Day 14 & 15: Things just got real.

I’ve been to a lot of places and seen a lot of things on this trip so far and this was the first time I was really conflicted in how I felt about a place. First let me say that Yosemite National Park is absolutely beautiful and I wish I had a week there to see it all. Let me follow that up by saying that I wish I had a week there to explore it all because the traffic and sheer crowd size was absolutely maddening at times and it genuinely caused me to say out loud that I couldn’t wait to leave. It’s unfortunate but it’s true. There were a couple factors that played into this though. Number one, it was Memorial Day weekend which I believe is the summer opening weekend for the park so naturally that increased crowd size. Secondly, they are doing a boat load of construction so there were numerous road closures which made the traffic some of the worst I’ve ever been in. With all of that said though, outside of the car, Yosemite is still one of the prettiest places I’ve ever seen. It is also the place of one of the dumbest, most dangerous things I’ve done on the trip so far.

Let me first start by saying pulling into my cabin area was a site like I’ve never seen before. A nice sunny day as I drove through the park to the campground, the minute I pulled into the parking area near my cabin it immediately looked like it was about to rain. I looked up to see, not clouds, the side of a mountain that was actually blocking the sun. The Half Dome Village area was nearly surrounded by granite making it a site unlike any other I had seen so far. The size of these granite walls was absolutely astounding. Now, onto my stupidity.

I got caught in a lot of traffic getting there the first day and after getting settled in my cabin and eating lunch I was determined to get something done so I had something to show for the day. So the closest thing to my campground was the Yosemite Falls. So I strolled over and checked them out. They were magnificent. As I got closer to them I started seeing people walk by me with wet clothes and wet hair. Again it was a nice sunny day so I knew it had to have been from the falls. There were two paths to take, Lower Falls trail and Upper Falls trail. The Lower Falls trail was first so I followed it to the base of the waterfalls. It was remarkable. The wind whipping the mist around, the sound of the falls crashing down, it was an amazing site. People stood in front of the falls embracing the mist and wind and took pictures while others tried to take pictures from a safe distance and avoid getting wet at all. I stepped up into the mist and got some pictures. I took selfies but also tried to get some pictures of the mighty falls. After getting all the pictures I wanted I continued on following the signs for the Upper Falls trail. I reached the entrance of the hiking trail at about 7:30pm. The sun still shining brightly I decided that I could do the 7 mile round trip hike before it got dark. Again determined to not let the day be a wash because of the stupid traffic I excitedly started up the trail. As I hiked up I passed group after group, person after person coming down. Still with blue skies I pressed on. Not being what you would really call a “hiker” I had a hard time gauging how far I had actually gone. By the time I reached the area to take pictures of the falls it was about dusk. I took pictures and caught my breath. I was at least smart enough to bring my back pack with water and almonds if need be. Looking up I realized that the trail continued. I looked up at the sky and decided I wanted to make it to the top. So I kept going. I followed the path as it wound and twisted higher and higher. I looked at my watch, which I had started to keep track of how long I’d been hiking. It was at about 1 hour and 15 minutes. With the sun now gone, the sky barely retaining any of the residual light, and not knowing exactly how much farther I had to hike to get to the top I decided to turn around. About 5 minutes into hiking back down it was pitch dark. Not pitch dark with street lights. Not pitch black but with cars going by. Not pitch dark with city lights. This was forest dark. No cell phone service dark. Pitch. Black. Dark. Barely being able to see a foot in front of my face I switched on the flashlight on my phone. I followed the path down the whole time thinking about everything that could go wrong. I had broken the 2 cardinal rules of hiking. I was hiking alone and I was hiking after dark. No one knew I was on this trail. If I slipped and rolled my ankle or smashed up my phone I was stuck. If I turned the corner into a bear then I was done for. The reality of the situation quickly set in and for the first time, probably in my life, I was genuinely scared. I hiked down as fast as I could while still trying to be safe. When I finally saw the sign for the beginning of the trail the weight that came off my shoulders was indescribable. I caught the shuttle back to my cabin and as I sat on the bus, my shirt and my hat absolutely dripping with sweat, my legs trembled. I couldn’t tell if it was because I just hiked for about 2 and a half hours or if it was because my nerves were on overdrive. Either way I got back to my cabin and showered and passed out knowing that this was one of the dumbest things I’ve done in my life.

After completing the stupidest hike ever the day before, I decided to lay low the next day. I drove up to Glacier Point early and explored a bit. It was absolutely beautiful. The snow covered caps of the mountain reflecting against the blue sky were stunning. I took some pictures and just took in the views before heading back down to my cabin area. It took me 3 hours to find parking and by the time I was out of the car I didn’t want to do anything else. I laid low and walked around the area and got some pictures of some deer and the mountains. I would have liked to check out a few other notable points of interest but unfortunately it just didn’t happen because of the ridiculous traffic.

So I wouldn’t call Yosemite a waste because what I was able to see was truly remarkable. However I know there was just so much more to see and I wasn’t able to because of the circumstances. But I couldn’t dwell too long. I was off to La La Land in the morning and I was absolutely pumped for it.