Hello everyone!
Well, my mom was right. I survived Half Dome, Jeremy is "still among the living," and we are continuing our trip through California, on our way to Oregon. So much has happened, and I only have 40 minutes in a library to write about it while Jeremy finishes the laundry!
As I recall, we left off talking about how beautiful Big Sur was, and we were about to embark on a trip to San Jose to see the Winchester "Mystery House," followed by a drive to Yosemite National Park. The Winchester Mansion is someplace I have wanted to see for a long time, and it was really neat. (http://www.winchestermysteryhouse.com/story.html) Sarah Winchester, the Winchester Rifle heiress, was convinced that the spirits of those killed by the Winchester rifle were seeking revenge, after her husband and her son passed away. So in an attempt to keep the spirits occupied, she had new rooms continuously built, torn down, and rebuilt for 38 years straight! It was certainly fascinating, especially the parts of the house affected by earthquake, or the rooms of stored windows and lumber that they have been using to keep the house in repair. The website and the pictures really say it all.
After seeing the mansion and eating in ritzy San Jose (we shared a $7 burrito, boy did we feel out of place), we drove straight out west to Yosemite. We arrived at the park around 12-12:30am, and luckily found an awesome camp spot at Tamarack Flat on the way in. We stayed there for two nights while we explored the valley, hiked to Tuolomne Grove (giant sequoias) and El Capitan (gigantic rock face famous among rock climbers). So that was our Friday night through Sunday afternoon. Then on Sunday, we got our backcountry permit to hike to the top of Half Dome in a total of 3 days!
The valley overall was pretty crowded. "Yosemite Village" was essentially a tourist town built in the heart of the most famous part of Yosemite National Park. ALL of the accomodations (hotels AND camping) were completely reserved and booked up. *However,* for those with wilderness permits to hike in the backcountry, there was a camp called the "Backpacker's Camp." It was right in the valley, and we were allowed to stay there the night before our hike! It was cheap and amazingly peaceful... there were no signs pointing to the place, so we never would have known about it otherwise! There we met some awesome people, Robert and Michael, who we camped with later on in our trip. They were planning to hike the John Muir Trail, a 200-some mile trail that ends at Mt. Whitney in Sequoia National Park!
So Monday we packed our bags, ate at the Curry Village breakfast buffet, and started up the JMT towards the "Little Yosemite" camp, our base camp for Half Dome. It was hot as hell that whole week... In the low 100s in the valley! We guzzled quarts of water as I huffed and puffed my way up some very long, steep switchbacks.
Crap! Apparently I only have 5 minutes to finish writing. I guess I'll finish quick.
We made it to Little Yosemite, camped for the night, got up the next morning and made it to the top of Half Dome by 1pm! The cables were way steeper than I even imagined. Luckily we got some good grippy gloves. They really helped.
The most exciting part of the hike happened as we were just getting to the top. There is a sign at the bottom of the cables that said "do not climb if there is any sign of inclement weather." Well, at the bottom of the hill, there wasn't! However, about 20 feet from the top, we heard thunder rumbles... turned around, and there was a lightning storm heading our way!!!!
Now we were holding on to METAL CABLES that are bolted to one of the highest points in the park, watching lightning strike on the other side of the valley. I was fearing for my life!!
There was a long line of people trying to get down the cables, and we knew it would take some time to get down there. So we climbed the last few feet, took a handful of pictures, and descended that mountain as fast as we could!! Talk about an adrenaline rush. Once we hit the tree line, the storm hit, dropping torrential rain and pea-sized hail on us during the 3-mile hike back to camp. I was exhausted, but that was the fastest we moved the entire trip! We survived with nothing more than wet clothes and chilled bodies. We got back to camp, warmed up, and could not believe what had just happened.
The day we descended the mountain, we drove across the park to Tuolomne Meadows to camp, with some AMAZING scenery along the way. I couldn't believe we stayed in the valley the whole time! That was the best part of the park. Yosemite overall was breathtaking, the most beautiful part of the trip so far, and certainly worth another visit someday.
Anyway, yesterday we drove through Nevada to Lake Tahoe, where we decided to have an "off day." So we are relaxing in Lake Tahoe until tomorrow, when we will start driving up to Lassen and Shasta... both volcanoes! I will try to keep everyone informed.
Love you all!
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3 comments:
Oh my God!!! That's a story you'll be talking about 'till you're old and grey.
it's all fun and games till you come across fresh cougar prints in the dirt...
you guys rock. keep on having fun, and we'll share our hawaii and martha's vineyard stories when you get back!
So glad you two are blogging this!
Regarding your story about descending the cables in a thunderstorm, Jared and I had a VERY similar experience last summer in Texas while hiking Hueco Tanks. Once you get home, we have to share stories!
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