Yosemite National Park!

Wednesday July 13 –

Brian, Nate, and I packed everything up and had to make room in the car for 3 more people!  With two boxes strapped to the roof, and the middle of the car full of suitcases, we picked Renee and Lauren up from the airport and Kirsten from the Presidio in downtown San Francisco where she was visiting a friend.  We squeezed in just fine!

We immediately headed out east toward Yosemite.  On our way out there, we stopped at a winery, In &Out Burger, and a farm stand.  It was the culinary essentials of a visit to Cali (sans Seafood).  The farm stand had some delicious strawberries (and nectarines, and apricots) that were eaten in minutes.  We also stopped at a grocery store on the way.  Nate and I felt like we were running an outfitting trip, with us picking everyone up in San Fran, driving them out to Yosemite, and providing the camping gear.  It was a lot of fun to pretend to know what we were doing!

Our First Glimpse of Yosemite Falls!

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We finally arrived in Yosemite around dinner time and were blown away at the beauty!  A little (or rather quite large) piece of heaven on Earth! Our campsite was also fantastic, as we were nestled in the corner, next to a creek on an outer loop.  Thus peace and quiet and lots of space!  With the darkness looming, we set up camp and headed to bed (to far off sounds of people yelling ‘Go Away Bear!!’), excited for some hiking in the morning.

Thursday July 14^th-

We woke up to a gorgeous morning, ate delicious camp breakfast of eggs and hashbrowns and packed up for our hike.  We hiked up Vernal Falls and then onto Nevada Falls, up the Mist Trail and then back down the John Muir trail.  It was supposed to take us about 4 hours to hike, but with lots of stops for water breaks and lunch on the way up, and a picture every twenty steps most of the way, it ended up taking about 7 hours.  The views of the water falls were fantastic.  We got drenched at Vernal Falls and were glad we climbed the wet staircase safely to the top of the falls.  We’re also thankful that we and the rest of the family who did the hike on Saturday all made it up and back down safely. Just a few days after we hiked it, 3 people who had climbed over the guard rail at the top, slipped and went over the falls to their deaths.  The gripping reality of the wildness of nature and that you can’t expect everything to be as safe as Disneyland.  The wilderness is actually a dangerous place.  Since the Grand Canyon, Nate and I have been reading ‘Over the Edge: Death in the Grand Canyon’ and have been learning all of the different ways that people test the wilderness.  The conclusion of the book seems to be “Don’t be a 20-something male hiking alone; and never pee off high places”.  We’ve been humbled and thank God that he’s kept us safe throughout our journeys.

With Lauren, Renee and Kirsten on our way up to Nevada Falls!

At the base of Vernal Falls right before we got drenched by the mist. 

The super wet stone stairs to the top of Vernal Falls!

At the top of the falls!

Lauren at the top of Nevada Falls!

It was gorgeous.

Brian liked the giant pinecones!

After taking in the views from the top and making the long trip back down, we were very ready for dinner of Mac and Cheese and Hotdog wheels (yes, just like when you were 4) and some nice warm showers.