by Martin Roland
Spring is a busy time in the Brook Lab, but with the snow finally melted we got the chance to go on a long awaited trip to Yosemite! Of course, it ended up being the busiest Friday possible to leave. Charlie passed his quals that afternoon (congratulations, Charlie!), and Gwen gave a talk on Henipavirus discovery and dynamics in Malagasy fruit bats at the Berkeley Virology Meeting, so by the time we actually got on the road the sun was long down.
We pulled into Yosemite around 11pm and the excitement was real, especially for the three of us visiting for the first time. Christian, a postdoc in the lab and head of Ekipa Fanihy in Madagascar, was happy to join for his second trip out to Yosemite. Cara and Benjamin opted for real camping under the open sky. The rest of us were very happy to settle into two of Yosemite’s heated cabins that Cara reserved for us — a welcome upgrade from what we’re used to while doing fieldwork in remote Madagascar.
Day One: Mist Trail and the Valley Floor
Saturday morning we hit the Mist Trail up to Vernal Fall. The waterfall was running hard with spring snowmelt. It was loud, powerful, and absolutely beautiful. It also lives up to its name: by the time we got close we were thoroughly soaked. Luckily, Monique reminded me to bring a rainjacket.
Pictured left to right: Gwen Kettenburg, Charlie Voirin, Cara Brook, Monique Ades, Martin Roland, Christian Ranaivoson.
After drying off and grabbing lunch, we spent the afternoon on the valley floor. Lower Yosemite Falls, the iconic Ahwahnee Hotel, and a lot of happy wandering. The cliffs in Yosemite are amazing — getting to see Half Dome, El Cap, and more all in person was special. We talked about how one of the cliff-dwelling fruit bats we study in Madagascar, Eidolon dupreanum, would absolutely love it here (minus the cold).
The day wrapped up with pizza at the Curry Village Pizza Deck, which was delicious and just what we needed after 12 miles of walking. Plenty of Common Ravens (Corvus corax) were perched nearby, ready to take any crumbs left behind by park visitors. Funnily enough, this relationship between human influence and raven foraging habits happened to be what Cara studied for her undergrad thesis at Stanford. Cara told us about her summer spent here studying these ravens, staying in the same cabins we were in on this trip!
Day Two: Sunrise, Mirror Lake, and the Sequoias
Sunday opened with the sunrise over the valley, which was worth every minute of the early alarm.
We followed that with a hike out to Mirror Lake. It was truly the stillest lake I’ve ever seen, offering a perfect reflection of the surrounding cliffs.
The famous photo spot had a long queue so I wasn’t able to get a good picture, but further down it was a bit quieter and still extremely scenic. Yosemite is busy this time of year so of course we weren’t going to get completely away from the crowds, but honestly it was really nice to see so many people taking advantage of natural resources and enjoying time outside.
We then made our way to Tuolumne Grove to see the giant sequoias. Standing among them is one of those experiences that’s hard to put into words — they’re just staggeringly tall and beautiful, and so long-lived that the feeling was similar to being next to a baobab tree in Madagascar.
Before heading back to Berkeley we grabbed ice cream in Groveland, which was the right call and a great way to close out the weekend. It was a wonderful trip and a great reminder of just how close we are to world class nature. It felt surreal to be back in the city so easily — being able to spend a weekend in a national park and be back in the lab by Monday is wild, and such a special perk of living in Berkeley.
Congrats again to Charlie and Gwen for making it a Friday worth celebrating before we even left, and a big thank you to Cara for organizing and taking us, and to Benjamin for joining us and bringing Luna along to spend the weekend with us!
Pictured left to right: Gwen Kettenburg, Charlie Voirin, Cara Brook, Monique Ades, Martin Roland, Christian Ranaivoson.
BONUS
Pictured: Luna, getting ready to take a nap after two days of adventuring in Yosemite.
