Yosemite Falls

5/4/10 Yosemite Falls

I thought I would split this into two parts because it really deserves it.

Woke up bright and early at 5:45 am, banged out a can of sardines and a few handful of nuts and headed to Yosemite!

This place is phenomenally beautiful. I’m not even sure if phenomenally is a word but I think it fits. I spent today at the valley in Yosemite, what this place is so well known for. What you notice first is all of the colorful pines. Once I got to my first scenic outlook the rest was revealed. Sheer rock faces extend hundreds of feet into the sky with waterfalls spraying water from their peaks. In the far distance are snow capped peaks and the sun blasting sunlight over everything.

Now you wouldn’t expect me to hike anything but the most difficult hike in the park and I didn’t. The hike is around 10 miles in total, which isn’t bad. What makes it difficult is the 2,700 foot change in altitude, about the same as the grand canyon.

I decided not to run this one given that I’d be exercising the entire day. I took my time and took some remarkable pictures. What was neat about this hike was that the top portion of the hike was covered in snow. The snow forced me to make my own trail to where I wanted to go. This was pretty scary considering you couldn’t tell whether or not your next step would put you through the snow. At the top of the falls was an intensely scary vertical drop off 3,000 feet up.


Now I spoke to a man named tyler earlier in the day and he recommended that I do the falls. Little did I know that he is OUT OF HIS MIND! The view at the top of the falls has a railing so that people don’t fall off. Tyler hops over the railing and hangs off the railing over the edge! I almost pooped myself.

A little later I spoke with him about that. He proceeded to tell me that heights no longer bother him as he walks to the edge again and looks over. He said something along the lines of, “what’s the difference between standing here and any other place? Except here I’m really close to death.” Agreed! After that he started saying he doesn’t get vertigo anymore unless he runs over to the edge really quickly and starts jumping up and down, which he did of course. Mean while I was clutching the side of the mountain about to throw up. Enough heights for the day.

Back at the camp ground I was lucky enough to have an extra 2 nights to stay if I pleased, because the previous tenants were nice enough to give me their spot and they had 2 days left that they paid for.

My neighbors tonight were a very friendly couple from New Zealand. They just finished up filming the movie yogi bear in new Zealand. Pretty cool huh? Anyway, they said they were working 16 hour days 6-7 days per week for the past 6 months working on the film. They decide to take 6 months off to travel the US and Latin America! I thought I was having a fun trip. Anyhow, big day tomorrow, I better get some sleep