runners sleep in the adjacent field either in tents, small RV trailers, or their vans. Each evening we gather to review the next day’s route and stage gear for an early start.
From camp, runners load into Aspire vans and inside of 20-30 minutes are dropped at the day’s starting point with lunches packed, .gpx files loaded into phones, and clarity on exactly where the finish cooler will be located. During the run the Aspire crew deal with keeping ice on the drinks, snacks at the finish, and scout the access to various Merced river swimming holes. The post run bliss is real. With two vans running between the finish and basecamp, it’s never long before one can head back to camp for a shower, yoga session, and dinner. Before an early bed, it’s mandatory to watch the alpenglow hanging over the valley patriarchs, El Capitan and Half Dome, visible from just outside of camp.
The Route: Run the Rim, 4 Days 90 Miles
Aspire’s Valley Views itinerary traverses the entire rim of Yosemite Valley. Each day runners climb out of the valley, traverse a section of the valley rim with persistent views and vistas, and then descend back to the valley floor. Each day picks up where the previous day finished for 4 consecutive days until the horseshoe is complete.
Over the week, the valley unfolds to the runner. The names of domes become part of a shared lexicon. The various vistas are seen from new vantage points, and runners feel the depth of the valley, the heights of the waterfalls, in their legs and lungs. The icons of the Valley, Half Dome, El Capitan, Yosemite Falls, become places with a personal history and story. High above the valley floor runners find quiet and communion with the hills.
It is humbling to stand on the rim of the valley and stare into thousands of feet of vertical relief. It is humbling to consider the glaciers and processes that formed the valley and to witness the waterfalls cascading into this abyss, to consider the climbers, naturalists, and indigenous peoples who are all a part of the valley story.
It’s humbling to be a human who, thanks to running, in four days can take a journey through deep geological time and catch a glimpse of so much beauty.
For trip dates, details, and vistit the Yosemite Valley Views Course Page
Abram Dickerson is founder and principal at Aspire Adventure Running. He loves trails and the community of humans who are drawn to wild spaces.