Yosemite Trip

Jay and I on our way to Yosemite

September 22-24, 2006

Sometimes you just need a break from training and racing. That's why I opted to go to Yosemite with a group of friends and forego training for a weekend. I know, sounds funny, but I was so glad to be where I was and not off in some far away country.


Mark in the Cabin

Jay and I drove up friday afternoon and got into Curry Village a little after 8pm. It was dark and we didn't know which cabins were ours. Jay thought that it'd be a good idea to wonder around in the dark listening for voices that we might recognize but after walking around and noticing that there were more cabins that he though, we decided to walk towards the parking lot when in the distance I noticed Mark T. I yelled his name and he turned around! Whew. No moe wondering around in the dark looking for our party...we had found them!


Jay in bed at the cabin

After setting into our cabin, we made our way to Brandee's cabin where we proceeding to have wine, bread and cheese and great conversation for the next hour or two before calling it quits and going to bed. It was going to be an early morning for sure.


Getting ready to hike Saturday morning

There was a knock at our cabin door at 5:34am...Shozgood was frantically looking for her stove so that she could make her morning coffee! We slowly got up ourselves and we too made coffee and breakfast and sandwhiches for the rest of the day. There were a total of 16 of us on the trip and the plan was to hike up Half Dome. We all left at about 7:15am and proceeded to the beginning of the trail where we took a "before" picture!


Scenic Waterfall

It was a great morning; a bit cool, but you could tell that it would get warmer as the day progressed. I'm not sure how many hours it took us to reach the saddle of half dome...but we stopped quite a bit to take photos, rest, wait for the rest of our group and have lunch.


Climbing to Vernal Falls


Jay on top of Vernal Falls



It was so crowded though when we reached the saddle that there was a line to climb the last 400meters or so up the side of Half Dome. Some wanted to wait in line and others, like Jay, Mark, Laurie, Macy, Brandee and myself decided to hike back down and go to the river!


Shozgood and I on top of Vernal Falls

We made it back to our camp at close to 5pm or shortly there after and all of us were in need of a good shower and some hot food!



Scenic Lake near Vernal Falls


Those that stayed to climb up the last bit of Half Dome followed home shortly after and when they were clean, we all headed to the pizza pub for dinner. 5 pizzas later we were full to the gills and ready to relax back at our cabins.


The Beauty of Yosemite

Sunday we slept in til about 7am and after having coffee and breakfast we took the shuttle to Yosemite Falls which was dry! We walked around and at the visitors center hiding in a tree was a relatively small black bear!! I tried to get some photos, but it was hard to see.


The line to Half Dome
We then went to find some spider caves of which we crawled though! It was eventually getting late, so Jay and I said goodbye to everyone and we headed home.

This is just what I needed...a little break from routine training; oh, my legs were still sore though after that 18 mile hike!