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Moira Donohoe’s Blog

My family and I went on a hike recently on the eastern side of the Sierra. Our daughter is very interested in botany and bought some plant identification materials with her. It was a lot of fun identifying trees, plants and wildflowers. Many we knew without having to consult references, and eliminating possibilities according to different characteristics of bark, cone, needles, stem, petals and so on was like a treasure hunt. Sophie has been studying scientific methods for identifying plants, and has furthered her studies with practical knowledge through hiking in the Sierra, and in other areas in California. She is set on a path that began in her Yosemite childhood reinforced by years of camping and hiking with friends and family.

All of this made me reflect on how much a place shapes a family and how much a family shapes an individual. My mother, Helene Angela Degnan Donohoe, “Nell” to most people, also was raised in Yosemite. She was very knowledgeable about plants, especially wildflowers which she loved. A lot of this understanding came from the elders in her family, who, like many in that generation, used plants for numerous purposes. My Mom had a poetic interest in flowers, and she passed that onto us, her children. That is not to say that she didn’t realize some of the uses the pioneers and Native Americans made of certain plants. She and her sisters attended junior nature school in the summers in Yosemite, established by Bert Hartwell, a famous naturalist of his time. She talked very fondly of the wonderful lessons in botany, zoology, tracking, and many other areas of natural science. It was very extensive, and lasted six weeks. Here is an excerpt from the August 1938 volume 5, number 2 edition of Yosemite Junior Nature Notes that Nell Degnan wrote after a hike the Nature School took to Stanford Point on the Pohono Trail on the south rim of Yosemite valley. She was fifteen years old.

On, on, on, until we came to a place where there were the remains of a bear which had died on the trail. Then we took a door trail across to Old Inspiration Point, where there was a sheer drop. –“Gulp”- (It made me wish for wings as I looked down below.) Just beyond the point was Silver Strand Falls, while further on was Stanford Point which we set as our goal. We ate our lunch first, just above Silver Strand Falls in a little meadow which was beautifully in flower.

After lunch we went on to Stanford Point and had a wonderful view of the valley below. Coming down we watched the storm clouds gather in the back country and heard the distant thunder. The clouds gathered together in a black mass behind Clouds Rest, hiding all the rest of the back country. Clouds Rest was left silhouetted against the black sky, while the Sugar Pines, where we were, seemed to expand as if wishing for the rain to reach them.

The most interesting things seen on the trip were the views of the valley below, the flowers’ that were seen on the trip (especially the Washington Lily), the finding of the dead bear, and most of all the beautiful voice of the Hermit Thrush that was heard on the rim of the valley.

This story was accompanied by a sketch of the Washington Lily, and most of the entries had sketches that went with the stories. As the twig is bent, so grows the tree is a line Alexander Pope wrote in 1734 and seems to be true in my family.

The Pohono Trail is one of the most beautiful trails in Yosemite. It starts from the east end of the Wawona tunnel and skirts the south rim of the valley finishing at Glacier Point. Many have hiked parts of it, especially closer to the Glacier Point end, and it can also be accessed off the Glacier Point Road, via McGurk Meadows. As described in my mothers’ Nature Notes contribution, there are beautiful views, waterfalls, and meadows beautifully in flower.