Last weekend a few coworkers and myself decided to brave a trip to Yosemite and go camping. Little did we know that the weather in October gets pretty chilly, like 28 degrees, chilly! AAAH! Then we heard about the rock slides that were occurring in Yosemite Valley and were a little skeptical about going. However, the rock slides were not anywhere near our camp and we thought we could prepare enough to brave the weather, and off we went. The first night we ran out of firewood, and the 30 degrees sleeping bag I had gotten was just not warm enough. The next morning we awoke at 5:30AM to venture off on a 17mile hike to the rock that is known as HalfDome. The hike would take us from about 5600ft. to roughly 8800ft., over the mountains and through the woods. :) We started at about 7:30-7:45AM. It was tough adjusting to the altitude, but after the first mile, which took us about an hour, I was all warmed up. The rest of the journey up was awesome. There were several waterfalls and there were so many people traveling along with you that the pain was bearable. I was truly amazed at how encouraging EVERYONE was along the way. And the higher up we climbed, the more incredible the view got. At one point the group I was with decided to take a break and we just all fell silent as we looked down on where we had been earlier that morning and where we were heading. It was an AWE moment, that I like to think we all had with ourselves and each other. After about 7hours we finally made it to the base of the rock we were to climb. 7hours!! Unfortunately, we decided that we would not have enough daylight to climb all the way up and back down so we stopped there. I must say I am a little disappointed that I/we didn't make it all the way up, which was my personal goal, but I am very glad we all made it! Naturally, as we started the journey back down it started to snow! We arrived back to our cars at approximately 7:30PM, about 12hours from the moment we got on the trail. We headed back to camp, tired and some of us in severe pain, and attempted to get some rest. The weather the second night was predicted to be a mere 18 degrees. Sunday ended our trip, a day early. Overall, the trip was outstanding, however we were all so tired and more importantly cold that we could not picture staying another day. I have included some pictures from our hike and posted more on my Flikr page. Check them out! The one above is me saying "I made it!"
This is the beloved HalfDome! There are cables on the other side that you use to pull yourself up. That was the goal. Maybe next year, when it is not so cold! This has made it to my list of things to do before I die!
One of my coworkers and myself at the top before we started our descent.
A few of us crossing over Nevada Falls, one the two waterfalls. One of the girls kept calling the pine cones, acorns! This drove me crazy! Pine trees DO NOT make acorns, and acorns DO NOT turn into pine cones! I just needed to express that! :)
Just an example of how cold it was, the water streaming down the side of the mountain froze! A few of the people I was with recorded some footage of a black bear, however I was not lucky enough to catch a glimpse of one. It is fairly intimidating all the precautions they suggest you take in order to thwart away the bears. I still wanted to at least see one from a distance. :( There were signs all along the trail for bears, bobcats and mountain lions. Imagine running into a mountain lion, that would be scary.
