Road Trip Parte Dos

Here is the recap of the hike up Half Dome. This little jaunt of 16 miles was quite the test of strength and determination. I had already hiked out of my camp for 10 miles, and the Half Dome hike gains 4,800 vertical feet in 8 miles up and then 8 back down. I was plumb tuckered out by the time I got to the top and probably didn’t enjoy it as much as I could have if I wasn’t a little dehydrated and my quads cramping every step I took. But it was still a spectacular site to behold and worth the effort.

I entered the famous Yosemite Valley on the El Portal road and was immediately struck by the amazing cliff faces, the famous El Capitan rose above the valley and beckoned me to climb it one day, just another thing to add to my list of things to do. The things I add these days seem to all require lots of gear that I don't have, but hey its out there and so is REI. The valley was carved anciently by glaciers and left this amazing gorge of cliff faces and waterfalls.

The Trail passed two splendid waterfalls, Vernon and Nevada Falls. They were super small compared to there early spring size. You can see the darker brown rock behind the falls that show the massive size they get earlier in the year. This is Vernon Falls. This is me on the top of Half Dome; a lovely mother took my picture of me on the crazy “diving board of death.” There were tons of cairns on the top of the dome as well; I added my own little addition to many of them. Then the cable trip back down ensued with my crazy Belgian friends, Casper and Rico.

Nevada Falls

So that is the second volume of my journey! After I hobbled down the 8 miles from the top of Half Dome, I went to San Jose and stayed with some friends and started my journey down the Pacific Coast Highway. Yosemite was amazing and I will certainly be returning one day to explore the vastness that I only saw from a distance.

Road Trip Parte Uno

So I quit my job! Yep, I was done, finito, so I quit, no plans, no back up just quit. I found another job three days later, but that’s not the point. I was free. I stuck it to the man. To fully celebrate the liberty I was experiencing I went on a road trip, just up and left, with a plan in my head, but no set details. I set off in my trusty Subaru for California. So I drove 2680 miles, had one oil change, saw some beautiful scenery and had many good times in between, now I’m back, working for the man again. It was great while it lasted. Freedom, that is.

Here is the famous UTAH TREE, what it is and what it represents can only be spoken of by the creator, which I don’t know who that is, and really don’t care. The tree is located on I-80 just before the Utah-Nevada border.

There was an odd beauty to behold as I crossed Nevada at sunset. It’s probably the only time that this beauty can be found, so I’m glad I had good timing.

I got to Lake Tahoe around 10:30 on September 21^st and found a campsite on the south west side of the lake called Emerald Bay and plopped down to take some night pictures with my tripod. Amazing stars!

I woke up to the sunrise coming over Emerald Bay, and as you can see I was breathless! I proceeded to drive around the rest of the south side of the lake and decided I will one day live in Lake Tahoe. You’ll probably hear that a lot throughout this journey, I want to live everywhere.

I stopped here at the MeadowCliff Lodge and Resort for breakfast. Martha (I just made that name up, she seemed like a Martha) was the greatest server ever, and I enjoyed sourdough French toast special. I told the lovely ladies of the restaurant, I was the only one in there, about my job quitting and road trip, they fully endorsed my get-away!

This is Mono Lake, just to the east of the Yosemite east side entry. It was an interesting experience; it is a sulfuric lake and thus reeked of salty farts and seemed to be void of all life forms of life besides these seagulls. The brown specks you see on the side of the lake and in the water are brine flies, inches thick and quite repulsive. I didn’t know these flies were there until I walked to the edge of the lake and saw the ground moving beneath my feet.

After my stellar sausage links, French toast, and fly breakfast I entered Yosemite National Park through Tioga Pass on the east side of the park. I checked into the ranger station and got my backcountry permit and picked a 15 mile loop to the Young Lakes to backpack into. This was not the ranger station, but it might have been back in the day.

I hiked in for about 7 miles and found the first of the 3 Young Lakes to be a solitary and beautiful to set up camp for the next 3 days. The picture below is the view of my campsite and the next picture is the view from my campsite looking north. The other 2 lakes were to the east of the first lake and I explored those on the next day of my camping trip. I also climbed the mountain right above my campsite on the second day and watched the sunset to the southwest over the entire Yosemite Park. I could see Half Dome and Cathedral Peak from my perch on this rocky precipice.

The many faces of this mountain, which I do not know the name of but woke up to said goodnight to for my first three days in Yosemite. Here are some more pictures of my adventures around the Young Lakes.

So yeah that what my adventure around the Young Lakes. I backpacked in on Monday night and left at 5 am on Thursday morning. I then drove to the “tourist” part of the park and saw the glorious El Capitan, Bridal Veil Falls, and proceeded to hike up the famous Half Dome. I’m going to include the Half Dome pics and recap in the next post.