Tuolumne Meadows

Oh my, where to start!  It's been such a long time since I've updated and so many things have happened. I only hope I can remember all the details so that when I read this many years later, I can recall the stillness of the woods, the bone chilling drop in temperature, and the smell of fresh pines in the air....but more on that later.

     We took our trip in mid August, before all the craziness of school and work started, and we headed to Yosemite the same way we drove when heading to Bishop. Last time, the road had snow a couple feet deep on its sides and the trees were loaded with pure snow on its branches. This time, however, everything was green and clear; plus, it was day time. I've said this before, but I'll say it again because it really is true: I love road trips with Cody.  I love what we talk about, I love the moments of quiet and the moments of laughter. I love all that he teaches me about the mountains and I love all that we learn about each other.
    I hadn't been in the Yosemite area since 2007, so I was  anxiously looking forward to our arrival as we left hot Sacramento behind us. The temperature got cooler as we got closer, and I felt a twinge of guilt knowing that Cody and I were escaping the heat while our families were stuck in 100 degree weather.  And I guess Karma hit us when we arrived at Ellery Lake, because the temperature dropped like 40 degrees (er, I may be exaggerating, but it was hailing!!!!). Yet, instead of focusing on the negative, we decided to get out of the car and experience the rain and hail by prancing.  Ok, so we didn't quite pranced; it was more like, "whoa! too cold, back in the car, quick!" But just being able to experience the change in temperature was awesome. And it's funny because, at the end of that day, when it had stopped raining, we drove by that lake again and this time, it had an orange glow from the sunset.

    Once we passed through the entrance, I kept expecting to see a bear at any moment, so I kept my eyes open for them. I was constantly disappointed when I kept mistaking logs and dark boulders for bears.  Apparently, Cody found this really amusing.
     We stopped to have lunch and who do you think we ran into?  Matt and Kate from the Bishop trip!  Cody knew they were going to be there that weekend but they made no plans to meet up.  And it's a BIG park! So what could have been the chances of running into them? But regardless, we climbed together after lunch.  These rocks had lots of little knobs that made it easy to climb; I think that area was called The Knobs.  I liked it there. On the way to our campsite, we stopped by a creek and soaked our hands and feet.  Cold water really helps aching fingers and toes.

      At our campsite, in June Lake, we saw some shooting stars :)  We made ourselves a ready to eat meal: Naan and Curry. At night, we heard a loud noise and people trying to scare a bear away.  It wasn't a very pleasant site because in the morning, there were lots of trucks and cars turning on their engine.  It was quite noisy and seemed like a truck stop. I was disappointed that I didn't actually get to see the bear raiding the campground.
       The next day we played on Puppy & Kitty Dome Rocks.  The day started out beautifully and there was an alluring little pond with a small waterfall into it that I told myself I would take a dip in after climbing. At Kitty dome we had a majestic encounter with a doe. While Cody was climbing a guitar rock, there was a doe that stayed near by. It started sprinkling, so Cody took a break from his rock, and while we were standing still, the doe came closer and closer.  We were so happy! So we kept still longer. Everything was still, and then, she started making sounds.  And do you know who answered her? Her fawn!- who was just about 10 feet away from us! The doe reached her baby who promptly proceeded to suckle and then they both started walking away, but not before the fawn looked at us and stomped its foot.  The mom yelled at her kid to get away from those humans and follow her.  Amazing, amazing nature!
    After kitty dome, we stopped by the pond again, but by this time, the temperature was cold, cloudy, grey, and sprinkling. But it's YOSEMITE man! I went in anyways, freezing water, thunder, and all! I hiked back to the car all wet with squishy shoes.  Still no signs of bears.

      On this night, we didn't stay at our reserved campsite. Instead we decided to go primitive!  And found a cute little spot next to a creek on free land.  We set up our tent and it was the best spot we've ever had camping. It was also a short drive to Lee Vining, so even though we were primitive, we had the option of escaping back into town.  We made ourselves some chocolate abuelita and cooled it off in the river.  I was scared of the dark, so I turned on our headlamps every now and then. It looked like we were in the middle of the woods, but it was right next to the road.  I want to go back to that spot.

The following morning, Cody made me pancakes!  Camping pancakes! Camping Banana Pancakes! With maple almond butter.....I love this boy.  He has the  sweetest and most caring soul.  I love my Cody.  As today was going to be our last day, we decided to climb in an aspen grove one last time before heading over to Yosemite Valley. On our way there, we stopped to take pictures at a lookout point and decided that we wanted to climb one more problem: CREATURE OF THE BLACK LAGOON.

If there is one problem I would try over and over again, it would be this one.  Not that I was even able to finish Creature of the Black Lagoon, but I will try again. We will go out out there again someday, preferably next year, to try it. And if I am able to finish it, I will do it over and over again.  Such a beautiful spot, but very swampy. Trust me, you did not want to fall into that murky water.  However, it was a relief knowing that if you did fall, the water would break your fall. Letting go of the fear is a big part in accomplishing any problem.

    Well, after 4 days of camping and no shower, I was down to my last clothes.  And knowing that I would surely fall into the water at some point, I wanted to take my pants and shirts off.  But unfortunately, there were other climbers there too, and though I'm sure they wouldn't have minded if I had stripped down, I'm still not exactly comfortable doing so in front of others.  So I only took one of my shirts off.  With only one dry shirt of my own and a borrowed long sleeve from cody, I ended up looking like this by the end of that project:

Ridiculous!

So, after this, there was only one more place to visit, and that was Yosemite Valley. We walked up to Lower Yosemite Falls where we found a few small pools of water,  but mainly, everything else was dried up. The "falls" were just a trickle, but still cold. We sat on some huge rocks and read our vows to each other, while eating bread and cheese (Cody broke veganism for the trip).  The sun started setting and we knew it was time to head back home. I didn't get to see any bears during this trip, but there's always next year, right?