Gone Camping!

We went to Yosemite for 5 days and 4 nights and it was awesome!

Living in San Francisco has given me a new appreciation for "the woods." I grew up in "the woods" and hated going camping there (it was like camping out in the backyard). I always preferred the coast because it was a change of scenery.

I have to say there are definitely times I miss "the woods" now. Living in San Diego or Sacramento didn't make me miss it so much, but San Francisco definitely makes me feel as though I need some sort of return to nature on a regular basis.

I had only been to Yosemite once before (on a school trip with Justin) and we only got one day in the park. We decided to go back and do some exploring for our "honeymoon."

We stayed two nights at the Yosemite Bug Rustic Resort in Midpines, about an hour away from Yosemite. While driving into the park (and out) took a while - there is a place where the road was consumed by a landslide and a one lane bridge is the solution they came up with, it was totally worth it. We had a tent cabin, access to their health spa and didn't have to cook dinner or breakfast!

Normally, I wouldn't really care about cooking (I do it all the time). We did the Panorama Trail hike on Monday (8.5 miles from Glacier Point to Happy Isle).

We started here!  At Glacier Point - Elevation 7214

The view from our starting point!

Our finish point. At Happy Isles - Elevation 4000

All I can say is Eff the Mist Trail portion of the hike.  I'm not usually bothered by heights but this was sketchy, super sketchy.  There is a stretch that is a 12 inch wide staircase that has people both coming up and down with a rickety metal pole serving as a rail...... 

Once was enough... The "stairs" to the top of Vernal Falls. 

Apparently the John Muir Trail intersects near Nevada Fall, which would have taken us around the stairs of doom. We can say we did it. And once was enough!  The rest of the hike was great (about a 3200 elevation change over the course) and I got some cool photos. 

We camped two nights in the park as well. We stayed at Tuolumne Meadows camp ground and were pleasantly surprised about the "lack" of bugs.  I was sort of expecting something similar to the swarms of mosquitoes that attack a car the second it stops moving at Wright's Lake (both share similar elevations and wetland type areas).  We did use bug spray (and busted out the electric wand), but it wasn't necessary to wear a net headpiece or anything. 

We drank a lot of cold ones as one should when camping.  We took it easy. We took the shuttle (most genius feature of the park). We took pictures.  We climbed the dome across from Olmstead Point. 

We did not see any bears. That's the first thing anyone asks when they hear you've been to Yosemite.  I've seen more bears at my mom's house (and at the Folsom Street Faire). I did see a deer ford the river, a marmot and insanely tame squirrels.  I didn't see any hawks. I also didn't see much fungus. 

 

Hey guys. Look how many tricks I can do.  

Justin made a new friend. 

One of the few examples of fungus! 

One of the most exciting parts of the trip was that my beloved Sony V3 camera began working again prior to the trip.  I hadn't been able to use it for 2 years. It always said "ACCESS" when you would turn it on. I went to try one more time, and lo and behold it worked!  

I like my Panasonic T3 because of it's durability, but it doesn't take the same quality of pictures that the V3 does. I have a macro lens and wide angle lens for it and I am content to take macro photos all day long. I've had the V3 for probably close to 10 years now and nothing compares to it. It has NIGHT VISION. Seriously. 

The T3 is waterproof, shockproof and can withstand extreme temperatures.  I can take it places I would never take the V3. But the V3 takes far superior photos.  

I could go on and on forever considering the number of photos I took, but I'll save those for another post.  

AND REMEMBER: