1988 World Series and 2021 Vernal Falls

You might ask what the hell is he talking about. Yes, the analogy is a bit of a stretch, but hear me out.

It’s actually only about one at bat in one game of the 1988 World Series. Los Angeles Dodger star outfielder Kirk Gibson facing Oakland Athletics star pitcher Dennis Eckersley. Gibson was not at full strength, not even half strength. In Game 5 of the National League Championship Series against the New York Mets, Gibson had strained his left hamstring sliding into Second Base in Game 5. In Game 7 of that same series, he injured his right knee.

Gibson was not in the starting line-up (duh) for the first game of the series against the A’s. He could barely walk. Heck, he could barely stand up. There was no way that he was going to play in this game. In fact, this at bat against Eckersley would be his only appearance of the World Series that year.

So, baseball fans, especially Dodger fans, know that Kirk Gibson hit a home run that won the game. Dodger Hall of Fame Announcer Vin Scully let the crowd savor the moment before sharing the memorable sequence of words: “In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened.” The Dodgers weren’t supposed to be in this game and neither was Gibson.

Enter 2021 Vernal Falls. Yosemite National Park in California is a natural wonder. Iconic glacier carved rock formations named Half Dome and El Capitan, forests of Lodgepole Pines and Red Fir trees, water falls where streams used to run downhill on a normal path to the Pacific Ocean before giant walls of ice gouged the granite out from under them.

One of those water falls is named Vernal Falls. As far as the water falls of Yosemite go, it is nice, not spectacular, and a hike of what I would call “Moderate” (most trail guides would say Difficult) will take you to the top of the falls where your efforts are rewarded with beautiful views back to the west down the glacier carved valley and a nice slab of the omnipresent granite rock to rest, re-fuel and enjoy the view before making your way back down to the Yosemite Valley floor.

During the Summer, the return trip down would be a routine, crowded, moderately difficult descent with physical challenges that us outdoor lovers graciously accept as part of nature’s toll for sharing her beauty with us.

But, late March is not Summer. I was hiking with a group of, shall I say, well seasoned hikers and outdoors people. We accepted the 2.4 linear miles and 1000 feet of vertical up the stair stepped Mist Trail as part of our fee for the opportunity to enjoy this difficult but accessible natural scene.

We were not looking forward to going back down the Mist Trail. Aching knees, slick rocks and a well traveled narrow trail were not boding well for returning to our campsite the same way we had come up.

This analogy came to me on the car trip back home to San Jose. But, it only became necessary because of a consensus decision of the group to go back down the hill using the so called “Winter Route.” This route was a segment of the John Muir Trail called The Horse Trail. Some of us had experienced this alternate route down and it seemed like a good bet that this path would be preferable to the knee destroying staircase down the Mist Trail back to the Upper Pines Campground.

So, we were mentally preparing ourselves for the longer but more gradual descent to camp. Early in the climb down, we faced some climbing. Those of you who have hiked in mountains know that when your mind is thinking downhill and suddenly there is an uphill stretch, your mind does not respond in a favorable way. Your attitude starts to go south.

As we continued up and eventually down the trail in earnest, we met three groups that had come up the Horse Trail and gave us the news that it would be extremely difficult to navigate through at least four patches of trail covered with snow and ice. By this time, we had come far enough down the trail that it would have been highly improbable for us to turn around and go back up to where we had started and then go back down the known hell on knees route that we were all too familiar with already.

So, on we went. The first patch was mildly challenging, but we all made it through without incident. Then there was the second patch. I need to call it something other than just the innocuous second patch. Hielo Diablo (HD/ask a Spanish speaking friend) would better describe it.

A couple of our party took a daring route down the side of the hill to bypass the HD. I negotiated the treacherous curving, downhill ice field by sliding down on my backside. I was wearing slick, nylon rain pants which were not helpful in controlling my rate of descent. I had to shed my backpack with about 30 pounds of photographic gear in it to control my descent down a one butt cheek (OBC) wide section of trail.

My wife took a chance that the line of rocks along the lower section of the trail would stop her, so she just slid down at some speed in the hopes that the rocks would stop her. They did. Her timing was good because she arrived at my location just as I was reaching the one butt cheek section. She was able to muscle up and take the backpack from me before it slid down the hill with over $2500 of camera, lenses and related photographic gear. Once I got past the OBC, she was able to get the pack to a spot where I could reach it and drag it down the rest of the HD to meet up with our friends that had taken the shortcut.

Others in our party resorted to crawling along this stretch on their hands and knees. We all made it through HD, but there were still two more snow and ice patches to navigate before we were out of this stretch of fear inducing frozen water. I will confess that I was legitimately scared coming through HD.

It turns out that the other two patches didn’t require any of us to leave our feet and we slowly, but surely made our way back to the campground.

So, now the analogy. Remember Vin Scully’s words: “In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened” (See the video above to get this in context). In the 1988 World Series, it was unlikely that Kirk Gibson could function in a professional capacity, one that is difficult even on two good legs. His left hamstring made it improbable and his right knee made it even more improbable that he would successfully be able to succeed in his mission of hitting a baseball far enough to win the game. Kirk Gibson finding success in 1988 seemed an impossibility.

So too it was at Vernal Falls 2021. One trail was already an improbable, the other trail would prove to be even more improbable. The final results were the same. A happy ending for the home team. For Kirk Gibson and the Dodgers in 1988 it was a walk off home run. For Kathy, Jen, Meredy, Mark and Bruce it was getting back to our campsites alive, sore and safely.