tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41198157933046020752024-03-13T22:35:19.489-07:00Alex and Dave's Western ExtravaganzaAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11549212137357232032noreply@blogger.comBlogger97125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119815793304602075.post-35560134696756446602015-08-19T10:44:00.000-07:002015-08-19T10:44:32.759-07:00Thursday, August 13th - Monday, August 17th: Madison, WI<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HpENKLzjuhY/VdSt_bP24OI/AAAAAAAAHFI/9iYjEwCcV9I/s1600/Denver%2Bto%2BMadison.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="328" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HpENKLzjuhY/VdSt_bP24OI/AAAAAAAAHFI/9iYjEwCcV9I/s640/Denver%2Bto%2BMadison.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We left the Hefter's Thursday morning, and headed towards AJ and Liz's place near Madison, WI. A long day of driving brought us to their door just before 11PM. AJ had told us he was having trouble staying awake, so he would leave the door open and get up when we arrived. We entered as quietly as we could, and talked quietly to AJ, trying not to wake Liz. As Dave walked down the hall, he went to close AJ and Liz's bedroom door. AJ said "Liz is away for work." AHHH! We didn't need to be so quiet. If we would have known, we would have attacked AJ upon walking in the door! After catching up for a bit, a lot less quietly than before, we headed to bed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> In the morning, we relaxed while having smoothies and lattes before unloading the car into their garage for reorganization. Mid-day, we headed out for a bike ride, heading towards the Grumpy Troll for a late lunch. The route to The Grumpy Troll would take us mostly uphill for about 30 miles. AJ and Dave would say that Alex started to ride "the struggle bus" within a few miles of their destination. At one point, she needed to stop to fix her shoe, and decided to also sit down on the side of the road, eat and drink. After much prompting from the guys, and knowledge that only 3 miles remained, she got back on her bike and peddled slowly up hill. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">At the Grumpy Troll, we enjoyed cold drinks and food, and shelter from the blaring heat of the sun. Sitting outside however, we enjoyed no respite from the humidity. Early on, AJ and Dave had suggested that Alex might just want to take a cab home, but after lunch she was feeling refreshed and decided that that flat to down hill return route should be fine.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">After a few miles, however, Alex's peddling speed was not meeting the expectation of the guys, and was going to make for a long ride home. They called her a cab and peddled away. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Liz was home when Alex arrived, and AJ an Dave arrived shortly thereafter. The three of us enjoyed a pre-shower shower from the garden hose Liz was using to water the flowers. The rest of the weekend was spent taking walks, another bike ride, shopping trips, cooking, and lots of game playing. The original weekend plan of a river trip was thrown out the window when we learned that people had been gotten sick from nearby river water.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">When Monday morning came, AJ and Liz headed to work as we headed back to Pennsylvania. After 13+ hours, we arrived at Alex's parent's house around 9:30PM, the last stop before officially being home. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It is amazing how fast the summer can fly by. Arriving home is always bittersweet. It is wonderful to be with family and friends we have not seen in months, have our own space back again, and enjoy the everyday conveniences of regular access to showers, refrigerators, stoves, and our bed. It is also sad to have to leave behind the freedom of daily adventures with little other worries than what are we going to eat today and where are we going to sleep? We may not have accomplished all of our objectives for the summer, but we had a fantastic time, in beautiful places, with wonderful people... so who can complain? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Until next summer...</span></div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11549212137357232032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119815793304602075.post-71924964103476095602015-08-19T10:38:00.001-07:002015-08-19T10:38:42.702-07:00Monday, August 10th - Thursday, August 13th: Las Vegas to Denver<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">After waking up and packing up the hotel room, we hit the road and headed towards Vegas. Doug would be flying out the next morning, and we would be heading to Denver, CO, for a few days. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">With a food stop along the way, we arrived in Vegas after about 6 hours. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Scary.... </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">No matter how hungry... we still can't eat here!</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1LSp3NaHXBc/VdSlQ6XZkWI/AAAAAAAAHCg/1MUQkmDgW0Q/s1600/20150810_151724.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1LSp3NaHXBc/VdSlQ6XZkWI/AAAAAAAAHCg/1MUQkmDgW0Q/s640/20150810_151724.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">SOOOOO HOT!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We enjoyed several bags of complimentary hotel popcorn before heading to the outdoor pool and basketball court for the afternoon. After showers, we headed downstairs to the "manager's reception" for complimentary dinner and drinks. Thanks, AJ, for hooking us up with a nice hotel :o)</span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Z-5CPXFrzO0/VdSi8hGRYII/AAAAAAAAHBU/o8dzOK3op5o/s1600/IMG_20150810_180646.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Z-5CPXFrzO0/VdSi8hGRYII/AAAAAAAAHBU/o8dzOK3op5o/s640/IMG_20150810_180646.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As evening set in, we headed to the Las Vegas Strip. Despite the setting sun, the weather was still hot and humid as we walked down the strip, heading to Treasure Island to see Cirque du Soleil Mystere. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">After enjoying the show, we headed back to the hotel for a few hours of sleep. As we drove to the hotel, the temperature outside was still 100 degrees... at midnight! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The alarm roused us from our sleep on Tuesday morning, Doug took the hotel shuttle to the airport and we enjoyed a complimentary breakfast before we hit the road for Denver.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The day was fairly uneventful, just a long 11+ hour day in the car. A random bathroom stop in Utah, however, happened to provide us with a nice break from the car. The Sand Bench View rest stop provided awesome desert views.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As the eight-o-clock hour rolled around, we found ourselves nearing the Hefter's home in a Denver suburb. Apparently, not visiting last year through us off, as we found ourselves on the wrong version of their street name wondering why the house numbers were waaaay off. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">After catching up with the Hefters, and enjoying one of Greg's tasty breakfast sandwiches for dinner, we headed to bed for the night. Wednesday morning, we woke later than we expected, and quickly showered and headed out the door. We had plans to meet up with our friends Mike and Jenn, for lunch and a tour of the Stranahan's Distillary. Before lunch, however, we needed to find a place to get the oil changed in the car. After a detour to Starbuck's to liven up the still sleepy Alex, we dropped off the car at a small local garage, and started walking toward's Mike and Jenn's place. It was about a 3 mile walk, and Mike picked us up along the way. We enjoyed a delicious lunch at Racines, while catching up with the pair. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">After lunch, we headed to Stranahan's. We enjoyed the tour, and found it to be thorough and interesting. After the tour, Mike had to head to work for a meeting, and we headed to Joyride Brewing with Jenn. After parting ways, we headed back to the Hefter's to have dinner with them. </span><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11549212137357232032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119815793304602075.post-50114776673996038462015-08-12T22:21:00.002-07:002015-08-12T22:21:46.493-07:00Thursday, August 6th - Sunday, August 9th: Backpacking in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Morning came quickly, and in the dark we made our way towards
Sequoia and King’s Canyon National Parks.
Alex, Dave, and Doug would drive to the starting trailhead, Marvin Pass,
and unload most of the contents of the car into the parking lot. Doug would then pick up the rest of our crew
and their packs at the Crescent Meadow Trailhead, stop at the Ranger’s Station
for a permit and bear canisters, and bring them back to Marvin Pass. While Alex and Dave waited, a yummy breakfast
or potatoes, eggs, and bacon was cooked up.
We were dropped off at Marvin Pass around 6:45 AM, and by 10:00 AM, our
group of six was assembled and ready to hit the trail. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">Day 1 on the trail started with uphill switchbacks, but
eventually turned into mile after mile of flat, mile crushing, terrain.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">Alex and Dave, spent much of the day
questioning whether backpacking here instead of Yosemite was the right
choice.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">Doug said the views and trail
were supposed to be great, but so far it was nothing but blah-ish, lacking
views, and very dusty.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">We hoped things
improved, we wanted Carrie, Pat and Rachel to have amazing trip.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">Perhaps we were being too picky, because even
now they seemed quite happy.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">We stopped
a few times throughout the day to snack and eat lunch, and found ourselves at
the Roaring River Ranger’s Station by 6 PM.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;">
</span><span style="line-height: 115%;">After doing some calculations, we realized we had hiked 18-19 miles that
day, blowing our original goals out of the water.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">Having hiked that significant chunk helped to
make up for the time lost due to the flight delay, and also set us up to be
able to reach Elizabeth Pass the next day.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We found a camping area near the ranger’s station, set-up
tents, changed out of our dusty and sweaty clothes, filtered water, washed up,
started a camp fire, and prepared dinner.
Everyone was pretty tired at this point and lounged around the fire,
enjoying a delicious Doug dinner (rice noodles, Italian seasoning, and salmon),
and some of the absurd amount of wine he lugged in his pack all day. Before long, each of us retreated to our
tents to rest our tired bodies.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Friday morning, we woke soon after the sun, and each of us
did our part to get camp cleaned up and breakfast prepared. We were particularly happy that Pat made us
coffee to sip on and warm us up and we packed camp. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Around 7:30 AM we were on the trail again, headed towards
Elizabeth Pass, about 11 miles away. The
terrain today turned into what we had been hoping for. Granite peaks and cliff faces began to peak
from behind the trees, and eventually come into full view. The “ooohs and ahhhhs” of our friends made us
even happier with the trail. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">As the pass drew close, we stopped at the edge of the meadow
below the pass to make lunch.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">The plan
was tuna, green onion, and cheese in a wrap, but it quickly changed to involve
cooking up some orzo to make it a heartier lunch since gaining Elizabeth Pass
was going to be a tiring endeavor.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">Since
the break was going to be significant, we all took off our boots and gave our
feet and socks a chance to dry out.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;">
</span><span style="line-height: 115%;">Everyone lounged and napped at some point before or after lunch.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">We spent some extra time watching the clouds
after lunch, nervous that they could be bringing storms.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">We did not want to get stuck in the pass area
if a thunderstorm was likely.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">After a
while, we decided the sky looked good, and made a move for the pass…. all of us
except for Doug.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">Doug continued to nap on
ground where we had earlier had fun throwing rocks at his exposed buttocks.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">We were all confident that Doug would catch
up to us, the question was how soon?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Together we made our way towards the pass.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">As the terrain turned steep, Dave took off
quickly moving up the trail, Alex and Carrie took up the middle position, and
Pat and Rachel brought up the rear.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">Soon
we spied Doug in his pink shirt and large pack making his way through the
meadow.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Dave crushed the elevation, and found himself sitting at the
top within an hour.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">As Alex and Carrie
made their way towards the pass, Doug’s voice caught their attention.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">He wanted them to stop so he could get some
sunscreen from them.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">The pair was not
happy about stopping, but Doug quickly scrambled up the terrain ignoring all
the switchbacks to meet them.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">As they
were ready to get moving, Doug asked if they wanted some chocolate and
proceeded to empty the contents of his pack onto the ground in order to reach
the bear canister that contained the Hershey bar.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">Alex and Carrie were making their way up the
rocky switchbacks, questioning their will to live and whether they were ever
going to reach the top.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">Alex was
mentally prepared for what looked to be the end to be a trick, and rightly
so.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">As they came up over the hump, what
was skyline turned into flatter terrain before the final push to the pass.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">Before they could see him, they could hear
Dave shouting a combination of encouragement and taunts for stopping.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">Joyfully, but tiredly, Alex and Carrie joined
Dave on the pass, about 45 minutes after his arrival to it.</span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The three took some pictures and settled themselves on some
rocks in an area on the side of the pass that offered shelter from the
wind. Doug showed up a short while
later, having had to stop to save all the wine from leaking into his pack. A hole had formed in the wine bag, and he
stopped to get water bottles from Pat and Rachel to transfer the remains
into. As Pat and Rachel came into view
of the four of us, Dave wanted to give some encouragement to them. He was going to sing to them, but instead,
Doug pulled out his iPod and mini speaker, blasted some Guns N Roses, and the
pair threw off their shirts to perform on air-guitars and air-drums. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">When all six of us joined on the pass, we celebrated victory….
It was all downhill after this! We
decided to cook dinner on the pass since we still had several miles of hiking
before we could make camp. Mashed
potatoes, summer sausage, and fresh green beans were prepared on the camp
stoves and eagerly devoured before we began to make our way down the other side
of the pass. The pass was the dividing
line between King’s Canyon (where we came from) and Sequoia (where we were
headed) National Parks. </span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We made our way down the backside of the pass, stopping to
filter water on the way. Eventually, the
sloping meadow turned into long switchbacks that would drop us into the valley
below. The views as we descended were
breathtaking, especially with the alpine glow lighting up the rugged
peaks. As darkness fell, we pulled out
headlamps to aid our journey to the valley.
Carrie and Doug walked ahead and located an area for us to set up
camp. Once we all arrived, tents were
quickly set up, a few snacks eaten, and all of us but Doug retreated to our
tents, bodies exhausted from the day. As
we lay in our tents, Doug shouted something along the lines of “DAVE! You are
NEVER going to believe this!” Uh-oh….
“This map says there is a CONCESSION STAND about 2 miles from here!” We verified this in the morning, the map
really did say “camping and concessions (summer only)” at the Bear Paw Ranger
Station. We weren’t really sure what
this meant, but at worst it meant overpriced snacks… which would be delicious! <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As we heard Doug head to the tent, we heard something else
outside. It kind of sounded like a
deer. Dave stuck his head out of the
tent and found it was not only one deer, it was three bucks! One of which was quite large. These deer were very curious and kept coming
closer to our tent. Throwing rocks and
yelling only made them more curious! It
was quite the ridiculous situation, and no one else got out their tents to see
this! Eventually, we went back into our
tent and ignored the curious creatures that wandered around where we slept.</span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We enjoyed a slow and relaxed morning on Saturday, eating
breakfast and drinking coffee around a campfire. We only had about 13 miles to cover between
today on Sunday, so we planned to drop our packs off and do a day hike out to Hamilton Lakes before
hiking to our camping spot for the night.
When we finally got moving, we made our way towards the split in the
trail where we could continue towards our ending trailhead, Crescent Meadow, or
turn off towards Hamilton Lakes. We
stashed our packs in the bushes, and only took the food, water, and other small
items we would need for the 2.4 mile hike to the lake. We meandered up and around the mountain via
switchbacks, stopping for lunch at a waterfall.
When we reached the lake, we all dropped our outer clothing to take a
refreshing dip before lying on the hot stone slabs to dry. At 2:00 PM, the appointed turn-around
time, we made our way back to where we stashed out packs, and made our way
along the stunning and exposed rim traverse of the High Sierra Trail. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">After 1.6 miles of beautiful terrain and raspberry picking,
we arrived at Bear Paw Camp. Turns out
there WAS a “concession stand”! The camp
was a walk in camping area that provided tents and cabins to hikers who
reserved them. It also provided its
guests with meals. Sadly, we could only
drool over the meat cooking on the grill and twice-baked potatoes in the
kitchen. They did however, have snacks
for purchase for those who were hiking through, and we took advantage! It was an oasis in the woods! We feasted on big delicious brownies,
over-priced mini-bags of chips, and apples.
Doug kept calling for more “rounds,” but after spending $30 on snacks,
Carrie, who carried the cash, shut him down with “No, wallet is closed!”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">Joyfully we made our way from Bear Paw another 2 miles
towards where we would camp for the night.
It was the best day ever! </span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Alex, Dave, and Doug arrived at the predetermined location
first, only to find that there were no more cleared campsites. We searched around for a bit, found an area
with good spots for tents, and then cleared the tent areas of debris. Tents went up, dinner was being prepared, and
before long all six of us were together again.
We ate and relaxed, without ever using the fire ring that Carrie and
Dave created, before settling into our tents for the night. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">When we arrived at the Crescent Meadow, two of us would have
to drive the rental car to the starting trailhead to retrieve the Rav 4, so
Dave and Doug planned to start a bit earlier than the rest of the group so they
could quickly cover the remaining 9 miles, and retrieve the car. It would take 1.5 hours to drive from one
trailhead to the other, so they would have 3 hours of driving before we could
all get in the cars.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Dave and Doug set off around 7:10, followed by the rest of
the crew at 7:45. The mileage to the
Crescent Meadow was mostly uphill, but gradual, which made for an enjoyable
hike. Near the end of the trail Alex and
Carrie crossed paths with a rattlesnake, just before hitting they started to
run into lots of day hikers. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The group of four waited for Dave and Doug to show up with
the cars, wandering around the area, checking out the “big trees”. After about an hour, Dave and Doug jumped off
a shuttle bus, saying we would need to take a shuttle. Apparently the ranger who issued the permit
forgot to mention that the trailhead parking area was closed to traffic on
Sundays. Since Pat had the permit in his
pack, Dave and Doug had to park at the nearest parking lot and take the shuttle
to Crescent Meadow to let us know we needed to ride a shuttle to reach the
cars. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Once at the cars, we loaded our packs and headed to the
ranger station at Lodgepole to return our bear canisters. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As we headed back towards Fresno, we noticed some large
cumulus looking clouds rising from behind a mountain. We quickly decided this was actually smoke from
a forest fire. When we stopped at a
lookout, we learned from fire information posting that the smoke was from the
Rough Fire, the same fire that was over the ridgeline from us when we climbed
the Obelisk. The fire had grown
significantly in the last week, and the smoke we could see was a pyrocumulus
cloud.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Back in Fresno, we enjoyed a delicious Mexican dinner before
parting ways with Carrie, Pat, and Rachel.
Not wanting to make the 6 hour drive to Vegas that night, we booked a
hotel room for the night and enjoyed relaxing by the pool and sleeping in real
beds.</span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11549212137357232032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119815793304602075.post-74312238041632293722015-08-12T19:57:00.000-07:002015-08-12T19:57:40.041-07:00Tuesday, August 4th - Wednesday August 5th: Prepping and Delays in Fresno, CA<div class="MsoNormal">
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</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><span style="height: 3px; margin-left: 294px; margin-top: 183px; mso-ignore: vglayout; position: absolute; width: 3px; z-index: 251662336;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img height="3" src="file:///C:/Users/Dunk/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image004.png" v:shapes="Ink_x0020_4" width="3" /></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">After checking into our hotel in Fresno, we showered and headed out to grab some dinner and shop for our backpacking trip. Despite the list prepared for Doug’s backpacking menu, grocery shopping turned into a drawn out adventure due to the upset stomachs that caused Dave and Doug to make many urgent runs to the bathroom. The burgers they had eaten before shopping were not sitting well in their stomachs. This feeling of unwellness prompted Alex and Dave to make a “pre-shopping” run through Trader Joe’s to give us a few bags full of food that was much more our normal diet. The fruit, yogurt, granola, green juice, and kefir would fuel us that evening and the next morning. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Back at the hotel that night, Alex and Dave enjoyed sleeping,
while Doug was awake through most of the early morning hours, texting back and
forth with his sister, Carrie. She and two family friends, father-daughter pair
Pat and Rachel, boarded their plane in Philly, only to have to get back off for
a 7 hour delay.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">The original plan was
for us all to begin hiking that afternoon after they arrived.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">It was time to start thinking about Plan B.</span></span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mcAg9vh0Oas/VcwE9Gp-TJI/AAAAAAAAGsg/4-P8GTLQ1ms/s1600/20150804_212417.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mcAg9vh0Oas/VcwE9Gp-TJI/AAAAAAAAGsg/4-P8GTLQ1ms/s640/20150804_212417.jpg" width="360" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">We spent a lazy Wednesday morning lying in the comfy hotel beds
blasting the AC.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">We eventually, moved
ourselves to the pool and relaxed there while we also got some laundry
started.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">As check-out time approached,
we decided to just book our room for another night, since the flight situation
was not rectifying itself.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">Around
lunchtime, we peeled ourselves from our lounge chairs, and headed to a small
Mexican restaurant Doug had eaten at when he had flown into Fresno.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">After filling our stomachs with a delicious
lunch from La Enchilada, we resumed lounging by the pool.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">The thought crossed our minds… this is what
“normal” people do on vacation, isn’t it?</span><span style="line-height: 115%;">
</span><span style="line-height: 115%;">We certainly were enjoying it, but didn’t think we could do it for more
than one day!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">As Carrie, Pat, and Rachel’s arrival time grew closer, Doug
began preparing pasta salad, potatoes, and lamb steaks for dinner.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">All of this occurred at the pool, with the
aid of our Coleman camp stove.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">We all
enjoyed a fantastic dinner before heading to the parking lot to start
organizing food and gear into packs and into cars.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">Our trip would start and end at different
trailheads, so we would need to leave a car at each and do a little transportation
coordination to get us all to the starting trailhead the next day.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Sleepily, we all retreated to our rooms for the night, eager
and excited to get on the trail the next morning.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11549212137357232032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119815793304602075.post-5183911987165700912015-08-05T09:28:00.000-07:002015-08-05T09:28:25.161-07:00Sunday, August 2nd - Tuesday, August 4th: The Obelisk!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XPtzgFRCS0I/VcIuA5j3PpI/AAAAAAAAGrM/m-iyafieYRE/s1600/Map.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="616" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XPtzgFRCS0I/VcIuA5j3PpI/AAAAAAAAGrM/m-iyafieYRE/s640/Map.PNG" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Most direct route from Mammoth Lakes to our trail head.</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8hnvkwXbQV8/VcIuA6UmfHI/AAAAAAAAGrI/jRBfpK-i6c0/s1600/obelisk.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="528" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8hnvkwXbQV8/VcIuA6UmfHI/AAAAAAAAGrI/jRBfpK-i6c0/s640/obelisk.PNG" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We packed up camp and headed to Oakhurst. We wanted to have coffee and breakfast at the Cool Beans, where we had stopped earlier this trip, however, it was closed, so we headed to Starbucks.</span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pDy9LKkq6r4/VcGoivqPueI/AAAAAAAAGis/2uHHSd4Lhl0/s1600/20150802_092240.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pDy9LKkq6r4/VcGoivqPueI/AAAAAAAAGis/2uHHSd4Lhl0/s640/20150802_092240.jpg" width="360" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Keeping up with the blog can be stressful.</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-d4zx_IY6V2A/VcGoh84oi5I/AAAAAAAAGio/TiGI2eTAZaw/s1600/20150802_092246.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-d4zx_IY6V2A/VcGoh84oi5I/AAAAAAAAGio/TiGI2eTAZaw/s640/20150802_092246.jpg" width="456" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">After breakfast and electronic updates, we grabbed some pizza for lunch before heading towards the Dinkey Creek Ranger Station for backcountry camping permits. The volunteer run station had no one present, so we organized and packed in the parking lot in case someone showed up in the meantime. Based on our past experience, we wanted to go light, keeping our climbing and camping gear to a minimum. There would be no fluffy extras on this trip, like flip flops for camp.</span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jCf8Vr6rGeg/VcGo4TS6ajI/AAAAAAAAGi8/YmLWQ4GdeAk/s1600/20150802_150027.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jCf8Vr6rGeg/VcGo4TS6ajI/AAAAAAAAGi8/YmLWQ4GdeAk/s640/20150802_150027.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gRO_2W1MCmE/VcGsBcM48zI/AAAAAAAAGjQ/5hV_5cv8wZo/s1600/20150802_141724.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="478" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gRO_2W1MCmE/VcGsBcM48zI/AAAAAAAAGjQ/5hV_5cv8wZo/s640/20150802_141724.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Nearly four years ago to the day (literally within a day or two), the three of us set off to climb the 700ft West Face of <a href="http://www.mountainproject.com/v/the-obelisk/107739679" target="_blank">The Obelisk</a>. At this point we aren't really sure where the original idea came from to climb this obscure, seemingly little climbed peak, 10 miles from the trailhead. This turned into an epic trip involving a heinous approach over disappearing trails, through groves of fallen sequoias that involved belly flopping onto and rolling over rather than trying to walk around, to a late start on a long route with headlamps forgotten on the ground. If you have some time, ask one of us about this adventure, because there is too much to relate right here. The end result was us unknowingly climbing a detached tower, having to retreat, leaving gear to makes the rappels in the fading light to touch down on dirt in darkness. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This peak has been looming over us for four years. We have shared the story, talked about it among ourselves, and promised ourselves we would get back there as a group to reach the summit. It was casually brought up in the planning stages of this summer, but with so many other big objectives, an several hours out of the way, we did not see it as a real consideration this year. It was only after several negatives hit our big wall plans that we decided to set our sights on conquering The Obelisk. We decided it was way to hot, and we were too slow, for us to reasonably climb The Nose. Our weather window for climbing Washington Column over 2 days was disrupted by poor weather. We had family/friends flying out in a few days for a backpacking trip. Looking at our schedule, location, and weather, The Obelisk fit in. We were sold. It was going to happen, and we were stoked! Each of us, however, held some nervous anticipation inside as we prepared for this trip. This climb was well within our abilities, we would never think twice about it, it was our history with this peak that had us. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">At the Crown Valley Trail Head, we stashed our extra food bins in the bear boxes, made final adjustments to our packs, and hit the trail around 5:15 PM. Our plan was to hike in to Lower Geraldine, set camp for the night, climb in the morning, and then hike out. As we made the first creek crossing, Doug, wearing his Monopoly shorts, stashed celebratory beverages in the creek to chill until our return.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As we walked, most of our conversations revolved around the familiar landmarks along the approach, conquering the peak, and what we would eat when we were done.</span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SwZqyYlhlW0/VcGslf3mWGI/AAAAAAAAGjs/W74smRcb_o8/s1600/DSCN1973.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SwZqyYlhlW0/VcGslf3mWGI/AAAAAAAAGjs/W74smRcb_o8/s640/DSCN1973.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Aa5DHP_KwHw/VcGslCI4flI/AAAAAAAAGjo/fUXxHWOyDwQ/s1600/DSCN1977.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Aa5DHP_KwHw/VcGslCI4flI/AAAAAAAAGjo/fUXxHWOyDwQ/s640/DSCN1977.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Statham Meadow</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As we passed Statham Meadow, we were excited, knowing we were moving at a good pace. We knew we had a decent amount of elevation to gain ahead, and that trails may disappear, but we were still stoked. As the human trail disappeared, we found ourselves following the paths of the free range cattle that wander the wilderness. These appeared to be smart cows, as the were generally following the path we wanted, and had cleared a path for us. Their trail was fairly easy to follow, however they did leave large, mushy, smelly, trail-markers along the way.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As darkness began to fall, Doug navigated us through the meadows, forests, rock fields, and the final pass to Lower Geraldine Lake, as Alex tried to grumble quietly about hiking in the dark. As we came down from the pass, we knew we had to be getting close to the lake, which would be our camping area. We scrambled down rock, bushwacked through various types of foliage, and soon found each of us saying "Hey! This (rock, tree, boulder) looks familiar..." Wait! This WAS our exact campsite from four years ago! A quick check that they lake was near confirmed it! We were beyond stoked to be there! We made excellent time, just under four hours, far less than it took us the first time, and we felt much better as well! As Dave and Alex set up their tent, Doug began to prepare dinner and make a small fire. Once our bellies were full, we headed to bed to dream about conquering The Obelisk they next day.</span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-q75KX6wOsWg/VcGs27xXqwI/AAAAAAAAGkA/_cpxp_vY3cY/s1600/DSCN1980.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-q75KX6wOsWg/VcGs27xXqwI/AAAAAAAAGkA/_cpxp_vY3cY/s640/DSCN1980.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We awoke at 5:15 AM to make backpacker breakfasts, coffee, and tea. We finished prepping our day packs, filtered water for the day, and started walking the last 2 miles off to the base of our climb at 7:30.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As we came over the final pass, eager to see the meadow and Obelisk come in to view, a surprising view appeared. Look at all the fog! We stopped to take pictures, and scope out our approach to the start of the climb. The Obelisk is the dome feature towards the left side of the picture below. We would climb the 700 foot West Face (right side) and rappel off the near what you can see as the left side of the formation. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Working our way through the brush and boulders we realized it was not fog that we saw in the valley, but smoke. There must be a forest fire somewhere in the distance. We soon found ourselves at the base of the wall, deciding where our climb would start. We spied our last set of rappel anchors still on the wall above, we wondered if they would still be there. Nearby, was where we should have started our climb four years ago. The (in)famous golf club was also at the base, though broken. Doug, however, was the only one to see it, as he immediately picked it up and hurled it before Alex and Dave made there way to him.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Anchors left from 2011 Trip</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">By 9:30 AM, after a quick snack of PB&J, Dave was ready to climb and Alex had him on belay. He climbed through the starting chimney, and exited to the left, climbing carefully on the knobby face until he was nearly out of the 60 meter rope. Alex climbed next, cleaning the gear as she went, so that Dave could climb another pitch before she belayed Doug up. The route finding was obscure, and Dave wound up doing a heady down climb for about 30 feet when the path did not seem right. He climbed another 60-70 feet to a large ledge, where Alex and Doug joined him to discuss the best path. We all seemed to have similar thoughts, so Dave began climbing up the knobby, plated face in the gully for another nearly full rope length. The belay was set in a left facing corner up and left from where we started. We all rejoined at this point before Dave set off up and right onto the face and into the welcome warming sun. Two more full rope length brought us to a large ledge with interesting chickenhead knobs that looked like a coral reef protruding from the top. One final rope-stretching pitch brought up to the top of the climb. Around 3:00PM, after over 1,000 feet of climbing, we were able to un-rope, walk to the summit boulder. Once on the summit, we celebrated our long awaited achievement, signed and read the summit register, and took a few smoke-hazed pictures. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We made our way to the first set of rappel anchors, adding a piece of webbing to the single bolt and chiceknhead station of crunchy webbing before making a short rappel to another anchor below. We added a piece of cordelette to this station as well and set up a double length rappel with a EDK(European Death Knot) in hopes of avoiding the rope getting snagged when we pulled it down later. The rappel was AMAZING! It was free-hanging for about 150 feet off the 200+ feet, and required the full rope stretch to touch ground. Until this point, the free-hanging rappel of the 3rd Flatiron in Colorado probably had this title, but this was now the clear winner. Spinning freely in the air as we lowered with open views all around was breathtaking, and even a little unnerving. Doug rappelled last, and </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">pulled the rope successfully from a connected sub-formation.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">After cheerful rejoining on the ground, our jubilant group cleaned up gear and headed back towards camp. We stopped just before the pass to sit and take in a few more views of The Obelisk, as we intended to never make the long approach to this beautiful place again. We decided that as it was getting later in the day, we were all tired, still had to walk back to camp, eat, and clean-up, we would camp out one more night, and hike out in the morning.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Tuesday morning, we packed up camp, ate a light breakfast, and took some pictures. As we did, our "I'm never coming back here... though it is beautiful" turned into "We could come back here on a backpacking trip to fish... It wouldn't be so bad without climbing gear."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We were able to stay mostly on trail during hike out, and were amazed at how soon we found ourselves at Statham Meadow. The hike out was going very quickly and easily, though we felt we kept a casual pace. Within 3 hours we found ourselves back at the car.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Alpine Bovine</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">After retrieving our celebratory drinks from the creek, we headed towards the trail head and met up with a National Forest Service Fire crew. We talked with a few of them for a while getting an update on where the fire was and even had some "climber talk" for a while. As expected, the fire was on the other side of Spanish Mountain, and they were using the the large rock formation as well as other techniques to help keep it from spreading in the valley.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Hungrily, we made our way to the nearby camp store to find they no longer serve the fresh made sandwiches we remember from 4 years ago. We left and opted to wait until we got to the Dinkey Creek store 9 miles down the road to eat. After eating, we made a quick stop at McKinley Grove so that Doug could see some giant trees up close. From here, we would be heading to Fresno, getting a hotel for the night, and grocery shopping for the backpacking trip which would start on Wednesday evening after the rest of our hiking crew flew into Fresno. </span><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11549212137357232032noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119815793304602075.post-78897938222109131602015-08-02T10:43:00.001-07:002015-08-02T10:43:38.387-07:00Saturday, August 1st: Climbing in Clark Canyon, Mammoth Lakes<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Dave cooked up tasty breakfast potatoes, and Alex cleaned up camp, while Doug lounged in his hammock. After a relaxing morning, we packed up camp and headed towards Clark Canyon to climb. Unknowingly, we had chosen a camping spot that was on the road that lead to our chosen climbing area. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">After several miles on a dirt road, and only one nasty rocky section, we found ourselves in the parking lot ready to gear up. Realizing that we only had about 2 liters of water, and the creeks we drove by were dried up, we came to the conclusion that we could use the cooler water! Unlike, Western Extravaganza #1, where we drank cooler water that tasted like salami, this water was untainted, but we filtered it anyways. Ingenuity at its best!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We bushwacked our way towards "The Alcove," eventually meeting up with the actual trail. This was an awesome area with bolts and anchors EVERYWHERE! After days of long trad routes, a day of sport climbing was perfect. Not only were there routes everywhere, but every climb had Super Shuts at the top which made for super fast cleaning of routes. We hit about six routes on the grippy, pocketed, volcanic rock before the thunder and impending doom crept too close.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Lightening strike fire in the distance</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Back in the car we headed back towards Yosemite. Since the weather and lack of a rain fly for our portaledge had thwarted our plans to do on overnight on a "small-big-wall" we had decided we would head towards The Obelisk in King's Canyon. The Obelisk has been looming in the minds of each of us since it shut us down on Western Extravaganza #1. Over 10 miles from the car, being eaten alive by mosquitoes, climbing off route, having to leave gear to retreat in the the dark with no headlamps because they were in the packs on the ground... yeah... it was an epic, and we need to rectify it. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Our plan was to make a quick run through The Valley to pick up some souvenirs before heading out to The Obelisk on Sunday or Monday. Since the weather looked like a heinous storm was soon going to unleash, we decided to just go to The Mobil one more time! Fish tacos for Dave and Doug, and ribs for Alex.... who would ever think you could get food like this at a gas station?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Down in The Valley, we made a stop a Curry Village for ice cream and to buy some webbing to replace the stuff we left on Cathedral Peak. While in the gear shop, we lost Doug, and when we found him at the car after we bought ice cream, he was a dark grumbly soul. Apparently all the people in Curry Village were a bit too much for him. Fortunately, we were able to lighten his soul by calling him over to check out the alpenglow on Half Dome.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">On our way out of the park, we made a detour to walk up to El Cap. Doug had yet to do this since we yanked him out of The Valley and took him to Tuolumne as soon as he arrived. Missing the trail we wanted in the dark, we bushwacked our way up to the start of The Nose by headlamp. We spent some time taking pictures of Doug, before settling down on the edge of the wall, turning off our headlamps, and taking in the night sky once our eyes adjusted to the darkness. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We followed the climbers trail back to the car, popping out a few hundred feet from the car. We followed the long winding road out of the park towards our camping area outside of Oakhurst.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11549212137357232032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119815793304602075.post-4878570780435790782015-08-02T09:20:00.000-07:002015-08-02T09:20:21.449-07:00Friday, July 31st: Lake Tahoe<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We woke in our terrible little hotel room to a gloomy looking day. Since we could see it was already raining in Mammoth Lakes, our next destination, we decided we would go swimming in Lake Tahoe and figure things out from there. After a quick coffee run, since the coffee in the hotel lobby was as awful as the room, we packed up and headed towards the lake. Along the way we spied a yard sale that had a large inflatable 4-person raft (capable of using a motor) and an inflatable kayak. After inquiring what they would like for them, we negotiated to $130 for both, along with the paddles and 3 pumps.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We were giddy with excitement that now we could float on the lake for less than the cost of rentals. The car was already a loaded disaster, why not add two more things...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We made a quick run in a Ross store to see if they had any life jackets. It must have been our lucky day! They had just gotten three in that morning! As Alex was perusing the clothing racks, Dave and Doug had done a little browsing of their own and found some lovely muumuu's for us all. </span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_IyCpi6zv2c/Vb5Al0XYKqI/AAAAAAAAGcs/JhjzDle1RR4/s1600/20150731_161135.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_IyCpi6zv2c/Vb5Al0XYKqI/AAAAAAAAGcs/JhjzDle1RR4/s640/20150731_161135.jpg" width="360" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Some rain was beginning to fall, so we made a early lunch break at Sierra Pizza to wait it out. Once the weather cleared, we headed to find a beach area on the lake. We inflated our raft, and headed for the crystal clear, stunningly blue (pictures don't do it justice), water of Lake Tahoe. We spent a couple ours enjoying our day's purchase before heading to shore to pack up the raft and head south towards Mammoth Lakes for some climbing the next day.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Doug's "swimsuit" was also a Ross find!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">After a drive through the town of Mammoth Lakes, we found a nice dispersed camping area along Ownen's River Road. We set up camp, Dave and Alex opting to just set up the tent rather than try to deal with the explosion of gear and clothes that was now the entire car. Dave and Alex scavenged the area for rocks to make a fire ring, while Doug cooked up a yummy meal of lentil/rice/corn burritos. After dinner, we wrapped up some potatoes and an onion in foil and placed them among the campfire coals to cook for breakfast the following morning. After a few hours around the fire, we all headed to bed for the night. </span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11549212137357232032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119815793304602075.post-1937632688481672132015-08-01T17:39:00.000-07:002015-08-01T17:39:08.215-07:00Thursday, July 30th: Lover's Leap<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We packed up our hotel room and headed to find a laundromat and grocery store. Dave and Doug dropped Alex off to tackle the laundry while they shopped for food. The laundromat was quite the place. Not only did it have laundry facilities and slot machines, but it also served bar food and alcohol. Alex opted for a cup of coffee, which sadly left much to be desired; it tasted like burnt water with slight (bad) coffee flavor.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">When Dave and Doug returned, we played a total of $4 in the slots, and cashed out with $4... big winners!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We hopped in the car and headed towards Lover's Leap, a 1.5 hour drive. Along the way Dave got Alex another cup of coffee when we stopped for gas. He handed it to her with the warning, "This is probably not going to be very good.... It came out of a powdered mix..." YUCK!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Lake Tahoe eventually came into view and it looked amazingly beautiful and blue! Playing in it would be fun, but we were on a mission to get some climbing, so we drove on. Dave pulled off at an actual coffee shop along the way in hopes of finding some good coffee. SUCCESS! Awesome little place with awesome cold-brewed iced coffee none the less!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Once parked in the Lover's Leap parking area, we organized gear and headed towards the Lower Wall. Doug wanted to get a lead in, and we figured that it would also to help calm him down a bit. After checking out what climbs were open, Dave sent him up Surrealistic Pillar (5.7). After Doug led the 1st pitch, Dave went second, and Alex followed up 3rd, cleaning the gear. Pitch 2 turned into a bit of a debacle. As Dave began climbing, he attempted to clean a black Metolius cam from above the anchor, and it was stuck. Dave worked at it, with his nut tool, and had Alex give him her's as well, but it was not going well. At one point, Doug yelled down to just leave it.... he new when he set it, it was bad. Dave, however, was persistent, he had never left a cam and didn't want to start now. After more than 45 minutes, Dave finally freed the cam and continued up the second pitch. Soon, it was Alex's turn to climb, but not before some gear cleaning work herself. The #6 cam was pretty stuck too, and though it didn't take 45 minutes to clean, it took a bit of time as she worked each lobe to move it millimeter by millimeter until it was free. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The third pitch of the climb was an easy sloped in slab with horizontal dikes and ledges, that you could climb like a ladder. Soon all three of us were on top of the 270 foot climb. Four hours was a long time for the climb and we were all happy and eager to be headed down to eat dinner. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">#4, #5, and #6</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Back in the parking lot, we were momentarily confused by a car that looked exactly like ours, same roof box and all... but with Colorado plates. As we walked we head "DAVE!" We turned to see some familiar faces... </span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hhLSLh4caK8/Vb1hD_esk8I/AAAAAAAAGbc/VrpRrykyFrk/s1600/jake%2Band%2Bjeff.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hhLSLh4caK8/Vb1hD_esk8I/AAAAAAAAGbc/VrpRrykyFrk/s640/jake%2Band%2Bjeff.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">(Picture stolen from Jake's Facebook)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Jake and Jeff had been climbing and camping in Lover's Leap. They saw us when we hiked in, but we missed their shout, so they checked the plates on our car to confirm it was us!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">After talking with them for a bit, we headed back towards South Lake Tahoe to get a hotel room for the night. It was supposed to rain overnight, and we didn't feel like dealing with wet stuff in the already jam packed car, so we figured we could find a cheap hotel. Doug was in charge and booked a room that turned out to be awful. Since that moment, Doug's hotel selection privileges have been revoked. The room was tiny, the room only had one bed which was a full instead of the advertised queen, there was no air conditioning (just a small table top fan in its place), the wireless internet was slow when it actually worked, and the shower was tiny and fluctuated temperature often. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Big man in a little shower"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Doug cooked up some pasta and made pasta salad with pepperoni and cheese, which we devoured before heading to our cramped bed to sleep. At one point in the night, Dave decided the bed was too hot and cramped and retreated to sleep on a thin foam sleeping pad on the floor. </span><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11549212137357232032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119815793304602075.post-45478937687675775802015-07-31T10:48:00.000-07:002015-07-31T10:48:04.103-07:00Wednesday, July 29th:Rest Day in Reno<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GS6c4-kojVw/VbuwArp9GHI/AAAAAAAAGXs/o8TW7qFIqwk/s1600/20150729_073526.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GS6c4-kojVw/VbuwArp9GHI/AAAAAAAAGXs/o8TW7qFIqwk/s640/20150729_073526.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">After reorganizing the gear we had tiredly thrown in the car
the night before, we made our way towards Hirobi Sushi in Reno. We made a quick stop at a small coffee shop
along the way, and arrived at Hirobi around 11:00. Hirboi was AMAZING! For $18 each, we had all-you-can-eat
made-to-order sushi, along with appetizers, warm sake, and a desert. Carlos, our sushi chef was awesome. He became as excited to make us sushi as we
were to eat it. Before leaving he even
told us that if we were ever in Reno again we could stay with him and his wife. Oddly, this is not the first time we have had
people give us offers like that! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Bellies full of deliciousness, we headed to Sierra Trading Post to browse for deals on outdoors gear/clothing before we parked ourselves at some tables outside to utilize the free Wi-Fi. We booked a hotel room at one of the casinos for the night, excited to shower, relax in the hot tub, and sleep in a real bed.</span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11549212137357232032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119815793304602075.post-53341458608716586172015-07-31T10:16:00.001-07:002015-07-31T10:16:07.845-07:00Tuesday, July 28th: Cathedral Peak<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ev71w4R-K8Y/VbuNKoyD8FI/AAAAAAAAGQI/fJgyFhwpfrk/s1600/DSCN1724.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ev71w4R-K8Y/VbuNKoyD8FI/AAAAAAAAGQI/fJgyFhwpfrk/s640/DSCN1724.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">When our alarms went off, we silenced them and went back to
sleep. It was cold, we were tired and
sore, and we only had 6 pitches of climbing and a few downhill miles to walk
when we were done. We enjoyed a lazy
morning, eating breakfast, drinking coffee, and packing up camp. </span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YUuG1KtH9vc/Vbulrj8HO2I/AAAAAAAAGV0/iihsfinR8e8/s1600/DSCN1840.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YUuG1KtH9vc/Vbulrj8HO2I/AAAAAAAAGV0/iihsfinR8e8/s640/DSCN1840.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Eventually, we made our way towards Cathedral
Peak, stopping along the way to filter water for the rest of the day. We stashed our packs in the trees below the
climb before scrambling up to the start.
There were several parties already on the wall, so it took a few minutes
to decide where we wanted to begin.
Cathedral Peak has many variations of routes on it, which provide many
opportunities for faster parties to pass slower parties before arriving at the
bottleneck right before the summit. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As Dave led the way, we made good time and passed several
parties along the way. After two
full-rope length pitches we found ourselves at the chimney. The chimney, which often has a line of
parties waiting for it, was about to be ours to climb. After two more short pitches, we found
ourselves on a large, comfortable ledge.
The ledge was large enough for all of us to lay on! We ate our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
as we waited for the climbers ahead of us to climb the next pitch. About a half hour after reaching the ledge,
Dave was able to start up the next pitch.
Alex had only fed out about 50ft of rope when Dave came to a stop. It sounded like he had hit a traffic
jam. As another party showed up on the
ledge next to ours, they said we were VERY close to the summit. As the time passed, the sunny ledge turned to
a shaded one, and Alex and Doug needed to put on extra layers of clothing… this
meant a puffy for Alex and a shirt for Doug.
Alex sat on the ledge, with Dave on belay, for an hour and a half before
it was finally time for her to climb. He
must not have been far from the summit because very little rope was fed out
before he called “Off belay!” By this
time, six other people were queued up behind us. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Iin1H3YCfnU/VbumQH9fn-I/AAAAAAAAGWs/bPdgio_k80U/s1600/GOPR0181_1438226487095_high.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Iin1H3YCfnU/VbumQH9fn-I/AAAAAAAAGWs/bPdgio_k80U/s640/GOPR0181_1438226487095_high.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-14N2P-jE0L0/VbumQXpQPLI/AAAAAAAAGWw/sEfD2juV4VE/s1600/GOPR0184_1438226487095_high.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-14N2P-jE0L0/VbumQXpQPLI/AAAAAAAAGWw/sEfD2juV4VE/s640/GOPR0184_1438226487095_high.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">As Alex made her way up the pitch, she popped up over a
block to see Dave sitting on the airy summit across a several foot gap from
her. The summit was small, capable of
holding no more than four people at a time.
Back in the sun, the temperatures quickly changed, and Alex was roasting
in her puffy and couldn’t wait to take it off again. Dave explained that we had to wait for so
long because the party ahead, two guys and a 12-year-old boy, found themselves
on the summit with the bolt used to rappel missing. Apparently, this bolt gets chopped
periodically, but the downclimb off the summit isn’t too bad. The party, however, seemed uncomfortable with
the situation and spent a good deal of time discussing what they were going to
do. Dave let them alone, but intervened
to help when they were going to lower the boy off a single nut. Dave offered his help, moved to the summit,
added another nut, and backed it up with more gear to assist the party. After Doug arrived at the summit, we took a
quick picture before Dave rappelled down, followed by Alex. Doug cleaned the cams, before rappelling down
himself. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>We didn't get the summit pics we were hoping for due to the line waiting behind us!</div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Below the summit, we began negotiating our way along the
descent ledges on the back of the peak.
Apparently, sitting on the ledge for 2 hours made Doug rammy. He tried to convince us that we should still
climb the Eichorn Pinnacle, a formation on the peak we originally were going to
climb, but Alex and Dave had written off since it was now 4:30. We thought he was being ridiculous, it was
late, we were tired, hungry, and still had to hike out. There was still hope that we could drive out
of the park in time to get the fish tacos at The Mobil we had been talking
about with other parties on the climb!
After a few minutes of debate, he conceded, and we made our way off the
traversing ledges to the scramble up and around the peak to the front side.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Eichorn Pinnacle</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Back at our packs, we had a snack, relaxed for a few
minutes, and loaded the climbing gear into our bags. Doug lead us towards the trailhead,
navigating through the woods and along the creek until it met up with the
trail. We moved quickly despite our
heavy packs and tired bodies. Within an
hour we found ourselves back at the trailhead.
Joyously, we dropped our packs, exchanged approach shoes for flipflops,
and removed our dirty, sweaty clothes.
As we reorganized, the guys with the young boy appeared, somehow they
wound up behind us. They thanked Dave
again for his help before heading out.
Once our car was packed up, we headed toward The Mobil.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">At The Mobil, we each had an order of fish tacos, and shared
an Asian salmon salad, and an order of fries.
Ice cream also followed to round out our meal. The party with the boy was also at The Mobil,
and we wound up talking with them until about 9:00PM. Back in the car, we drove towards Reno, stopping at a
national forest dispersed camping area to sleep for the night. </span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11549212137357232032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119815793304602075.post-48464167663071168252015-07-31T09:27:00.000-07:002015-07-31T09:30:50.864-07:00Monday, July 27th: Matthes Crest Traverse<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-M3_xNTqW71A/VbuYiHwtLTI/AAAAAAAAGSg/vgi40euSo30/s1600/DSCN1826.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="168" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-M3_xNTqW71A/VbuYiHwtLTI/AAAAAAAAGSg/vgi40euSo30/s640/DSCN1826.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We woke at 5:30AM, and left the warmth of our sleeping bags
to get ready for our climb. We donned
hats and gloves as we ate our oatmeal, drank our coffee, and made final
preparations to our packs. By 7:00AM we
were ready to leave camp. Doug left a
few minutes ahead of us to stash a bear bin with our dinner ingredients, stove,
and fishing gear in the meadow between our climb and our camp. Despite Alex and Dave’s discontentment with
the idea of heading down to the lake after climbing, Doug still stashed all the
gear. We knew it was going to be a long
day on the rock and would likely just want to get back to camp, eat, and
sleep. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Down the slabs and scree from camp and then over the meadow,
and through the woods to talus fields we went.
We found ourselves at the start of the south end of the ridge, but we
were Doug-less. We decided to rope up
and figured he would soon appear. Almost
on cue, we spotted him working his way up the talus field to us. Alex put Dave on belay, and he started up the
first of three vertical pitches to gain the ridge around 8:00AM. After gaining the 500 foot tall ridge via the
enjoyable starting pitches, we began simulclimbing our way along the ridge, at
times setting anchors to transfer gear from 3<sup>rd</sup> to leader, and at
times putting each other on belay. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The climbing was awesome and provided amazing views, while
being often exposed, exciting, and mentally exhausting. It was very different from our typical
climbing; often finding ourselves having to down climb the rollercoaster ridge
or navigate along the knife-edge ridge.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DjhwDQCRN64/VbuZmds58TI/AAAAAAAAGTk/Rm6wtwG40UM/s1600/DSCN1781.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DjhwDQCRN64/VbuZmds58TI/AAAAAAAAGTk/Rm6wtwG40UM/s640/DSCN1781.JPG" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">LOOK, MOM! I USE SUNBLOCK! </span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GUWeQ2InI6Y/VbuZtqCDLcI/AAAAAAAAGUQ/vT8V09nPrBI/s1600/DSCN1808.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GUWeQ2InI6Y/VbuZtqCDLcI/AAAAAAAAGUQ/vT8V09nPrBI/s640/DSCN1808.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tY1evQ4sfjo/VbuZvHdng0I/AAAAAAAAGUY/af3RnTew6jU/s1600/DSCN1810.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tY1evQ4sfjo/VbuZvHdng0I/AAAAAAAAGUY/af3RnTew6jU/s640/DSCN1810.JPG" width="480" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Around 2:00PM, we found ourselves in the vicinity of the
North and South Summits.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the time, we
were not sure if we had passed the South Summit, but spied some rappel stations
below.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The common descent point is the
North Summit, but since we saw an out, we decided to take it it rather than
continuing on to the rock ahead that looked sketchy.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We were all tired and hungry, so we opted to
downclimb to the first rap station below.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dave down-lead to the tree/bush rappel, followed by Alex, and Doug took
up the tail cleaning the gear as he went.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Two double rope rappels landed us all on the scree field at the base of
the wall.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We carefully navigated our way
down the loose scree and into the meadow where Doug had stashed dinner.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The idea of walking down to the lake to fish, and then
having to walk alllll they way back up to camp did not appeal to our tired and
hungry bodies, so we convinced Doug to start making dinner right there.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It may have taken forever to make, but two
hours later Doug provided us with a delicious, filling dinner or
cream-chipped-bacon with potatoes, onions and garlic.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Alex and Dave may have snuck a few pieces of
bacon while the meal was in process, but what hungry person can resists a pile
of freshly cooked crunchy bacon?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As soon as dinner was ready, Doug retreated to sleep on a
boulder without even eating.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Apparently
his stomach was angry with him for something he consumed.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Meanwhile, Alex and Dave feasted on an
adjacent boulder, feeling bad for Doug.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He really must not be feeling well, who could resist this meal?</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">After cleaning up the dinner dishes, and packing up all the
gear, Alex and Dave woke Doug around 7:30PM, letting him know it was time to
walk back to camp. He just wanted to lie
there for a bit longer, so Alex and Dave gathered his gear and made their way
back to camp with it. Though the walk
was not far, after our long day, the uphill seemed brutal. As we cleaned up gear and prepared for sleep,
a tired, pale looking Doug appeared.
Fortunate for him, he was now ready to enjoy his dinner and was soon
looking and feeling much better.
Exhausted from our day, we all were in bed before sunset.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11549212137357232032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119815793304602075.post-86122536408777457642015-07-31T08:29:00.000-07:002015-07-31T09:31:08.962-07:00Sunday, July 26th: Prepping and Hiking to the Cathedral Range<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Sunday was prepped to be a busy day. We wanted to get
some climbing done in the morning, we needed to organize and pack our gear, and
we needed to hike to Echo Lakes to set up camp (about 4 miles). Our
desire to climb West Cracks must have rubbed off, because this was now Doug's
choice for the day, though we thought it was a bit much with everything else we
needed to accomplish. After
waking and packing up our campsite, it was still cold (30’s) at 7:00AM. Crack climbs are no fun with freezing hands,
so we decided to drive to the Tuolumne Store picnic tables, make pancakes, and
have coffee. There was a lot of smoke in the air, even filling up some valley areas. We later learned this was not a local fire, but smoke blowing in from a fire in Nevada.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After eating, we decided to just head over to Pothole Dome,
do a few topropes, and then pack up.
Since Alex and Dave had climbed there before, we setup at the 2</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">nd</sup><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
area, so we would have something different to climb on. After Alex ran a few lines, Dave jumped on
next and decided to climb like a lizard, running, jumping, bounding, and
scurrying both vertically and horizontally along the slabs. After Doug had his turn at it and cleaned up
the anchors, we headed back to the car. We stopped at the store again for some cream cheese for our lunch.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We drove up the road to an large pull-off, laid down a tarp,
and starting organizing gear for a backpacking/fishing/climbing trip. The plan was to hike from the Cathedral Lakes
Trailhead to the climbers trail that would take us past Budd Lake and set up
camp near Echo Lake. We would fish along
the way, either at Budd Lake or Echo Lake. </span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-f-xsz7vPQmE/VbuMFIB-ReI/AAAAAAAAGPQ/EWFICNrOOZU/s1600/DSCN1705.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-f-xsz7vPQmE/VbuMFIB-ReI/AAAAAAAAGPQ/EWFICNrOOZU/s640/DSCN1705.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We moved to the trailhead, stashed our extra food bins in
the food lockers, and hit the trail around 2:00 PM. Despite the fairly short length and moderate
terrain, we were moving slow and stopping often. Dave and Doug had ridiculous packs on their
backs that slowed them to a pace that was quite relaxed for Alex with her
reasonable pack. Alex took pleasure and
enjoyed this rare hiking moment. Soon
after the trail turned to flat granite slabs, we met a park ranger and a
volunteer and talked to them for a bit.
They had been out at Budd Lake eradicating an invasive species in the
lake… trout. I guess we won’t be
fishing there! They also suggested a
sushi restaurant in Reno that has great all-you-can-eat sushi. This sounded like a great rest day activity
for Wednesday! We could drive three
hours for that… and maybe even get a hotel… showers and laundry would be
fantastic!</span></span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VwtPOj6MZY4/VbuMVYTrxsI/AAAAAAAAGPY/CwQTZfstwSw/s1600/DSCN1712.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VwtPOj6MZY4/VbuMVYTrxsI/AAAAAAAAGPY/CwQTZfstwSw/s640/DSCN1712.JPG" width="426" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We continued on our way; soon find ourselves at Budd
Lake. We dropped our packs to take a
short break, and consult the map. At
this point the trail we had been following along a creek faded away and we just
needed to head in the direction of the not yet visible Matthes Crest and Echo
Lake. From where we sat, we could see
Cathedral Peak and hear the climbers on it shouting commands to each
other. Doug led us along the edge of
the Echo Peaks, and soon we were in a meadow.
Matthes Crest should be coming into view any time now!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As both Matthes Crest and Echo Lake came into view, we
decided we would camp up on the ridge, rather than make the walk all the way
down to the lake. Dave and Doug were
particularly beaten up by the hike, and this would be a good location for us. By not walking down to the lake to set up
camp, we would not have to walk back up the loose scree with heavy packs in two
days. There was brief discussion about
fishing… but the lake seemed farther than our tired legs wanted to go. We picked a sheltered area amongst some
trees to protect us from the wind and allow Doug to set up his hammock. As Alex and Dave went to retrieve water, Doug
began to prepare dinner. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It sounded like an odd combination: pasta, cantaloupe, tomatillos,
onions, garlic, and white wine, but we trusted Doug he makes awesome camp food…
he’s only let us down once! This past winter, while we were snowshoeing to
Mt. Marcy in the Adirondacks, Doug prepared us a dinner of pasta and salmon at
our lean-to. Unfortunately, he was
unable to find packets of salmon, so instead brought a sketchy looking can of
it. Worst. Dinner. Ever. It was so
terrible we could not eat it; it tasted bad and was full of bones. Luckily for us we had enough other things
along to eat instead. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Doug succeeded in making a delicious dinner, and after our
bellies were as full as they were going to get… not full enough… we prepared
our packs with food and gear for climbing the Matthes Crest the following
morning. Before heading to bed for the
night, we spent some time taking pictures of the fantastic sunset views we had
from our camp.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Alex and Dave settled into their tent, while Doug settled in
under his tarp. We all figured he would
stay warmer in the 30-something-degree night chill on the ground with the tarp
than hanging in a hammock.</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11549212137357232032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119815793304602075.post-63966713169366471332015-07-25T14:12:00.002-07:002015-07-25T14:13:20.911-07:00Saturday, July 25: Prepping for Matthes Crest and Cathedral Peak<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Our alarm went off at 6:00AM to rouse us from sleep. We were happy to awaken to daylight; it made
it so much easier to get out of bed. We
needed to head to the Wilderness Center to get in line to pull
first-come-first-serve permits to backpack out to the Matthes Crest and
Cathedral Lakes area to climb. Our goal
was to climb one of the peaks on Monday, and the other on Tuesday before hiking
back out. When we arrived at the
building, there were about a dozen people already in line. When the ranger came out at 8:00AM, he organized
us into groups based on when we were looking to leave, and whether or not we
had reservations already. When we said
we were going out to climb Matthes and Cathedral we were psyched to see that
put us right behind the people who had reservations. Apparently, climbers are not counted the same
way as regular backpackers since we use cross-country trails off the main
trails.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Cathedral Peak</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Matthes Crest</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">After getting our permit and renting bear canisters to store
our food while we are out, we headed to Lee Vining to buy food supplies for the
trip. We are currently sitting at the
Mobil, getting updated and informed with internet access. The rest of the day will involve meal
planning and shopping, prepping our packs, and hopefully a bit of easy access
climbing. A second meal of BBQ and fried food is already planned... </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">we already had breakfast burritos and pancakes at the Mobil</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">!</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11549212137357232032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119815793304602075.post-15363210506879334672015-07-25T14:03:00.000-07:002015-07-25T14:03:00.733-07:00Friday, July 24th: Tenaya Peak<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The alarm went off at 5:00AM to rouse us from our
sleep. We quickly dressed, brushed
teeth, and grabbed the day’s food from the bear box before hopping in the
car. We drove towards the parking area
on the northeast shore of Tenaya Lake, eating our breakfast of peanut butter
and jelly on cinnamon raisin bagels.
Around 6:00AM we were navigating along the climber trails towards the
granite slabs at the base of Tenaya Peak.
We scrambled up for a few hundred feet until the slop became worthy of
roping up for some simul-climbing. We
simuled for a few hundred feet of climbing before setting up belays. The weather was fantastic and our spirits
were high. We were the first climbers on
the route and we did not see another party until a group of two appeared behind
us and we started to belay. A few
pitches later, around 9:30AM, we stopped on a large ledge for “lunch,” a second
round of peanut butter and jelly on cinnamon raisin bagels. We let the group of two pass before moved
on. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As Doug belayed Dave up the next pitch, Alex looked at the
guidebook and realized we had made excellent progress. It looked as if we were already at the top of
pitch 12. That left 2 more pitches
before a scramble to the true summit.
Doug apparently forgot to tell Dave when he reached half rope, so when
Dave yelled down asking about it, Doug said “You have 4 feet to me!” Dave mistook this for “You have 4 feet to the
middle” and was surprised that he still had so much rope left. Dave was not at a place he could set a belay,
so Doug scrambled up a few feet to give Dave more rope to work with, while Alex
had him on belay. Dave set a belay and
now Doug was double belayed. When all
three of us rejoined at the belay Dave set, we let a free-soloist pass through
the loose blocky area ahead before we moved on.
Above the blocky section, we found
a fantastic 5.7 hand crack to finish the climbing of the route. Our only wish was that the crack had been
longer! We scrambled to the summit to
take in the amazing 360 degree views, have a snack and take some pictures. We were on the summit by noon, had never
taken off our approach shoes, and had a fantastic day of climbing! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We navigated our way down to sloping slabs on the northeast
side of the peak and around to the back side of it. We would need to hike down and around the
backside of the peak, which would take us to the opposite side of Tenaya Lake from
where we parked. On our way down we
spotted two large birds (wild chickens, alpine hens, mountain chickens…) and of
course Doug took pursuit of “dinner.”
Birdless we made our way over the granite slabs, through the woods, and across
fallen trees (aka log rides) until the sounds of people on the shores of Tenaya
Lake could finally be heard. We followed the
official trail, putting running girls in bikinis within eyeshot of cheerful
Dave and Doug, until we found ourselves back at the road near Sunrise trailhead. A perfectly timed park shuttle showed up and
saved us from the long walk up the road to our parking area. We cheerfully thanked the driver for his impeccable
timing as he drove us towards our parking area.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We stopped at the camp store for a few dinner supplies, and
mauled a bag of Doritos in the parking lot.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Back at camp, we cooked up tortillas topped with cheese, hot sauce,
rice, onions cooked with black beans, and avocado.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The rest of the day was spent lounging and
napping before we scavenged some additional firewood from the woods behind our
site.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We had an evening snack of corn
cooked over the campfire… it was delicious!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sleepily we headed off to bed, cheerful that we would not have to awaken
before the sun in the morning!</span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11549212137357232032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119815793304602075.post-90290151138311408972015-07-25T13:37:00.000-07:002015-07-25T14:03:49.676-07:00Thursday, July 23: Doug and Zee Tree<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We woke at 5:00AM to head to the Valley to retrieve
Doug.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We were greeted in typical Doug
style: a jubilant, jumping, tackling, swinging us in the air, screaming
reunion.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Doug smelled of a concert, and
had the giddiness of being in the Valley for the first time combined by not
enough sleep after a day of traveling and a concert look to him.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We headed to Degnan’s Deli to grab some
coffee, which we withheld from Doug, for our own good.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We stopped by the El Cap Meadow, before
begrudgingly pulling Doug out of the Valley to head to Tuolumne Meadows.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We knew he would be grumbly, but we knew the
heat in the Valley was terrible, and that Tuolumne was AWESOME, and he would
love it once he got there.</span></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-m9SpenlRn7w/VbPwY8xV9zI/AAAAAAAAGGo/GNk4a4gSyvo/s1600/20150723_095210.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-m9SpenlRn7w/VbPwY8xV9zI/AAAAAAAAGGo/GNk4a4gSyvo/s640/20150723_095210.jpg" width="360" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We headed right to Zee Tree to climb.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now that the weather was finally cooperating,
we could finally get on it.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We enjoyed
the slabby, well bolted climb that led to a final pitch corner crack to the
summit.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A short rappel and a walkoff
down huge sloping slabs of granite brought us down the back of the dome and to
a trail to the car.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Our paparazzi </span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DqSbs2xTgO4/VbPxpTY-UuI/AAAAAAAAGHk/VGJf8U32jZo/s1600/20150723_143816.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DqSbs2xTgO4/VbPxpTY-UuI/AAAAAAAAGHk/VGJf8U32jZo/s640/20150723_143816.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Back at camp we found 4 tents in our campsite. Our pay stub was clearly hung on the site
number post, and it was also clear they had taken it out of our rain protecting
plastic bag to look at it. Fortunate for
us, a ranger was in the campground impounding a dog that someone had left in their
tent while they were away from the campground… a big no-no especially in mountain
lion and bear terrain. The ranger came
over, and impounded all of the gear; inventorying and packing into the park
service vehicle with the other coolers that had to be impounded for being left unattended.
This may sound harsh, but it is because
of people not storing there food properly that the bears have become problems in
camping areas. Each campsite has its
own large metal bear proof bin to store all food and scented items in. We thanked the ranger for her help and took a
picture with her before we enjoyed to delicious vegetable sauce and pasta
prepared by Doug. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-O9EvvLtWqQ4/VbPybvxfGKI/AAAAAAAAGIY/XjGqfHX6gg8/s1600/DSCN1648.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-O9EvvLtWqQ4/VbPybvxfGKI/AAAAAAAAGIY/XjGqfHX6gg8/s640/DSCN1648.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We spent the remainder of the evening, organizing camp, the
car, and our gear for climbing the Northwest Buttress of Tenaya Peak in the
morning. The people who set up camp in
our site showed up, wondering where their stuff was. We told them the ranger had impounded it
since they set up in our camp, and did not pay for a site. They apparently “didn’t know” they had to pay
for a site and post the tag proving payment.
They were friendly enough, despite having to now go pay to get their
gear back and find a place to stay for the night.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pZ5eQleHXzc/VbPydXgEz4I/AAAAAAAAGIs/4JlmmTs2WQg/s1600/20150723_191356.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pZ5eQleHXzc/VbPydXgEz4I/AAAAAAAAGIs/4JlmmTs2WQg/s640/20150723_191356.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We played a rousing round of Killer Bunnies and snacked
before heading to bed for the night.
Doug forgot to pack his tent, and warm sleeping bag, so he hung his
hammock, dressed in baselayers, and used one of our sleeping bags to stay warm
in the 35 degree night chill. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11549212137357232032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119815793304602075.post-62261340143821628052015-07-25T13:19:00.001-07:002015-07-25T13:19:32.228-07:00Wednesday, July 22: Guide Wall<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The overnight rain made us feel that the cracks of West
Cracks would be too wet to climb, so we decided to go for the right off the
road, slabby, 6-pitch Zee Tree on Pywiack Dome.
We pulled of the road in front of the Dome and could see water running
from some of the vegetated divots and flakes on the dome. “Let’s go get coffee… then check it out
again.” We returned 30 minutes later to
find it still wet, as we expected would be the case. Since the climb would be in the shade for
several more hours, we decided to find something else. We chose the Guide Cracks area on the South
Flanks of Daff Dome. The short approach,
sunny wall, and low commitment single pitch climbs were perfect since it was
now a bit later in the morning, and rain was still in the forecast for the
afternoon. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xL4Ca_AndwU/VbPt-z4HFXI/AAAAAAAAGFw/gBClsHH7RVA/s1600/20150722_083114.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xL4Ca_AndwU/VbPt-z4HFXI/AAAAAAAAGFw/gBClsHH7RVA/s640/20150722_083114.jpg" width="360" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After parking in the wrong area, and having to do some
navigating and bushwacking, we found ourselves at the base of the proper
cliff.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As Dave prepared to lead the Guide
Crack furthest to the left (5.5), a group of 5 showed up.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We knew this was a popular area, so we were
glad we were able to arrive first.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dave
cleaned the climb on his way down, and as Alex led the pitch more and more
people began to arrive.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When Alex was
back on the ground, he quickly started up the 5.7 which shared the same
anchor.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After Alex followed the climb,
we decided to head out since it was now very crowded with people waiting for
climbs to open.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As we packed up, Alex
pulled out 2 apples for us to snack on during our decent.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The baby belonging to an Austrian couple we
were chatting with immediately recognized the apples, started pointing and
grasping at them. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">His mom gave him an apple of his own, and he
sat in the dirt happily smiling, giggling, and chewing on his apple.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All was well until he held up his apple showing
it to Alex, and she held up our two.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Apparently this made him very unhappy to see that she had TWO and he had
ONE.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He made a very unhappy face at her
before beginning to wail and cry, now displeased with his apple.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of course, this brought teasing of Alex by
Dave and referring to her as the “mean lady.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We returned to camp to make cheese quesadillas for dinner,
hang a line to “freshen” our clothes, and relax in camp chairs for the
evening.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tomorrow morning, we would wake
up early to head down into the Valley to pick up Doug.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Doug flew into Fresno that day, but was going
to see the Ataris’ concert that night and would we taking a YARTS (Yosemite Area
Transportation Authority) bus into the park. </span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11549212137357232032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119815793304602075.post-84839786836880080622015-07-25T13:09:00.002-07:002015-07-25T13:09:13.195-07:00Tuesday, July 21: Elizabeth Lake Hike<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We woke up to cloudy skies and a forecast of rain possible
all day, so we planned to keep it a low key day. We enjoyed a pancake breakfast on the camp
stove before grabbing some coffee and heading up to Elizabeth Lake from the
trailhead inside Tuolumne Meadows Campground.
We took a leisurely hike up the 2.3 mile trail, passing many people as
we went. At one point, after passing yet
another group of hikers, Dave looked at Alex with a smirk and said “Huh… and I think
you are slow…” This is an ongoing back
and forth between us since our slow still is faster than the average. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Upon reaching the lake, we sat for a while watching fish
jump from the lake and took in the views of Unicorn Peak.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While walking down, we stopped and talked
with a trail crew leader about backpacking and climbing in the area.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She mentioned that all the rain we have been
getting is from a tropical storm/hurricane hitting the coast. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now that makes sense!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Without internet, all we knew was the
forecast from the daily weather postings at park buildings and the screenshots
we took on our phones before we headed back into the park.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Once back at the car, we decided since it was still early,
but climbing was out of the picture because of the weather, we would head back
to Lee Vining for some food. Somehow we
forgot to do that yesterday! After
picking up some food for the next few days, we headed to the Mobil for bacon
cheeseburgers with fries, and updating of the blog.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When we arrived back at camp, we found it had hailed once
again, leaving a decent coating on the ground.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We enjoyed tortilla wraps filled with cheese, hot sauce, and corn chips
before relaxing for the evening and getting ready to try once again to climb
West Cracks (if there is not too much rain over night).</span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11549212137357232032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119815793304602075.post-22388462425798424522015-07-21T17:12:00.001-07:002015-07-21T17:12:18.597-07:00Monday, July 20th: Pothole Dome<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">With the weather looking iffy again today, we opted for more
short climbs with an easy approach. We
grabbed our morning coffee and parked at the pull-off for the nature trail
around Pothole Dome. The approach was literally
2 minutes…. Awesome! As we wandered up
the gentle slope of the dome where the anchors were located, we could easily
see why it was called “Pothole” Dome; the side of the dome was dappled with
large curved potholes. We set up on the
nearest anchors first, taking turns running up the 4-5 variations we found,
before repeating the process on the second set of anchors. The climbs ranged from 5.0 to 5.10a, though
we found the 5.10a’s to be one move wonders.
We enjoyed the morning playing around on these slab climbs before
deciding we were content to move on. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We decided to drive out of the park, to the town of Lee
Vining to pick up some new sunglasses and make some phone calls.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The second sunglass tragedy happened that
morning, so now things were getting slim in the sunglass department.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We also wanted to call Alex’s Dad for his birthday,
and get in touch with the soon to be arriving Doug. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We also figured we would check out Mono Lake
and it’s visitors center.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We grabbed some new cheap sunglasses at an outdoors store,
and headed across the street to Bodie Mike’s BBQ for a delicious lunch. After filling our bellies we headed to Mono
Lake Visitors Center, and took a walk down to the lake. The Visitor’s Center was very nice, with lots
of informative and interesting displays.
We watched seagulls feast on the ridiculous number on flies on the water’s
edge, glad the flies did not come after us!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We made our way back into the park, contemplating what we
wanted to do.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Should we try to
climb?</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Should we hike?</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">How soon is it going to rain?</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">What is single pitch climbs are right next
to the road?</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The clouds were starting to
encroach from all directions as we stopped at the pullout in front of Pywiak
Dome.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Zee Tree looked like a fun climb,
but it was 6 pitches, and sadly the first 2 pitches were not the good
ones.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Across the road was Bunny Slopes,
with several single pitch climbs.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Alex
said it was probably a bad ide</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">a, since the clouds were really closing in, but Dave convinced her to just take the gear for a walk up the base… “It’s RIGHT there!”</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Alex conceded, and we made their way across the road with harnesses on, with a last “It’s going to rain.”</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As we scrambled our way towards the climbs, the rain drops began to fall, and Dave looked at Alex and said “Time to go!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Whose terrible idea was this anyways?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Back in the car, we drove towards our campground at
Porcupine Flat.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We stopped along the way
at Olmsted Point to take some pictures before it really started to rain.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As the rain started to fall, and thunder
began to rumble, we moved the car to a spot in the parking area where we could
see Half Dome.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Alex suggested we sit
there for a while watching the storm, since all we had to do was drive back to
camp.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">“Maybe we’ll see Half Dome get
struck by lightning!”</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That color is known as "impending doom blue"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Once the clouds
obscured our views, we headed back to camp, where we found a coating of hail
all over the ground.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Dave was sad!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">“We missed the hail!!! If we wouldn’t have
sat at Olmsted we would have seen the hail!!!”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We quickly ate some peanut butter on graham crackers and
made some hot tea before we retreated to the car as the rain began to fall
again.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We read and drank our tea while
the rain continued to fall.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">When the
rain slowed to a stop, we were both hungry again, so we crawled out of the car
to make some seasoned rice before calling it a night.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Around 4:00AM all the tea and water from
early in the night caught up with us and our bladders needed some relief.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Upon returning to the car we were wide awake
and laughing over ridiculous things, like kids at a slumber party. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11549212137357232032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119815793304602075.post-31977027323536393122015-07-21T16:00:00.003-07:002015-07-21T16:00:41.677-07:00Sunday, July 19th: To Tuolumne!<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We made our way towards Tuolumne Meadows, planning
originally to climb West Crack, a 5-pitch climb on Daff Dome. We stopped for coffee at the small “Tuolumne
Meadows Grill,” and checked the posted weather report. The sky was already showing signs of rain to
come, large puffy clouds and flat grey clouds in the distance. The posted weather confirmed our thoughts, so
we knixed West Cracks, and decided to find something small and with a shorter
approach. We settled on Northwest Books,
a 2-pitch, 5.6 climb on Lembert Dome.
The dome was right next to the parking/picnic area… perfect! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Clouds moved in while we climbed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">After some wondering the wrong way, we found the start… and
a guide with a group of three just making their way up the 3</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">rd</sup><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> class
scramble to the start.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As we geared up,
Dave realized he was missing an important piece of gear… his harness!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Back to the car he ran to retrieve it.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">By the time he returned, the group was making
their way up the first pitch. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We sure
hoped we could easily pass them at the belay, because they were moving very
slow.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As the second to last climber
started the pitch, we made our way up the scramble to the start.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As we talked with the last climber, we found
out he was originally from Pennsylvania.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Even better, he was born in Reading!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Crazy how often we run into people from near home!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The guide yelled down to us, asking if we wanted to pass his
group.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Perfect!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Dave gave the last climber some space before
starting his way up the pitch, setting up a belay on another ledge near the
guided group.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Alex followed quickly, and
before long they found themselves at the top of the climb, with a short
scramble to the summit.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We were both over
joyous that we were climbing and not baking in the sun!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We pulled apples out of our daypacks to eat
as we made our way down the walk-off.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We made our way towards the visitor center, with a stop the
Tuolumne Lodge to score some showers.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As
we made our way towards the visitors’ center, we noticed that the Tuolumne
Meadows campground had spaces available.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">After some quick calculations, we realized it would be cheaper to camp
for $26 than to pay gas to drive back and forth from our previous camping
spot.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">After investigation, we found that
Porcupine Flat campground just down the road was only $12 a night.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It was cheaper since it did not have running
water… but neither did the spot we had been staying.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Our
minds were set… this is where we were going to stay!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Tuolumne Meadows is awesome!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It wasn’t hot, there wasn’t traffic, there
were plenty of people around, but most were more of the outdoorsy type
(backpackers, climbers, fishermen) than what filled The Valley at this time of
year.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It was 68 degrees at noon instead
of 98!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We started planning a backpacking/climbing
trip for when Doug arrives.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We were
happy, smiling, talkative, and rejuvenated, despite the now falling rain.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We didn’t realize how grumbly the heat and
crowds in The Valley was until now!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This
seemed like the best day ever!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Once we picked out a campground spot, Dave walked up to the
payment box, while Alex waited with the car, and unloaded their food crates
into the bear box. Soon Alex heard Dave
yell, “Alex! Come here! Quick!” She knew from his tone he found something
exciting. She turned to see him walking
with 8 gallons of water, and a young boy down the road behind him with box of
fire wood and a propane tank. Alex
relieved the boy of his heavy load and they both thanked him. Turns out his family packed up camp and had
lots of extra water, and some firewood.
His mom offered the stuff to Dave, and he graciously accepted. We spent the remainder of the evening reading
and looking at maps and guidebooks, as we lounged in the refreshingly cool air
in our quiet little campsite.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Marmots are such creepers!</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11549212137357232032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119815793304602075.post-9216008451480330622015-07-21T14:52:00.000-07:002015-07-21T14:52:18.450-07:00Thursday – Saturday, July 16 – 18: Back to The Valley… Off to Tuolumne<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Thursday was a day of laundry, errands, repacking the car, a
quick run and making granola with Theresa.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">When Justin got home from work, he cooked a great meal of BBQ chicken
and vegetables on the grill.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">After
dinner, it was time to part ways… probably until next summer!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">By 8:00PM we were on the road, making our way
back to our camping area outside of the park.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Friday morning, we made our morning commute into The Valley,
with plans to climb El Cap Tree.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Before
we were even out of the car, Alex came to the realization that she would need
to “lower-out” a section of the climb.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This was something new to her, and she was expecting to practice with
ground under her feet first.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Dave didn’t
think it was a big deal, and didn’t understand why Alex was concerned about it.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">After back and forth discussion, and strong
emotions from Alex, they decided they would eat breakfast, and then climb the
Pine Line on El Cap instead.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">After Dave
led the climb, Alex jugged up it to save Dave some effort.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">On the large ledge at the top of the climb,
we practiced setting up the lower-out, and Alex was much happier with the
process.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Already tired of the wind and heat that was baking us on the
granite wall; we decided to head down out of the sun.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The remainder of the day involved cooking,
walking around the park, and attending a film and presentation by Ron Kauk at
the Yosemite Theatre.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Royal Arches </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Saturday, we made our way to El Cap Tree.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The climb was on the base of El Cap, a bit
past Pacific Ocean, (the first climb we did in The Valley).</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This time, however, instead of hiking straight
up the heinous talus field (a task neither of us wanted to do again), we hiked
along the base of the cliff.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This
approach was steep, still involved talus, was a bit longer… but was a bit
better than the Zodiac Talus Field.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">When we found our climb, with the climb’s namesake dead at
the top of it, neither of us were very excited about it. We were sure that this was it, but it just
looked… ehhhh.... The pendulum and
lower-out were small, and looked completely avoidable, and the rest of the
climb did not look that enjoyable.
After spending some time staring at it and contemplating it, we decided
to go climb the first pitch of North American Wall. We found the climb fairly quickly, but could
not locate the anchors. This made us
wonder if we had the right spot, but some landmarks around it made it undeniable. We’ve had no problems spotting any anchors so
far, so we were wondering if this pitch did not actually have bolted anchors
(it is part of a big wall climb). The
climb looked like a blast, but not so much that it was worth losing gear
on. At this point we were hot, grumbly
that we still hadn’t climbed anything, and there was no way we did that
approach for nothing. We resigned
ourselves to doing an 11a bolted slab climb… on top-rope. Dave scurried up the side of “The Footstool”
at the base of Jersey Turnpike, and set up the anchors.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Standing at the base, Dave said “Great, just my favorite
time of climb! Nothing like 11a slab!”
This statement was laced with heavy sarcasm. Alex had the pleasure of climbing first, and
did enjoy it… though she tends to do much better than Dave with delicate,
balancey, slab climbs. Despite his grumbles,
Dave found himself enjoying the pitch as well.
Both realized they had not been climbing on small crimps in quite a
while, and by the time they were done had fingers that were sore inside and
out. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">After climbing, we retreated to the car, and decided to
drive to the Village Store to grab some from veggies for dinner. What a HUGE mistake! We landed ourselves in traffic on a one-way
park road. We literally sat in traffic
in Yosemite Valley for over 2 hours! If
we would have just walked or took a shuttle we would have been fine, but from
where we parked that morning the park hadn’t looked too busy. When they say Yosemite is the most visited
National Park in the country, it is certainly true, but sadly that also means
traffic in The Valley can be horrendous on weekends. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">After sitting in traffic, we had no intent of getting right
back in it. In our hungry, grumbly
state, we decided to just get a pizza instead, and wait out the traffic. We also decided that we needed to get out of
this heat and craziness. We decided
that the next morning we would drive to Tuolumne Meadows, about 1.5 hour drive
into another area of the park. Tuolumne
sits at over 8,000 feet, so the temperatures there should be much more moderate
than the 90-100 degrees we were dealing with each day.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11549212137357232032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119815793304602075.post-13936848750978683612015-07-16T14:26:00.000-07:002015-07-16T14:26:02.913-07:00Wednesday, July 15th – San Francisco by Storm<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Justin took the day off, and Theresa made a master list of “things-to-do”
some of which were the typical things, and some of which were oddities. We all hoped in the car mid-morning, and
drove north about 50 miles to San Francisco.
Dave and Alex looked out the window with shock… “What is that? Is there
a fire?” The response from the front
seat, was a very relaxed, “Oh that… those are just clouds.” It looked like impending doom coming to eat
us from over the mountains… but apparently it was no big deal…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Our first stop was Lands End Lookout, with a walk along the
Coastal Trail, taking pictures along the way, to the <a href="http://www.weekendsherpa.com/stories/hike-lands-end-labyrinth-san-francisco/" target="_blank">Labyrinth</a>. Once we
located the actual location of the Labyrinth, we all wandered our way
circuitously from entrance point to center.
After this, we worked our way back towards the car and headed towards “<a href="http://www.presidio.gov/explore/Pages/andy-goldsworthy-spire-wood-line.aspx">The
Spire</a>.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Alcatraz Island</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Upon arriving, we realized we had seen this when we drove into San Francisco with Kevin and Sam, but at the time had no idea what it was. The Spire is a 90ft tall art installment of cypress tree trunks, created by Andy Goldsworthy. The 2006 piece is meant to celebrate the aging grove that was originally planted in the late 19th century.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The <a href="http://www.exploratorium.edu/visit/wave-organ">Wave
Organ</a> was next on our list. After
parking the car, and making our way through a yacht club marina area, we found
ourselves at the acoustic art sculpture.
The Wave Organ was created in 1985, using PVC pipes and concrete, on a
jetty constructed of granite and stone from a demolished San Francisco cemetery. The pipes are located at varied depths to
allow a variety of sounds to be created from the waves crashing against and
into the pipes. The ideal time to visit
is high tide, and although that did not coincide with our visit, we were still
able to hear the sounds from some of the pipes. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Our tummies were beginning to rumble, so we made our way to <a href="http://roamburgers.com/">Roam Artisan Burgers</a>, with a quick drive by
of the “Painted Ladies,” or as Dave keeps calling them, the “three sisters.” We
had eaten here with Kevin and Sam, and since it was delicious the first time,
we had no qualms when Theresa and Justin suggested it. Last time, we both enjoyed the Tejano made
with grass fed beef (something about grass fed beef is oooh so tasty!). This time, Dave had the Heritage made with
beef once again, and Alex had a fantastic veggie burger with Tejano
toppings. French fries! Can’t forget the fries… they are cooked and
seasoned to a delicious perfection!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We moved the car once again, this time towards “The Owl Man.” Initially we thought this was something we
could tour, however, it turns out it is just a window in a private residence
filled with all sorts of owl collectibles.
The big find here, however, was NOT on our list. We happened to park in front of the <a href="http://biritecreamery.com/" target="_blank">Bi-RiteCreamery</a>… so why not get some ice cream.
Dave enjoyed a triple dip of cookies-and-cream, coffee, and mint
chocolate chip. Alex enjoyed a scoop of vanilla
malt with chocolate chips and peanut brittle and a scoop of chocolate. Theresa and Justin apparently weren’t
concerned about getting kidnapped (see picture below) and shared a cone with a
scoop of brown sugar ginger salted caramel and a scoop of chocolate. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Despite the fact that we just finished eating burgers,
fries, and ice cream, we took a walk to the nearby <a href="http://www.dandelionchocolate.com/">Dandelion Chocolate</a>. This
was an awesome place, and we would have loved to take a tour but the tour was filled
for that evening. Also, we would have
loved to have made a chocolately purchase, however, our bellies were still
quite full so we only had small samples.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We routed ourselves towards the Bernal Heights Mini-Park
Slides. This mini-park was tucked into
the hillside of a neighborhood with a pair of 35-foot long metal slides. We enjoyed a few trips down the slides before
a father and his kids showed up with something to make them even better! Wax paper!
They rubbed the wax paper all over the slides… WOW! What a difference! Now we were really cruising! Apparently, these are the 2<sup>nd</sup> best
slides in San Francisco. The best are
the <a href="http://sfrecpark.org/destination/seward-mini-park/">Seward Slides</a>,
but they were closed for the evening.
There is a gate that gets closed on the slides at 5pm each evening…
sadface!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The <a href="http://www.tiledsteps.org/">Mosaic Steps</a>
were next! The 163 steps in the Golden
Gate Heights Neighborhood, were created and sponsored by the community. The stairs were awesome to see and walk
up. Dave was quite excited to find an
entire box of ramen noodles at the top.
We did not take them, we don’t know why they were there, but Dave was
stoked none the less.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Since it was getting later in the day, we had to cross
somethings off our list since they would no longer be open. We decided that a stop in Golden Gate Park
and a drive over the Golden Gate Bridge would round out our day.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We headed back towards San Jose, grabbed some pizza, and hung out on the couch watching The Italian Job… the namesake of the Theresa an Justin’s two black cats… Handsome Rob and Napster.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Funny/Not Funny Note: Justin hobbled around on a probably(definitely) sprained ankle all day. The injury resulted from falling out of bed in the morning because of a leg that had fallen asleep while sitting in bed.</span></div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11549212137357232032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119815793304602075.post-72706143938394995352015-07-14T22:30:00.000-07:002015-07-14T22:30:59.142-07:00Saturday, July 11 – Tuesday, July 14 - San Jose, CA<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">After cleaning up and packing up, the four of us headed to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Scottys-Restaurant/115361621826333">Scotty’s
Restaurant</a> for breakfast. The
service and food were fantastic.
Immediately upon sitting, there was coffee in our cups and water glasses
on our table. When we ordered, they even
asked how we wanted our bacon prepared…
CRISPY of course! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">After finishing breakfast, we helped Kevin and Sam remove
Yosemite dirt and debris from their rental car before we parted ways.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Kevin and Sam were headed to Fresno to catch
a flight back to New Jersey, and we were headed to cousin Theresa and Justin’s
place in San Jose for a few days.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We spent the afternoon relaxing on their patio, playing with
cats, enjoying grilled burgers, corn on the cob and zucchini. Later in the evening we met up with another
of Dave’s cousins, Jeremey, and wife Shuwei, in Mountain View for dinner. Initially when Dave and I heard we were going
to have “ramen,” we both instantly thought of the good old plastic packages of
cheap flavored noodles. What we found at
Shalala, was much heartier and more flavorful than those packets of plastic
from our college memories. After dinner
we enjoyed a walk up and down the streets lined with shops and restaurants.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Sunday morning, the two of us woke early for a run on the
nearby Los Gatos Creek Trail. Despite
all the hiking and climbing we have been doing, we found our runs (6 miles for
Alex and 8 miles for Dave) on flat ground to actually leave our legs feeling
tired. After returning and showering,
we enjoyed homemade waffles thanks to Justin, with an incredible amount of
topping selections… of which Alex took some of each! We took a walk to a nearby farmer’s market in
Campbell, where we all purchased some local fruits and vegetables to use over
the next week. Alex was jonesing for
some iced coffee, and after some searching, we found <a href="http://www.lapanotiq.com/">la PanotiQ Bakery Café</a>, which served up
some awesome cold brew coffee. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">After returning to their place, we ate some lunch before
heading off to visit some wineries.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The first winery we pulled into did not last long;
we quickly decided the vibe from the place was very much not what we
wanted.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Without being a member, you
could not enjoy their supposedly beautiful grounds, but instead had to remain
in a nearly windowless tasting room.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We
left their parking lot full of fancy cars and headed just up the road to </span><a href="http://www.burrellschool.com/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">the Burrell School Winery</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The employees here were very friendly and we
enjoyed our tasting sitting on a porch overlooking their vineyard.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Our final stop for the day was the </span><a href="http://www.winchestermysteryhouse.com/thehouse.cfm" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Winchester Mystery House</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">,
a 160 room mansion formerly owned by Sarah Winchester, heiress to the Winchester
Repeating Arms Company.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The house is an astounding maze of rooms, staircases,
and oddities.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">For example, there is a
stairway that goes nowhere, ending at a ceiling, and a door that opens to the
outside with nothing but a fall if you stepped through it.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">38 years of 24-hour per day construction,
funded by Mrs. Winchester’s fortune, ended only after her death.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It is
believed that Mrs. Winchester continued this construction in order to keep on
the good side of the spirits of those killed by Winchester rifles.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Though the advertising, gift shop, and
entrance to the house see very much a tourist trap, once inside the house and
on the guided tour of the grounds, it is a very interesting.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Monday was a welcomed, lazy day.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Dave did some school work, we played with cats, we ran some
errands, and made chocolate truffles with Theresa. There are no pictures of the truffles... because we ate them all. There is, however, a picture of the awesome salad we made. "YAY!" for finally eating "real food" on a regular basis again!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Tuesday, we visited the San Jose Municipal Rose Gardens and Japanese Friendship Garden.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11549212137357232032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119815793304602075.post-61753916825961715822015-07-11T08:22:00.000-07:002015-07-11T08:22:33.992-07:00Friday, July 10 – Muir Woods National Monument and San Francisco<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">6:00AM alarms rang, and we all crawled from our comfy beds
(the first real bed Dave and Alex had in weeks). Once dressed, we hopped in Kevin and Sam’s
rental car, and made our way towards Muir Woods National Monument for some
hiking. Along the way, we made a
pit-stop at a roadside coffee and bakery to fuel our adventure.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">After driving up the long and winding road to the parking
lot, we quickly found a place to park in the nearly empty parking lot. After Sam helped Kevin prep his feet for the
day, we started to hike along of the paved paths in the cool, damp air. The weather was a welcome change from the
scorching heat and sun of Yosemite. We
pieced together several different trails to form about a 6-mile loop around the
park. We enjoyed a leisurely hike,
drinking coffee and snapping pictures along the way. When we found ourselves back in the parking lot,
it looked vastly different than it did when we left. The lot, as well as the extra lots, were now
completely full of car and tour buses.
As usual, we were thankful we chose an early start!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Back in the car, we headed south towards San Francisco, stopping before reaching the Golden Gate Bridge to take some pictures. Once in the city, we found a place to park, and spent some time in the Prana store before heading to Roam Artisian Burgers for a delicious lunch. Alex suggested taking a walk to see the “Painted Ladies” which were about a mile away. After taking some pictures, we settled in the grass of the park across the street to figure out what to do with the remainder of the afternoon. We decided to move the car closer to the Pier 39 area. Securing a parking spot, we meandered around the shops and San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park. We decided to walk through the crazy masses of people in the “boardwalk” type area towards Pier 39 to see the sea lions. Sadly, we arrived there to find out it was the wrong time of year… and there were no sea lions to be seen.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Painted Ladies</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Alcatraz</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We all decided we were ready to head back to the car and
head back towards the hotel.
Unfortunately, we were hitting rush hour traffic. As we moved along, we started to think about
dinner. As we all began searching, Alex suggested
a Mexican restaurant, Taqueria La Bamba, that was about a mile away. Fortunately, the needed exit was just ahead,
but involved crossing 5 lanes of traffic.
Thanks to evasive driving maneuvers by Dave, we made it off the exit and into
the parking lot. The building was not
much to look at, but inside we were served delicious vegetarian burritos and
the best shrimp quesadilla we ever had!
With full bellies and leftovers for later, we headed to the car and back
to the hotel. Kevin and Sam would be
flying home tomorrow, so we spent the remainder of the evening packing up and
relaxing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11549212137357232032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119815793304602075.post-76776704858343038702015-07-10T21:46:00.001-07:002015-07-10T21:46:12.893-07:00Wednesday, July 8 – Thursday, July 9 – Rest Day and Heading to San Francisco<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> We slept in Wednesday morning, and Dave and Alex were surprised at the lack of soreness and stiffness in their bodies. We must be getting used to this! After a quick breakfast, we headed to Housekeeping Camp to do laundry and take showers. Once clean-up was complete, we walked across the street to the Le Conte Memorial Lodge. The Lodge is a very cool stone structure built by the Sierra Club in 1903 as a memorial to Joseph LeConte, an early director who died in the Valley. The Lodge provides programs and information to visitors about Yosemite, the Sierra Nevadas, and the beginnings of the National Park System. After spending some time investigating the wide array of information in the Lodge, we headed towards the Visitors Center to check out the displays and information, as well as a short film about the park. As the lazy day turned towards late afternoon, we grabbed some fresh vegetables from the Village Store to add to our sauce and pasta to make our evening meal. </span><div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">After dinner, we made a camp fire from a combination of
found fire wood and scavenged downed branches from the woods. Somehow, Kevin found a way to get another
injury. As Alex and Sam washed the
dinner dishes, Dave and Kevin were breaking down some of the larger pieces of
tree branches. Dave set aside some pieces he deemed too large to kick in
half. Kevin looked at them and said, “Obviously,
you didn’t take enough karate lessons…” and proceeded to begin kicking the
pieces in half. After a few successful
breaks, Kevin managed to end up with an unbroken branch and one large scrape up
the back of his calf. After cleaning up
the scrape, Dave helped him do a thorough job of bandaging the wound. </span> <o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Now that the fire was built, and burned to a nice set of coals, we were able to enjoy our s’mores and the fire. After a few hours of conversations and laughs, the last few pieces were all but done burning, and we were all ready for bed. A few good drenchings of water left us satisfied that the fire was out, and we headed to our tents, planning to do some climbing in the morning on the base of El Cap.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Around 3:30AM some rain began to patter on the fly of the tent and thunder rumbled in the distance. We zipped shut the rain fly to keep out the rain, and quickly returned to a deep slumber. Sometime later we were awakened by the BEST thunderstorm ever. The deep thunder was the loudest and most intense either of us had ever heard, and we loved it! The rolling booms sounded as if they were echoing against the granite all the way down the valley, and reverberated in the ground under our backs. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Around 7:00AM, Kevin was knocking on our tent, asking if we were awake and ready to get up. The rain was falling steadily, making it perfect sleeping weather, and we thought he was being ridiculous. We told him to go back to bed, but he said he and Sam were antsy and sick of laying in the tent. He said that he had a new plan… since it seemed as if it were going to rain most of the day, and climbing was going to be out of the realm of possibilities, we should head to San Francisco today. We said we thought that was a good idea, and then curled up to sleep. We could here Kevin prancing and humming outside our tent…. We asked him what he was doing… and he asked us what we were doing and why we weren’t out of our tent yet. “Uhmmmm… it’s RAINING!” We had no intentions of getting out of the tent until the rain slowed or stopped. We wanted to know why Kevin, who normally wanted to nap, was sooooo awake right now! We told him he should go to the camp store down the road and get coffee for us to occupy his time. We then began to pack up the things inside the tent, and took some of the things to the car. Donning our rain coats, we made a trip to the restroom, and on our return, found Kevin and Sam were back, but coffeeless… the store did not open until 8:00. We jumped in their car to discuss plans now that we were all awake. We were still telling him how terrible it was that we were not still in our tents, and cleaning them up in the rain. As we all left the car to pack up our tents, the rain began to fall harder. At this point, we were both very giggly about the whole situation, and Kevin and Sam seemed more grumbly about the status of the heavy rain and soggy tents. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">With cars now hastily and poorly packed, we set off to get coffee and make our way towards San Francisco. After about 2 hours of driving, we pulled into a Panera to grab some food, and use the internet to figure out what hotel we would book for the next two nights. After much searching, discussion, and rejecting of hotels with horrid reviews or too high of prices, we settled on a hotel in Vallejo, about 30 miles northeast of San Francisco. After checking in to our room, we unloaded cars with the items we needed, and well as the wet items we needed to deal with. We washed the dirt from out wet and muddy tents, and hung them around the room to dry. Next on the agenda was dinner. After reading reviews, we decided on the nearby House of Soul. Though the menu had a decent number of items, the choices were few. Alex tried to order ribs, but they did not have them… so she went with fried chicken. Yes, we do eat fried chicken :o) Summer makes us do all sorts of crazy things… and we need the extra calories! For sides, she asked for mashed potatoes and lima beans… Nope… none of those. Mac-n-cheese and black-eyed peas will work! Everyone ordered almost the same thing, with Kevin switching fried chicken with chicken-fried steak. Despite the limited choices, and not getting our drinks until well into eating our dinner, the meal was delicious and our server was friendly. With full bellies, we returned to the hotel room to relax for the remainder of the evening.</span><br /><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11549212137357232032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119815793304602075.post-52329157803706580342015-07-10T20:06:00.000-07:002015-07-10T20:06:04.525-07:00Tuesday, July 7 – Cables Route Hike<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The alarm roused us from our sleep at 3:00AM. We quickly brushed our teeth, grabbed our breakfast and hiking packs that we readied the night before, and jumped in the car. We arrived at the Trailhead Parking Lot around 4:00AM. We had decided that Alex and Sam would hike together, and Dave and Kevin would hike together in case Kevin’s battered feet proved to be a problem. Alex and Sam started off hiking by headlamp at 4:12AM, with Dave and Kevin starting 5 minutes behind them after taping up Kevin’s feet.</span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Alex and Sam found themselves at the base of the cables at 8:00AM. They were stoked about their progress, especially since Sam’s original goal was to be on the top of Half Dome by 10:00! Hiking in the cool morning air, with no sun on them until they made their way up the stone stairs of the subdome, was a big help! There were a few people already on the cables, and a larger guided group getting ready to start, so the pair took a few pictures and took in the surrounding views before starting on the cables. Within 20 minutes of cable jugging they were high-fiving on the summit. They found a nice big rock to lay claim to, took off their shoes and socks, and began to maul the pepperoni and cheese wraps, apples, goldfish crackers, and pretzels they brought along. As they snacked, Alex checked her phone to see if they had any cell reception and messages from their other halves. Dave and Kevin had sent a message saying they were half way up the subdome! That is AWESOME! Kevin’s battered feet must not have slowed him down! That means they should be here soon!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Around 8:50, Alex heard someone walking up behind them, turned around, and jumped up with happiness that it was Dave. He said he had pretty much run up the cables as fast as possible; to the point that it actually made him out of breath... it was a blast! Kevin was still working his way up the cables, but should be there soon. <br /><br />At 9:00AM, Kevin made his appearance, looking exhausted and ready to nap. He mumbled a few nearly indiscernible words, mostly about napping, before settling down leaning on the rock the rest of the group was sitting on. However, instead of napping, Kevin pulled out his phone, and realizing there was cell reception, began playing Castle Clash, while the rest of the group giggled at the ridiculousness of the situation. Once everyone had eaten, Kevin was looking human again, and we were done chasing squirrels and marmots away from our area, we took a few pictures before deciding to start making our way back down the cables. It was 9:45AM and we had 9 miles of hiking until we would reach the Valley floor. We were pretty excited about the fact that barring anything going wrong, we should be relaxing by early afternoon. </span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The hike down the dome went pretty well with only small grumbles from Kevin about being tired and sore. The hike went by fast; on the flat top Kevin maintained a ground eating pace until an abrupt slowdown at Nevada Falls. This is end of the line for the tourists hiking the “falls” trail. This meant we only had 4 miles or about one and a half hours to go. Stumbling and slipping our way down we pushed through the hordes of tourists coming up the hill, but still making good time. With about 1.3 miles to go Dave told Kevin it would take about another twenty minutes at their pace. Kevin was not having 20 more minutes of hiking; he started down the hill in a frisky run. Without pause Dave jumped into running with Kevin plowing the way with excitement. Although hesitant at first, Alex and Sam came right behind running like little lass’s. The remaining mileage was done in no time, but the crew had another .5 miles to the car on a path.<br /><br />At 1:45PM, the group was victorious at the car. With high fives flying, the group started pealing sweaty hiking clothes and replacing them with “clean” comfy camp clothes. Even Sam changed in the parking lot, hiding between opened car doors, avoiding the occasional bystander. Kevin pulled his sock off and the complete and utter destruction of his foot was apparent. His injury from two days previous was making a second shiny entry. He was so relieved to be done he could not do anything but giggle at the pain he incurred since the start of the trip. Everyone was aching for an iced beverage and eager to destroy some food from Curry Village; there is no cooking on 20+ mile hiking days. <br /><br />Once in the village, tasks were divided to gather food and beverages. Kevin was the only one to bring a credit card, so he was forced to be in charge of getting food. Sam, armed with cash, was charged with going to the camp store to gather four iced victory brews! Dave stood with Kevin as moral support, Sam running to the store, but actually getting side tracked holding down the table with Alex. Alex, Dave, and Sam each feasted on chicken fingers and fries, while Kevin had a much grander feast. Kevin wanted a hamburger, hot dog, AND a grilled cheese sandwich with tomato and onion. He though this might be a bit much, so Dave offered to help eat the grilled cheese.<br /><br />Once back at camp, a second hammock was hung, food thrown in the bear box, and tired hikers retreated to resting areas. Alex and Dave swung gently in hammocks, while Kevin and Sam crawled into their tent. After about a 2 hour nap, the sleepy hikers roused from their sleep for more food. While snacking on various items from the bear box, one of the members of the “noisy neighbor” party asked us if we would like “s’more cones.” We said “We think so…” He explained that they were sugar cones filled with mini marshmallows and chocolate chips, heated over the camp fire. “YES! We definitely would like those!” was our response. This was a genius idea; all the goodness of a s’more, minus the oooey gooey mess. We talked with them for a while before sleep became imminent, and then thanked them again for the delicious treat, before heading off for a good night’s sleep.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11549212137357232032noreply@blogger.com0