Death March

Our first day in Yosemite started with a wonderful surprise. When we checked into our campground, we had been told that there was a family of bears that frequented the area. They weren't kidding. First thing in the morning, literally as soon as I got out of the tent, I am greeted by the sight of a Mama Bear and two of her cubs. They're just sniffing around the neighboring camp site like it's no big deal. Soon enough, they got bored with the neighboring camp site and wandered into ours. This arrival was met with our quick evacuation. Luckily, we had followed all the precautions regarding bears and were able to escape with our lives and property.

With a new lease on life, we headed to Yosemite Valley. Our first stop was the visitors center where we consulted a friendly ranger about what hike we should do. Without missing a beat, the ranger told us to hike Vernal Falls after explaining what we were looking for in a hike. The excursion to the top of the falls was about 3 miles round trip and gained approximately 1000 feet in elevation the last few hundred of which are conquered by braving switchback after switchback and climbing approximately 600 stone steps.

We had looked in our Yosemite guidebook the previous night to figure which hike we wanted to do without reaching a conclusion. Liz or Kate remembered that we had considered doing this hike but ultimately rejected it. When we arrived at the trailhead, we remembered the reason. This is the most popular hike in the entire park and despite being late in the season, the trail was packed. It did not appear that it would offer the solitude that at least I was searching for in the wilderness.

After reaching the summit of the falls, we ate some lunch, chilled out a bit and decided to be brave and conquer Nevada Falls which was only a mile and a half away. Nevada Falls is an almost 600 ft waterfall (Vernal was a measly four hundred) and it seemed foolish to let the largest waterfall on the Merced River think that it was hot stuff or that we were afraid of it. Nothing could be further from the truth. We set out on our quest with the understanding that this ascent would be more gradual than the previous one that had taken its toll on all three of us. We had also convinced ourselves that it was only another four hundred feet in elevation (how we were to ascend a 600 ft waterfall and only gain 400 feet in elevation was something that I couldn't take the time to concern myself with in the moment). In reality, we gained another 1000 feet and it was JUST AS STEEP. We were consoled, however, with the knowledge that we could an alternate route for the descent which was more moderate in its decline (this turned out to actually be true but by the time we made our descent our legs were so tired that this was also painful). The view was worth it. The sense of accomplishment was worth it. I love looking out on mountain valleys and seeing all that open space. It's an unbelievable feeling. I don't know that everyone else in my party felt similarly but it was totally worth the effort.

By the time we got back down to the valley floor and back to the car, it was getting dark. We did not feel like setting up the camp stove and cooking in the dark after our 7 mile, 2000 foot hike so we hit up a pizzeria in Yosemite Village. I don't know if it was exhaustion or not but that pizza was DELICIOUS.

I was tired after the hike...