Tuolumne Grove of Giant Sequoias

Forty miles.

Gotcha didn’t I? It was actually 37.5. ;)

Gotcha again, right? It wasn’t all hiking. In fact, very little of it was hiking—most was biking. I decided not to go on a long hike during my weekend (no matter what days they are, your two days off are referred to as “your weekend”) this time due to the prolonged recovery of my stupid toes. So instead I was looking for somewhere to bike to out of the valley that would be interesting. I had looked up biking to Crane Flat and it was only roughly 18 miles, so I talked to some of my neighbors about it in the kitchen one day. Peggy—the nice woman who fed me lemon pepper chicken for our potluck and biscuits and gravy, who works up at the Crane Flat gas station, said anyone who biked up that road would be crazy, but she had seen a couple of people do it. That was really all I needed. If they could do it, so could I.

Solid mentality for a fool. (That’s me—the fool.) I left a little before 7:00 and the first couple miles were a piece of cake. Then I turned onto Big Oak Flat Road. Pure death. The entire thing was an incline at a grade that my sucky loaner bike from the wellness center program hated.

Notice anything about this bike? That’s right—there’s no way to shift gears. There’s one gear that you get to go, as determined by the bike. It was absolutely awful. I had to stop by the side of the road on those little pullout things more than once to try to catch my breath. I constantly contemplated turning around. I kept dreaming about how easy it was going to be to come down! I pulled into this little parking area and asked these people in an RV about how many miles they thought it was to Crane Flat. They said it was 10 minutes—3 to 4 miles. In case you didn’t figure it out, that’s ten minutes by car…obviously. It took me another hour and a half to get up there. I stopped and took my granola bar break, drank some water, and rested my poor quads. To be entirely honest, I had to walk my bike up some of the stretches of road. It reminded me of the people in gym who could power walk the mile faster than they could jog it. I could walk my bike up the hill faster than I could ride it…but it hurt my pride. I finally got up to Crane Flat around 10:15, so 3.25 hours later. 2.5 hours of that was after I turned onto Big Oak Flat Road. (Remember this for later.)

I went into the gas station because Peggy wanted me to check in with her so she knew I was alive. That gas station was packed! She had said they stayed really busy, but I didn’t realize like that. The store itself isn’t very big, but it’s the only one for miles and Crane Flat is at an intersection of roads. Anyways, there were people in there who had seen (and passed) me on the way up and they all told me how nuts I was but how impressed they were. Peggy said she was proud of me. :D

I was tired of biking so I walked the half mile to the Tuolumne Grove of Giant Sequoias from Crane Flat. Then I went into nerd-mode and took pictures of all of the signs after reading them so I could look back at what they said later. The first Giant Sequoia that you encounter after entering the grove is Big Red. It’s 24 feet in diameter. As I was walking, I determined that based purely on square footage, 4.5 of my bedrooms could fit inside this tree trunk. Also, it's extremely hard to take a picture of yourself with a giant tree...just saying.

After that, I spent about half an hour at the Tunnel Tree playing photographer for families that wanted their picture taken. Good times, good times.

One of the sequoias fell and somehow while it was lying there became fossilized. The preserved sequoia, “Fallen Tree,” was absolutely massive. It was so overwhelming to stand next to something so giant that fell because they have crappy root systems. I think that’s a metaphor to life. It’s all in the roots—gotta have a strong foundation.

While I was eating lunch, this exhausted family came and sat next to me (because I picked the table in the shade—obviously). From what I picked up, they were from South Korea, had flown into Seattle, and were here for three weeks. That could have just been the daughter though and the parents lived here…I’m not really sure. The thing was, they had two of those dinky water bottles for the three of them and they were almost out. I had packed almost 60 oz. for the day and had only gone through maybe 30. I was also about to head back to get my bike and head down. So it was a pretty easy decision to attempt to ask them if they’d like me to fill up their water bottles. After a little confusion, they graciously accepted my offer, telling me what a kind person I was. If you’ve never tried to pour from a full Nalgene into that little opening—I challenge you to try. Because I didn’t spill a single drop for either bottle. Take that. :) They were so grateful that they insisted they take their picture with me AND send it to me. So the father handed me his phone to enter it in—and the screen’s entirely in Korean haha. After a little confusion, we think we got it so that it would email to me (he turned the screen briefly to English), so we’ll see! Nice people, I liked them.

This isn’t a Giant Sequoia, but it was a sugar pine that the sun was hitting really nicely while I was sitting at lunch.

Alright so fast forward a little bit and now I’ve got my bike from the gas station and I’m about to leave Crane Flat. It’s 12:50. I turn the corner onto Big Oak Flat Road and just start moving—not pedaling—moving without pedaling. This is white knuckle driving ladies and gentlemen! I almost didn’t have to pedal ever on the entire way down! There was one time that I went to let cars pass me on one of those pullouts, but the gravel was too loose and I about skidded away off the mountain—so I salvaged it quickly and decided to try the next one. Including a stop at a scenic overlook, I was back down that road in 27 minutes. TWENTY-SEVEN MINUTES!!! 150 vs 27…holy cow.

I got back to Yosemite Village a little after 2:00, so today was a pretty short day overall. Was it worth it? My gut tells me yes, but boy that first part really sucked! We’ll see how sore my butt and quads are tomorrow. The Giant Sequoia grove WAS really neat though and there only two of Yosemite’s three groves are open this year. The Mariposa Grove is closed for restoration until next year. The Tuolumne Grove had those wooden barricades everywhere trying to keep people on the trails so the rest of it could recover from stupid people over the trampling all the undergrowth. Stupid tourons.

(If you’d like any of the information about the sequoias, don’t hesitate to ask. I just didn’t have time to type it all or to upload each of the sign’s photos.)

I almost forgot to share this—but on Wednesday night we had this youth group visiting at church. They outnumbered us like 6 to 1. ;) Wednesday nights are basically a Bible study set-up, so we’re in Genesis right now discussing Isaac and Rebekah. Pastor Brent told us a story about something he did for his daughter Ashley. He told her that he would put a quarter on the counter every day for a month or until she picked them up. If she didn’t pick them up, at the end she would get a $20 bill. If she picked them up, she didn’t get anymore. Well Ashley managed to wait until the end of the month so she received her $20. He then asked her what lesson she thought this was about. She said she thought it was about saving money. Pastor Brent said, “No, it’s about boys. If you pass up all the quarters, some day you’ll find that twenty dollar bill.” Ashley’s getting married this summer—he thinks she’s found her $20 bill. (When she would bring boys home before, he always said, “Is this a quarter?”) I think it’s hilarious. :D I look around me and see a bunch of like, nickels or something hahaha :) So I’m going to close with that for the day. It’s almost Joshua and Nicole’s wedding anniversary, so congrats to them on finding their $20 bills!

The Eagle Has Landed: POTUS in Yosemite—Late Night Sky Fun

So some of you may have heard that President Obama and his family came to visit Yosemite over Father’s Day Weekend. This was the first presidential visit since JFK came in the 1960s. Trust me, weekends are already a mess, so this created what I’m going to consider a giant headache for everyone. Stress levels—through the roof.

Aramark issued a statement to its employees saying that we were not to discuss any of the details of the president’s trip with anyone nor could we speak to the media. Tourons asked us all the time when he was coming and where he was going. Some of them understood that we couldn’t talk about it. A woman at the grill winked at my friend Abby, leaned in closer, and repeated the question multiple times. Take a hint lady—we really can’t comment.

They basically closed down the roads into the park and re-routed traffic from the highways that go through Yosemite. When I went to church in Lower Pines on Sunday morning, I had to take a different trail because the one behind the Ahwahnee was closed off by Secret Service. Depending on where the president was, you basically had to re-route your plan to get somewhere. Must think he’s special or something. :)

The perk of him coming was that the put up additional temporary cell towers, so I had great service for a while! Usually I can only get service when I’m in Yosemite Village, and service is really hit or miss everywhere else, but while those towers were up—I was good to go wherever. Pretty sweet.

Secret Service arrived on Wednesday which was a huge headache for our housekeeping crew over at Half Dome Village. There were only four people cleared by the SS background check to be in their rooms, so one of our inspectors and one of our roomskeepers did ALL of their rooms AND Sabas wasn’t told until Wednesday morning that they were coming or where they’d be staying. They ended up staying over in Boys’ Town (former employee housing now closed due to an environmental agreement), so all Wednesday people had to take stuff (cots, blankets, towels, etc.) out to Boys’ Town for the Secret Service.

On Monday, Sabas’ manager must have been really stressed out because the lifeguards got in trouble and got kicked off the pool deck for allegedly playing cards. (P.S. We weren’t playing cards.) Management wanted us to look professional if el presidente was coming, so that caused some issues for the week. Hard to see the pool from the picnic table outside by the bathrooms…

I wasn’t one of the people that followed his every move, so I honestly can’t tell you what he did while he was here. Read the media reports if you want that. All I know is—now he’s gone and there are less people hiding behind trees in the Ahwahnee meadow. ;) It was actually really funny how some of the Secret Service people tried to make themselves look inconspicuous. I met two in the Ahwahnee one morning while using the internet and drinking hot chocolate and they were dressed in blue polos and khaki pants. So ummm…you’re in a national park? Nice try. There were also a bunch who came in on Wednesday who were wearing Hawaiian shirts. We laughed about that for a long time.

I don’t know whether the Obama family came to Yosemite because they wanted to, if it was a publicity/PR thing tied to the NPS 100^th birthday celebration, or a combination of both. It was cool that they chose to come here and I hope they were able to enjoy their stay in somewhere that I consider to be peaceful. I know they’re probably used to all the people that follow them around, but I know that I wouldn’t be able to handle that—nor would I be able to handle all of the security surrounding me every step of the way. I bet Obama never gets to hike with just his pals Billy Joel and Elton John. Poor guy. In a way I feel sorry for him and his family.

On a complete side note—I just got back from my friend Miles’ star talk and it was really good! So if you’re in the valley on a Monday-Wednesday (I think), you should definitely go listen to him. He’s a fantastic storyteller and I learned a ton!

—I don’t know where you buy the tickets from, but they’re like $7ish for a non-employee. The tour meets at the Lower Yosemite Fall shuttle stop (#6) at 9:00 and it lasts until 10:00.

—Side note to my side note—there was a couple from Iowa City at Miles’ talk. Small world.

Today the full moon fell on the summer solstice so it was so incredibly bright and all of the mountains and falls were illuminated. The park was beautiful! (Not that it isn’t beautiful all the time—because it is.) So when a new moon happens, there’s a moonlight valley floor tour that takes place on Sunday night at 10:00 pm. Well, Shelby and I were looking for something to do, so Miles invited us to go with him and his parents on this tour. We were waiting for another friend, then ended up not waiting for him, and by the time we biked to the Lodge, it was 9:59 and we asked where we could buy two employee tickets. The guy looked at us, looked at the ticket guy who was on the phone, and he told us to just go park on bikes and hop on. :D $24 for non-employees, $12 for employees, and free for Bethany and Shelby. Sweet. It was an NPS Ranger-led tour, and our guide talked to us the whole time and told us lots of really interesting information! I really just love to learn new things. The tour went over to Tunnel View (weird, I was just there), and the view was just as incredible at night as it was during the day! I wish I could show you pictures of everything I saw, but I can’t because they all turned out black, no matter what settings I put my camera on. Like I always say, “A for effort, F for results.” What’s important though is that they’re in my head and I got to see it all in person. If you wish to do the same, you’ll have to come visit! I strongly recommend viewing different parts of the valley during the day AND at night. You get very different perspectives and they’re both really beautiful.

Well, that wraps up this post ladies and gents. Bottom line—don’t try to visit Yosemite when POTUS is here and enjoy the starry version of nightlife at Yosemite. :)
(Visit go.wh.gov/ParksTrip for info/pics from their trip.)

“Longest” Hike Ever—Pohono Trail

This title may be slightly misleading, but time-wise it was the longest and you’ll find out why before I’m done. Length-wise I logged almost 29 miles though, so it was pretty long that way as well.

The past week was pretty interesting work-wise. Everybody’s a little stressed with Obama’s visit, so some interesting events have been taking place. To sum it up briefly, our manager’s managers are more concerned with our (the lifeguards’) image than actually allowing us to do our jobs, so we have a whole lot of new rules in place. Shelby and I are working with Sabas to straighten things out and come up with a better solution. So end of that for now.

On the funny side, something super hilarious (for almost everyone) happened Thursday. The pool showerhouse is always closed from 10-11 for cleaning. Well, I guess someone had to go really badly because someone did a #2 right outside the men’s bathroom door at about 10:55. They just sat down and pooped right on the cement.

So to start my “weekend”—everybody calls their two days off their weekend, regardless of whether it’s a Monday/Tuesday or what—after volleyball on Thursday night, I hung out with some of the UConn and Co. (that’s what I’ve deemed this particular group of friends—Shelby thinks it’s fitting) crew and Shelby, Chase, David, Miles, Miles’ parents, and I went up to “The Couch.” It’s a really short hike from Huff and the view is great! It was nighttime, so I’ll go back up there at some point when there’s daylight to take a picture to show you all. There’s just never really a bad view in the valley!

Also, I had convinced myself that I wouldn’t go get ice cream after work before I went to the beach. Well…later after volleyball I was waiting for Shelby and I lasted all the way until 9:40—then I went and got ice cream. :D I’m really lucky that Tom and Sam are fantastic and always just charge me for a single scoop, regardless of what I actually order. Friends are cool.

I got back pretty late from that, so I only got about five hours of sleep before my planned hike on Friday. Not a bright idea, but I like to start my hikes early. Unfortunately, this meant that I didn’t have time to analyze and memorize the trail map for hours like I usually do. Mistake #1. However, I did think to bike to the chapel to cut out a few miles of walking each way—saved about four miles. (This will come in extremely handy later.) Unfortunately, I couldn’t remember which way the Four Mile trailhead was from the chapel so I turned right and walked for a while, decided I must be going the wrong way, walked all the way back and walked further that way, then realized I had been going the correct direction the first time and walked all the way back until I reached the trailhead…solid loss of like 30 minutes. Mistake #2.

So I ended up getting to the Four Mile trailhead around 7:40 and made it to Glacier Point at 9:23. An hour and forty three minutes is a new PR for me on that trail so this was actually one of the highlights of my day. (If you read the trail guide, it suggests 3 to 4 hours.)

After I talked to a friend up at the Glacier Point store for a bit, I continued on my way to the Pohono Trail. I took a little detour to Sentinel Dome because….might as well. There were quite a few people there because there’s a parking lot only about a mile away, so it’s not nearly as strenuous to get to this dome as it is to almost all the others.

 View from Sentinel Dome

 Yosemite Falls from Sentinel Dome

Half Dome from Sentinel Dome

So here’s what I have for you if you’re only in Yosemite a day and are an intermediate hiker—take the shuttle to the top of Glacier Point (buy tickets at the Valley Lodge), hike to Sentinel Dome (3 miles RT), take Panorama Trail back down to the valley (8 miles). Then you’ll still have time to take the shuttle around to various spots and get views of Yosemite Falls, Half Dome, and El Capitan. (If you’re a more ambitious hiker, take Four Mile Trail instead of the shuttle—this adds 4.8 miles to your total.)

So after Sentinel Dome, I continued on the Pohono Trail to Taft Point, where I ate my typical hiking meal—pb&j, grapes, and a granola bar.

 The Fissures

View from Taft Point

After Taft Point, the trail was extremely boring. One of my classic rock playlists ended and I switched to showtunes. That’s the only thing worth mentioning for about four miles of the trail right here. I passed Bridalveil Creek, which feeds Bridalveil Fall.

Bridalveil Creek

Then you walk a long way again to Dewey Point, Crocker Point, Stanford Point, and Inspiration Point. Again, the hike is extremely boring and there’s barely anyone on the trail. I saw less than a dozen people all day except for after I left Taft Point before I got to Tunnel View.

View of Ribbon Fall and El Cap from Dewey Point

It was somewhere in there around 2:00 that my feet started to hurt…a lot. In the constant struggle to decide between my hiking boots or my running shoes, I chose my hiking boots today because one of my ankles wasn’t feeling the greatest (probably a volleyball injury). Let’s just say that I confirmed the theory that my hiking boots are too small. My pinky toes started to hurt and I could tell they had blistered. At one point I felt a couple of the blisters on my heels rip open. I’m usually a suck-it-up buttercup type of person, but I actually resorted to taking ibuprofen to help with some of the pain. If my feet had known what was in store for them, they would’ve committed suicide before the torture got too bad. Mistake #3-infinity.

I got to Tunnel View (by the Wawona Tunnel), and the view from there was fantastic! It’s a great view of El Cap, Bridalveil, and Half Dome. Oh, and it’s crawling with tourists and tour buses. But don’t let all the tourons ruin it for you. As usual, I provided my excellent photograph taking skills for all the families that wanted to actually be in their pictures together. Happens all the time and I don’t mind at all.

 Bridalveil Fall from Tunnel View

 

I couldn’t remember where the trail to Bridalveil was, so I just took the road. That was lots of fun. Not. Anyways, about two miles later I got to Bridalveil Fall. It wasn’t hailing so that was fantastic! Again, crawling with tourists because the walk to the viewpoint is only 1000 feet and it’s paved, so anyone and everyone can make it there. The stupid tourons that don’t read the “Don’t climb on the rocks because you’re under a waterfall and they’re really slippery” signs were upsetting me, so I didn’t stay there long. Also, it was getting kind of late. My pace had slowed considerably due to the feet problems.

 Bridalveil Fall

About a mile and a half later on the Valley Loop trail, I could no longer walk in my boots. I honestly believed that I could walk faster barefoot than in those shoes anymore. I took off my hiking boots to find a blister covering my entire heel, entire ball of my foot, and on each of my toes. The blisters on my pinky toes were honestly bigger than the toe itself. World of pain. I still had 4 or 5 miles to go to the chapel where my bike was locked up. Instead of about an hour thirty to an hour forty, it took me multiple hours. I felt like I was barely moving. On a pipe dream, I texted Shelby around 6:30 and asked if she could do me a huge favor. (I didn’t know if she’d actually get my message or not.) A bit later, Shelby came riding up on her bike with an extra pair of shoes, her size 7.5 Crocs, and walked the last 1-2 miles back with me to the Chapel. My savior! I told her I owed her ice cream for a week. Friends are great! (I also told her I’d never participate in giving her a bad time about her Crocs again.) ;)

So then I returned (by bike) to my cabin, 13 hours later. One of my neighbor people had offered me sausage and gravy over biscuits for supper tonight, and I 100% took her up on that. I was so hungry!!! Also, I watched President Obama’s 20 vehicle convoy come from the helicopters that landed in the meadow to the Ahwahnee. I got back in time to see that, so now I can say I was less than 50 yards away from the President. Cool.

Later, Abby and I watched Slumdog Millionaire while I put my feet up and tried to nurse my blisters back to health. I definitely fell asleep during parts of the movie, even though I love it. I was just too tired.

Positives today: The Couch, Four Mile PR, Sentinel Dome, Tunnel View, Bridalveil Fall, Shelby :)

Negatives today: lack of sleep, size 8.5 hiking boots, almost all of the Pohono Trail, epic blisters

Update: All's well except the pinky toes and a couple spots on the heel. Making progress.

North Dome via Snow Creek Trail

Today the plan was to hike to North Dome via the Snow Creek Trail starting just past Mirror Lake and then come down the Upper Yosemite Fall Trail. I intended to get an early start, as I try to on most of my long-ish hikes, but I woke up not feeling in tip-top shape…so I rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. After unsuccessfully trying to brainstorm what I’d do with my day if I didn’t go hiking—I got up and went hiking. I swung by the Ahwahnee to get some (free) hot chocolate to-go because it was a little chilly this morning. I ended up leaving around 7:40.

I finally remembered to put on bug spray before I left! I was so proud of myself. Everybody knows that the mosquitoes are extra terrible around the Mirror Lake area, and they were bad basically until I reached North Dome. So yay me, I did something right.

After the North Dome trailhead sign just past Mirror Lake, you begin an intense series of switchbacks. These switchbacks took me an hour and fifteen minutes to get up the roughly 2.5 miles of trail. I celebrated at the top with water and a granola bar ;) aka 10:00 break 10 minutes early.

Apparently I was in a picture-taking mood today because I took an absolute ton of pictures on the way up. Fun fact, while I was taking a picture of Snow Creek at one point in time, a nice long snake slithered by my foot. Also, there was a decent amount of snow on and by the trail in this area. Snow Creek had lots of little waterfalls and rapids—too many to take pictures of. There were also certain areas with this super bright green moss stuff growing on the branches and trunks of the trees, making it look like some scene from a Dr. Seuss book. I thought it was funny.

 

 

One of the Dr. Seuss trees :)

At Indian Rock, I ate part 1 of lunch because I was incredibly hungry. Today was an extra special day for lunch. Everybody knows that when you reach the end of the bag of bread and only have the heels and one slice left—you make a double-decker pb&j. So basically, today’s sandwich was great! :)

 Indian Rock

After my detour to Indian Rock, I continued right on down to North Dome, where I took even more pictures, ate part 2 of lunch, and since I had fantastic cell service (3 whole bars), I decided to call my parents. I didn’t end up leaving North Dome until 2:00. No joke—I was in no hurry today. It had only been about 11 miles to this point from my tent. I still had another at least 8 to go back down to the valley floor.

 On the way out to North Dome

 

View of Half Dome from North Dome

 Illilouette Fall from North Dome

 Valley Floor from North Dome

(And yes, that really is a 2006-2007 Jump Rope for Heart shirt.) ;)

So the hike up hadn’t really bothered me, although the ascent was supposedly crazy. I use this site called www.yosemitehikes.com to plan most of my hikes, as well as the stack of trail maps and info from the visitor center. It’s proven itself time and time again to be pretty accurate, so I trust it. Here’s what it had to say about the Snow Creek Trail:

You have two choices on this hike: climb up from Yosemite Valley or amble down from the Tioga Road. The former is one of the park's more sadistic trails, a relentless succession of switchbacks all the way from the valley floor (technically, it's actually the Tenaya Canyon floor) to the rim. It leaves hikers gasping for air and devoting what brain function they have left to murderous thoughts about the trail's designer, who was likely disappointed that so many people have turned out to survive it. Pack spare hearts and lungs. If you've done the Clouds Rest hike, you probably remember the challenging stretch a couple miles along where you climb a thousand feet in a mile. Stack two of those on top of each other, but make it a bit steeper, and you have the Snow Creek Trail. Want more evidence that this is a steep trail? The Upper Yosemite Falls trail goes from the valley floor to the rim in 3.2 miles, the 4-Mile Trail covers it in 4.7 miles, and the Panorama Trail takes 8 miles. The Snow Creek Trail, meanwhile, covers roughly the same amount of vertical in a single 1.7-mile stretch.

Yeah…so I did that today. ;) No spare hearts or lungs necessary. Unfortunately, I have a constant battle between wearing my hiking boots or my lightweight running shoes. As I’ve done for the past few hikes, I opted for my running shoes. Mistake! Major mistake—my ankles were absolutely killing me this afternoon (and now). The last time I came down the Upper Yosemite Fall trail—I jogged it for fun, and because it sucks even more otherwise. Today that was such a struggle right from the get-go that I gave up until the last mile where it gets all sandy and has less crummy rocks. Have no fear, I made it down, no SAR necessary. I was happily eating ice cream in the Lodge cafeteria at 5:20.

 North Dome and Half Dome from the trail somewhere near Yosemite Point

All in all, this wasn’t my favorite hike. The view from North Dome was pretty nice, and if you haven’t seen Upper Yosemite Fall or been to Yosemite Point yet, you could knock those out. But otherwise…meh. I’d rather go somewhere else—especially if I’m going to put almost 20 miles into it.

Also, to those of you that were helping pray for my friend’s mom—the surgery went about as well as it could have! Against all odds, the doctors were able to remove the entire tumor, which they didn’t think was going to be possible due to the high fatality rate. She came through and is experiencing some paralysis, but the doctors believe this is temporary and she should regain most of her mobility. So thank you, thank you, thank you! By all means, she’s not out of the woods, but she’s come a long way.

I know it’s cheesy, but I get a daily Bible verse in my email account, and the past few have just felt really fitting. I’d like to share this one with you all (and I can do that because this is my blog and I can write what I want). ;)

“Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone.”—Colossians 4:5-6 (NLT)

I can’t explain it, but there’s something about being here that makes me feel like I was called to be here. After every Wednesday evening service, Pastor Brent always prays that I don’t get sidetracked or succumb to the typical behaviors of most people here (at “summer camp”). That’s what people compare it to—adult summer camp. Clearly these people didn’t go to church camp in the summer like I did because it’s nothing like that. The similarities are: we live in cabins, you make friends, and everyone is actually really nice. The differences are endless. I’m excited for the A.C.M.N.P. worship services to start on Sunday mornings. (A Christian Ministry in the National Parks) They’re led by actual young people, and since the only people that I’ve met so far at the chapel on Wednesdays are about 4 or 5 old people, I’m really looking forward to Sunday morning service before work.

As I was writing this last paragraph, I was reminded of a Michael W. Smith song that I haven’t heard in a very long time. It’s called “Place in this World.” Listen to it. It describes where I’m at in life perfectly. (And if anyone has post undergrad suggestions, I’m all ears.) :)

Fresno and Cloud's Rest

So not too much to report from the pool this past week. They thought we would be busy Memorial Day weekend, but honestly we had way more people on Tuesday and Wednesday than any of the rest of the days. The afternoon is always the craziest. I always hate “yelling” at the adults…I mean, come on people—you’re supposed to be leading by example. Maybe putting your kid in a chokehold and holding him underwater isn’t the greatest idea? There were three girls there a couple days, we guessed age 12-14, that were positively drooling at one of my coworkers (Conor—age 23 haha). I died laughing; it was so funny. The third time they came in, he put a tshirt on. ;)

Yesterday, I went on one of the Wellness Center’s trips to Fresno. There was the employee driver, me, and three other people on the way there. I ran a bunch of errands beforehand because we didn’t leave until 10:00. Check out my spiffy new shoes that I ordered that came in the mail! (Don’t mind my disgusting feet.) Both sandal-like pairs of shoes that I brought were wearing down (one was already worn down when I brought it), so I invested in a pair of Teva’s. Good thing too because my shoes broke on the way from work to church on Wednesday night.

Anyways, it’s a 2.5 hour drive to Fresno, so I was basically starving on the way there—I think I wound up eating 3 granola bars and a bag of beef jerky…so by the time we got to Fresno, I ordered a sandwich and took the other half home. I got “The Ultimate” from Uncle Harry’s New York Bagelry. It had scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, hashbrowns, and cheese on a Bacon Cheddar Bagel. Delightful!

The people at Best Buy said that my phone battery isn’t damaged, and the inner workings of the phone aren’t damaged—but the screen is, so it has to be replaced. I’ll just keep finagling with the arrow keys and OK button until I get back to Iowa in August.

Then there wasn’t a Wal Mart around, so I went into Target to ask them if they cashed checks (all the rest are direct deposit, but our first paycheck is paper). The lady at customer service sent me a few blocks away to a liquor store. Cool, I’m in Fresno wandering around by myself and now I’m going into a liquor store. Perfect. Well, they didn’t want to cash that much, so they sent me somewhere else. That place cashed it. Item #2—done.

Then I went to this really cool store called Sprout’s Farmers Market. It was basically and indoor grocery store that focused on fruits, vegetables, organic foods, and bulk foods. Most of the food you scooped yourself and paid by the pound, so I got a bunch of rice and oats, as well as grapes and apples. Sweet store. I got the rest of my groceries at Target—not too exciting. At about 4:15, the WC employee (Jennifer) came back to the place she dropped us off. She had warned us that she had left people behind for being late before…so DON’T be late! I’m too scared of being late to be late though, so I was waiting for the van when it got there. I had so much time that she recommend a frozen yogurt place across the street and I went and got a ton of froyo from Yogurtland. It was 102^o in Fresno. Yuck. We waited until almost 4:50 (4:30 meet time) and then we left. We came with five people and left with two. Good retention rate. So that was my Fresno experience. :) Nothing like RJ and Sabas had warned me about, thank goodness. RJ grew up there so he hates it. Sabas went there and was reading a book outside one time and these two guys walk by him, start laughing, and one of them says, “Who reads books?” Morons.

So now for the exciting part—today! I wanted to get kind of a long hike in off my to-do list, so I decided that if I woke up and was feeling good, I would knock out Cloud’s Rest. From my tent cabin, it’s 24 miles round trip with almost a 6000 ft. elevation gain from the valley floor. I wanted to get started early today so that I’d be back by supper time, so I set my alarm for 5:20. Unfortunately, my alarm clock only picked up static for my radio so I didn’t hear it until almost 5:50. Oh well—still had everything to go and left a little before 6:30 and made it to the trailhead a little after 7:00. No worries.

To get to Cloud’s Rest you have a couple options. The more common option is to come from the Tenaya Lake area and start at the Sunrise trailhead. The much less common option is to come from the valley and start at the Happy Isles trailhead. Why don’t people come from the valley? 1) It’s at least 3 miles further, one-way. 2) Instead of an elevation gain of 1775 feet, the elevation gain is just under 6000 ft. Regardless, I figured I could handle it. Andi said if I didn’t come back by 9:00, she’d send SAR out for me. :)

At the beginning of the trail at Happy Isles, there’s a sign that tells you how much water you should take with you. Apparently you’re supposed to use 2 quarts just to the top of Nevada Fall and a minimum of 4 quarts for the Half Dome Trail…well Cloud’s Rest veers off and is past Half Dome and I only brought 80 oz. instead of 128 oz. Oh well, I decided to drink the untreated river water if I needed to. (P.S. I didn’t need to.) Bottom line, bring more water than you think, even if you think 3 bottles (2x24, 1x32) is going to be enough.

I made it to the top of Nevada Fall from the trailhead in just over an hour. There weren’t a ton of people on the trail, so I got really lucky being able to pass the ones that were. Heavy traffic on all those stairs is brutal, so at least I got to avoid it once today. Then about a mile later, you come to Little Yosemite Valley. What’s the best part about Yosemite Valley? That’s right—the two story outhouse with solar composting toilets! Yes, I thought the toilets were cool. They use the solar panels on the roof and microorganisms to compost the waste and then horses take it away. (I didn’t use it til the way back…but whatever, I’ll talk about it now.)

As I passed different signs, I was calculating how fast I was going and how long it would take me to get to the top. I set a goal of making it to the top by 11:30. The trail was pretty tough and I wasn’t breathing the greatest. This altitude stuff really throws and Iowa person for a loop! I took a 10:00 break (like Habitat!) so I could eat grapes/drink water/pee. I conveniently, and unknowingly, did this right before my last set of awful switchbacks before all the rock stairs to the top. Once you get to the rock part, you really have to keep your eyes peeled for the trail. There are a couple cairns to help you, but otherwise everything just looks like rocks everywhere. Right before the stone stairs, I encountered my first people on the trail! They had come from Tenaya Lake and said there was still a lot of snow that way. I made it to the top at 11:22—goal met. Bam. It was so amazing up there. A full 360^o view of everything, including the opposite side of Half Dome! I loved it. I ate my lunch up there and took a bunch of pictures.

 

 

 

Hurray for timer buttons on cameras :)

 

This is where I was in relation to the valley...just keep scrolling...then look for the "little path"

 

I was so high there was SNOW at the summit!

I left there around 12:00, but didn’t set a time goal for the way down because I knew I’d be hitting the Vernal/Nevada/Mist Trail area around rush hour, and that can take forever. Good thing “patience” and self-control” are both fruits of the spirit and my coworker Kevin and I made songs for just that kind of circumstance last summer at work. It’s not that slow people bother me—it’s that people that are oblivious to how much they’re holding everyone else up bother me. People that walk 2-4 people wide on trails and don’t let you pass. People that zig zag when they walk so that you can’t pass. People that don’t understand golf etiquette about letting faster people play through!

So today my hiking companions were none other than Billy Joel, Elton John, Styx, Journey…etc. :) The thing about hiking by yourself is that hiking groups are similar to that phrase, “A team is only as strong as its weakest player.” Well, a hiking group is only as fast as its slowest member. Therefore, when I hike by myself, I can go whatever pace I darn well please. Works great.

I ended up getting back around 4:10, 9.7 hours after I began. So Andi doesn’t have to call SAR. I met tons of people on the way down! Almost all of them asked me how far away they were from the top and how long it would take them to get there. I used my watch to roughly guesstimate for them, and one guy was so happy that he was only about another 40 minutes away that he gave me a high-five and said I gave him hope and now he was optimistic to continue. :) I had to talk a guy up that was a little less than a mile from the top. He was seriously considering turning around, even though he was so close! He said he made the mistake of trying to do it all in one day. Yes…that is why the trail information says, “Only feasible for the hardiest of day hikers.” I encouraged/persuaded him to continue, so I hope he made it!

Also, huge shoutout to my parents, not only for growing my appreciation of national parks, teaching me how to read (and memorize) maps, and how not to be one of the tourons that frustrates me as an employee and park resident—but also for having such dang long legs that I always had to run to keep up so I learned to walk really fast! ;)

Now that I’m back, I think I’m going to go jump in the pool before I try to upload all these pictures.