Yosemite!
It happened.
Well, most if it.
We went to Yosemite National Park this past weekend, and it was, indeed, freakin' incredible.
As you may have seen, we hatched the plan Thursday night out of nowhere. We left on Friday after work (we got out at like 12:30!) and headed for LA to go to Martin's house. First off, LA is an awesomely nice town. At least, the part we were in. It just looked clean and nice and awesomely laid out.
********BREAKING NEWS***********
I just read that Las Vegas Ski/Snowboard Resort near Mt. Charleston has officially started making snow! HOT DAMN!
Ok, back to the normal update...
LA was nice. Very nice. We stayed the night at Martin's, got to meet his pets and awesome parents, and then left early the following morning in a new car (an Audi)!. It was a nice ride. We drove from LA up through the central valley and into the Sierra Nevadas. It took a few hours but we finally arrived at Yosemite at the Mariposa Grove entrance. We checked out the awesome sequoias in Mariposa Grove and then drove to the center of the park to the famous valley.
The first sighting of Half Dome and El Capitan, two of the most recognizeable and sought after big walls in the climbing world, was awesome. They were just immense. There really isn't any way to put it into words how huge they were. The walls themselves were sheer 3,000 foot (El Capitan) and 2,000 foot (Half Dome) drops. Utterly huge.
We drove into the valley and found a place to camp at Upper Pines Campground right in the center of the valley. That night we got some foodstuffs and toured some of the valley, taking lots of pictures, while preparing for an awesome hike the following day.
Originally I wanted to either bag Mt. Dana (13,052 feet) or Half Dome, but both of those were shot down. Mt. Dana was only accessible by Highway 120, which was closed due to a snowstorm. The main Half Dome trail, which is about 16 miles round trip, culminates with a 400 foot climb up the 45-50 degree granite backside of Half Dome, climbing a makeshift ladder of cables, posts and boards. Well, in early October, the park service removes the boards and posts, leaving only the cables dangling down the face. If you get towards the top and lose your grip, you slide/fall hundreds of feet to your death. Not enough to sway me. I was thinking about doing the hike anyways.
Untiiiiiil it rained all night and into the next morning. Slick granite at a 45-50 degree pitch with 400 foot drops isn't that smart. Sooooo I settled for a hike up to the upper bit of Yosemite Falls, which falls 2400 feet to the valley below making it the 4th largest waterfall in the world. The hike up was hard, with lots of switchbacks and a slippery trail due to the rain and granite. We made it though, and although the falls were obscured by fog, it was a rewarding hike. At the top we cooked a little and then I, noticing we were close to Eagle Peak (and very motivated to bag SOMETHING), decided to continue on an extra 6 miles to hit that while Amy adn Martin descended to meet me in the lodge. The extra bit of hiking was through a HUGE forest with HUGE trees covered in NEON GREEN moss. It was very, very nice. On the way out it was still very foggy, and at the summit (which reminded me a bit of Old Rag), it snowed a little bit. A few minutes after I left the summit the fog burned off and the sun came out, casting the trees in glorious golden rays. It remained out for the duration of the hike, so I made sure to stop back off at the falls to see it in all its glory now that it wasn't obscured by fog.
Glorious.
I hiked back down, arriving at the lodge just before nightfall. I went inside and got a Guinness and a basket of tortillas.
That night we grilled again. Steaks, of course, doused in Montreal steak and marinated with some Old Granddad Whiskey. I love camping. It was another cold night, but my sleeping bag is so comfortable and warm I never noticed.
The next morning we woke up and Amy treated us to breakfast at the Awahnee. Following that we checked out the visitor center before learning that Hwy 120 has reopened (thus shortening our drive by about 3 hours). We piled in the car and hit up 120 through Tioga Pass and the Sierra Nevadas to the way home.
Gorgeous mountains, the Sierra Nevadas. They were covered in snow and surrounded by alpine lakes. I wanted to jump in the lakes (even though they were like... 40 degrees) and run around in the fields and on the mountainsides. I can't wait to go back (hopefully to climb).
Now I have a week of what looks like office work, and then we have a short week next week due to thanksgiving. More importantly, Leuschel and Jym are coming out next week. If I can get wednesday off of work (which I'm prepared to beg for), we're going wakeboarding on Lake Mead. Then, we're gonna play some Vegas poker and summit Griffith Peak on Wed night-Thursday night before Steve and I drive to Zion National Park in Utah for some climbing and/or canyoneering. Glorious.
Potential targets:
Griffith Peak - http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock/153436/griffith-peak.html
Near Charleston and one I meant to double-bag with Charleston a few weeks ago but let get away due to lack of time and energy. Third highest in S. Nevada.
Angels Landing - http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock/150599/angels-landing.html
Possibly the coolest name of any mountain I've tried to get so far, this is more of a fin than a mountain. Less than 6,000 feet so it's not very high, but it just... looks.... really really cool. Plus it has a really sweet, exposed Class III scramble en route to the summit. Nothing like hiking on the edge of a vertical death drop.
One of my life goals is to hike an awesome slot canyon, and this is a great opportunity to do so. Hopefully we'll hit one like this:
http://www.summitpost.org/canyon/243832/hidden-canyon.html
Ok, that's all for now. Gotta get to bed so I don't fall asleep in the office tomorrow.
Pax!
Well, most if it.
We went to Yosemite National Park this past weekend, and it was, indeed, freakin' incredible.
As you may have seen, we hatched the plan Thursday night out of nowhere. We left on Friday after work (we got out at like 12:30!) and headed for LA to go to Martin's house. First off, LA is an awesomely nice town. At least, the part we were in. It just looked clean and nice and awesomely laid out.
********BREAKING NEWS***********
I just read that Las Vegas Ski/Snowboard Resort near Mt. Charleston has officially started making snow! HOT DAMN!
Ok, back to the normal update...
LA was nice. Very nice. We stayed the night at Martin's, got to meet his pets and awesome parents, and then left early the following morning in a new car (an Audi)!. It was a nice ride. We drove from LA up through the central valley and into the Sierra Nevadas. It took a few hours but we finally arrived at Yosemite at the Mariposa Grove entrance. We checked out the awesome sequoias in Mariposa Grove and then drove to the center of the park to the famous valley.
The first sighting of Half Dome and El Capitan, two of the most recognizeable and sought after big walls in the climbing world, was awesome. They were just immense. There really isn't any way to put it into words how huge they were. The walls themselves were sheer 3,000 foot (El Capitan) and 2,000 foot (Half Dome) drops. Utterly huge.
We drove into the valley and found a place to camp at Upper Pines Campground right in the center of the valley. That night we got some foodstuffs and toured some of the valley, taking lots of pictures, while preparing for an awesome hike the following day.
Originally I wanted to either bag Mt. Dana (13,052 feet) or Half Dome, but both of those were shot down. Mt. Dana was only accessible by Highway 120, which was closed due to a snowstorm. The main Half Dome trail, which is about 16 miles round trip, culminates with a 400 foot climb up the 45-50 degree granite backside of Half Dome, climbing a makeshift ladder of cables, posts and boards. Well, in early October, the park service removes the boards and posts, leaving only the cables dangling down the face. If you get towards the top and lose your grip, you slide/fall hundreds of feet to your death. Not enough to sway me. I was thinking about doing the hike anyways.
Untiiiiiil it rained all night and into the next morning. Slick granite at a 45-50 degree pitch with 400 foot drops isn't that smart. Sooooo I settled for a hike up to the upper bit of Yosemite Falls, which falls 2400 feet to the valley below making it the 4th largest waterfall in the world. The hike up was hard, with lots of switchbacks and a slippery trail due to the rain and granite. We made it though, and although the falls were obscured by fog, it was a rewarding hike. At the top we cooked a little and then I, noticing we were close to Eagle Peak (and very motivated to bag SOMETHING), decided to continue on an extra 6 miles to hit that while Amy adn Martin descended to meet me in the lodge. The extra bit of hiking was through a HUGE forest with HUGE trees covered in NEON GREEN moss. It was very, very nice. On the way out it was still very foggy, and at the summit (which reminded me a bit of Old Rag), it snowed a little bit. A few minutes after I left the summit the fog burned off and the sun came out, casting the trees in glorious golden rays. It remained out for the duration of the hike, so I made sure to stop back off at the falls to see it in all its glory now that it wasn't obscured by fog.
Glorious.
I hiked back down, arriving at the lodge just before nightfall. I went inside and got a Guinness and a basket of tortillas.
That night we grilled again. Steaks, of course, doused in Montreal steak and marinated with some Old Granddad Whiskey. I love camping. It was another cold night, but my sleeping bag is so comfortable and warm I never noticed.
The next morning we woke up and Amy treated us to breakfast at the Awahnee. Following that we checked out the visitor center before learning that Hwy 120 has reopened (thus shortening our drive by about 3 hours). We piled in the car and hit up 120 through Tioga Pass and the Sierra Nevadas to the way home.
Gorgeous mountains, the Sierra Nevadas. They were covered in snow and surrounded by alpine lakes. I wanted to jump in the lakes (even though they were like... 40 degrees) and run around in the fields and on the mountainsides. I can't wait to go back (hopefully to climb).
Now I have a week of what looks like office work, and then we have a short week next week due to thanksgiving. More importantly, Leuschel and Jym are coming out next week. If I can get wednesday off of work (which I'm prepared to beg for), we're going wakeboarding on Lake Mead. Then, we're gonna play some Vegas poker and summit Griffith Peak on Wed night-Thursday night before Steve and I drive to Zion National Park in Utah for some climbing and/or canyoneering. Glorious.
Potential targets:
Griffith Peak - http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock/153436/griffith-peak.html
Near Charleston and one I meant to double-bag with Charleston a few weeks ago but let get away due to lack of time and energy. Third highest in S. Nevada.
Angels Landing - http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock/150599/angels-landing.html
Possibly the coolest name of any mountain I've tried to get so far, this is more of a fin than a mountain. Less than 6,000 feet so it's not very high, but it just... looks.... really really cool. Plus it has a really sweet, exposed Class III scramble en route to the summit. Nothing like hiking on the edge of a vertical death drop.
One of my life goals is to hike an awesome slot canyon, and this is a great opportunity to do so. Hopefully we'll hit one like this:
http://www.summitpost.org/canyon/243832/hidden-canyon.html
Ok, that's all for now. Gotta get to bed so I don't fall asleep in the office tomorrow.
Pax!