Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Back from Yosemite (Challenge Day 10)

So, my backpacking trip in Yosemite was great! Zach, Josh, and I had tried to hike the 7.1 miles to Clouds Rest over the July 4th weekend but we were beaten back by a huge amount of snow that had fallen just a few days prior. This time we made it to the top in four hours. On the drive up I had convinced the guys we should at least ask for Half Dome permits so that if we had time and were up for it we could add that to the trip. At the top of Clouds Rest we decided we did have time and we did want to do it so we hiked another 3.8 miles to a clearing near a creek and camped for the night. Pretty much as soon as we got there I spotted a mother bear and her cub coming our way. They walked right on through and seemed like they couldn't care less about us. I have never seen a bear in the wild so, as amazing as it was, it scared the heck out of me and I was glad they decided to keep on moving. Around 3AM we heard a bunch of people yelling and banging on pots and clapping. I hear that's pretty normal in Yosemite as that is the prescribed way of shooing bears out of your campsite. We ran into those folks at the cables at Half Dome and one girl said the bear didn't care about all their yelling and just sat there while they yelled at it! We broke camp and headed the half mile to where the Half Dome trail takes off from the John Muir trail and we were up and back down Half Dome by 11AM. I took a photo with the park rangers at the bottom and we had lunch on a big rock under an even bigger tree and I sang a TLC song until some other backpackers made fun of me. A few minutes later I made a "your mom" joke to Josh and I think I regained the respect of those backpackers because they started laughing. Anyway, back at the junction of the Half Dome and John Muir trails we ran into some scouts and a scout leader. The scout leader was in need of some moleskin which I just happened to have plenty of so we sat with them for a bit while he doctored up his heels. A few miles later near a campsite we were hanging around looking for some water and they happened to show up a few minutes behind us and offered us the use of their water filter (I had water purification tablets that work great but it takes 4 hours for them to be effective) and we gladly accepted! After pumping a couple liters of water we were back at it on our way to Nevada Falls and then on to Happy Isles where we caught a couple shuttles back to the car and drove home. Overall we hiked 21.6 miles, summited two of Yosemite's most well known chunks of rock, saw bears, deer, marmots, and 60 million mosquitoes, slept under a full Yosemite moon, and loved every second of it.

I took lots of pictures. And then I forgot my camera in Josh's car and he lives 60 miles away. I'll get it back soon and I'll be able to share some of those photos!

On to the HD Health Challenge! I've been eating pretty healthy food, still no soda or alcohol, LOTS of water, LOTS of V8, and the days where I didn't do my Insanity workout I hiked a minimum of 10 miles on trails that are deemed "strenuous" so I am totally counting that for my daily 4 points! I've lost 2 pounds so far and my wife says I look skinnier already. Sweet!

Also, I've been moved to Dept. 23 at work. Time for some PK classes!

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