Welcome to Gaia! ::

So, a few months ago my family and I went on a six-day backpacking trip through Yosemite. Packed along with the dried beans, moleskin and water purifying tablets was a small journal, on which I diligently attempted to record my thoughts. And now I share these thoughts with you, the public, because I am a greedy attention whore writer, and that is what writers do.

A warning before you read: hiking is hard. Like, really hard. So if some of these entries sound more, er... retarded then others, well, that's just the exhaustion, hunger and all-over soreness talking. Also, oxygen deprivation might be a factor.

Also, it's totally fine with me if you just want to look at the pics and not really read it, I know it gets boring.



7-25-08; 7:26 am; Carson City

The first morning of our trip. Yesterday we flew in from Florida. Tomorrow we begin hiking. As of right now we are preparing to leave our hotel and drive to a camp site where we will set up our tent, drive several miles away, leave our car and take a shuttle back to the tent. Tomorrow we will load everything onto our backs like junk bugs and hike back through the mountains to our car, about 28 miles.

It’s gonna be AWESOME.

Looking out the window now I can see those beautiful mountains, covered in rocks and heather and the occasional scruffy tree. They’re the loveliest things I’ve ever seen, and I can’t wait to fling myself into the task at hand with everything I’ve got.
-

7-25-08; 7:27 pm; Tuolumne Meadows

We’re in the camp ground now, and things are dramatically different. The scrubby, sandy mountains have been replaced with a forest of tall, slender pines. Large boulders are scattered everywhere, like marbles flung from a giant’s hand. If you go down to the meadow you can see mountains of pure granite, smoothed by time. I think they look like skin, aged and wrinkled. My brother thinks they look like lumps of pudding.

Earlier we drove to Tenaya Lake on our way to the valley. Visitors before us had built towers of rocks in the shallow water. I tried to build my own, but we had to go so I was unable to get it as tall as I would have liked (some were taller than I was!).

-

7-26-08; 6:40 am; Tuolumne Meadows

It’s cold. So very, very cold. My dad estimates that is got into the 30’s last night, ‘cause there’s frost on the ground. I’m in full gear—boots, long pants, long sleeve shirt (wish I’d brought a jacket), and my hat (my hat is awesome). Mom & Brian are still hiding in the tent.

-


7-26-08; 1:02 pm; Tuolumne River

This place is gorgeous. The river is wide and shallow and made up of small, round pebbles. There is a small beach and it feel so nice just to sit, bury your fet and look at the mountains.
-

7-26-08; 2:29 pm; Glen Aulin Trail

Going over huge flat rock.
-

7-26-08; 5:15 pm; Glen Aulin Campground

Made it. Freaking finally.

God I’m tired. I’ve got this weird yellowish, puffy spot on my hip, about 2 ½ by 1 inch. Brian’s shoulder’s are hurting him. Mom has moleskin all over her feet. Dad just hurts all over.

But it’s okay here. Kind of crowded, I was hoping for more seclusion. And we’re right next to the “bathroom” (a room with a bucket).

Some of the things we saw today were amazing, though. I can’t wait to see the pictures.
-


7-27-08
--


2-28-08; 7:23 pm; Polydome Lake

I didn’t write anything yesterday (duh). I didn’t feel very well; I was nauseous and my skin hurt and I was kind of dizzy. I was all freaked out after hearing about altitude sickness all day, so I would start crying from fear and pain which, when hiking, made it so I couldn’t breath, which just freaked me out more, until my throat closed up and I could just stand there, choking and gasping, and my mom was freaking out thinking I was dying or something… it wasn’t good.

Besides that, the trail was a lot longer and steeper than we thought it would be. Blah.

Anyway, not much was missed. We stayed in the same spot today, and we’re going to resume hiking tomorrow. Yep. So I’ll talk about the site then, because I’m tired.
-

7-29-08; 5:00 pm; May Lake

Today was easy hiking. We got here about 1:00, way earlier the any other time. It’s nice here, the lake is big and cold. I jumped in earlier, along with Dad and Brian (he had to make sure he jumped in more times than anybody).

About Polydome: we were tire so we decided to stay an extra night. It was nice, our campsite. There was a large, gently sloping rock into the water. I built some of those rock towers (cairns?) in the water. Brian & Dad climbed Polydome (they found snow!).

But because we decided to stay an extra night, we’re running out of food, and getting hungry.
-

7-30-08; 8:27am; May Lake

We’re leaving soon for Snow Creek. We’ve learned that are fires burning a few miles away. Last night we could see the smoke moving in and blanketing the valley in a thick smog. Some of the more far away mountains looked decidedly evil, with the thick, low hanging smoke and the dark peaks. We looked this morning and most of the smoke seems to have been blown away. Hopefully it will stay this way, but if it doesn’t, well, there’s really not much we can do. At any rate, we’re getting out tomorrow (which in good, ‘cause we’re all pretty hungry. I would kill for a Cuban sandwich right now).
-

7-30-08; 12:51 pm; Snow Creek Trail

Downhill. My arms hurt, my feet hurt… everything hurts. And we still have miles of and miles of toe-crunching descent to go. But hey, at least we get lunch! A cracker and a half and a triangle of cheese.
-

7-30-08; 3:25 pm; Snow Creek

So, we made it. 8 miles in one day, our longest day yet. My arms and legs are sunburned and painful to touch, and I have two dime-sized blisters on the back of each foot.
-

7-30-08: 4:04 pm; Snow Creek

Snow Creek runs fast and cold, tumbling through algae covered rocks and swirling around larger boulders. A fallen tree stretched across the creek, providing an easy resting place to sit and think. Further downstream, the riverbed is wide, flat stone, the water pouring over it no more the ankle-deep. The sun is fast slipping behind the trees, but the light that remains makes the stone shine copper and gold. Several round, deep holes in the creek are filled with river rocks. They are smooth and heavy, and fit nicely in the palm of my hand. I want to bring them with me, but we still have miles to go before we’re done.
-



7-31-08; 10:03 am; Snow Creek

Last day! We’re moving out now—in 3.7 miles we’ll be in Yosemite Valley, and there’s a deli! smile
-

7-31-08; 10:49 am; Switchbacks

Going down. Brian had to “take a walk” so we’re getting a little break.
-

7-31-08; 12:12 pm; Switchbacks

Still going down.
-

7-31-08; 1:12 pm; Switchbacks

Still going down. This is harder than I though it would be. But we’re almost done now, I’m sure of it.
-

7-31-08; 1:34 pm

End of switchbacks! It’s going to be easy from here on out.
-

7-31-08; 2:25 pm

Lies, all lies.
-

7-31-08; 3:16 pm

Made it. (Alive, believe it or not.)
-



And that's the end. We didn't make it to Lake Tahoe until about midnight, maybe even a little later--I kept thinking that my dad was gonna fall asleep and drive us off a cliff or something (he didn't). Awesome experience though, really amazing--everyone should be able to backpack at least once in their lives. It's a bit expensive, not to mention physically and mentally challenging, true, but totally worth it.

Pictures added (woot).

Why thankee kind sir. This is actually only about half of it; I took out the ones that were just something like, "Mom called Brian a DING-DONG-DODO" (true story) or "Hay look a deer food is happening now yum cheese it's cold."