My Travels

Snorkeling at Akumal Beach

2012-01-23T15:47:00.000-08:00

Here's how I got to Akumal. A short 4 minute walk from the hostel, is where the collectivos load up. There's basically church vans that run up the down highway 307. You can head as south as Tulum from Playa for 35 pesos.

Just tell the driver Akumal, and they drop you off on the side of the highway. Just cross the highway using the walk way...

...and continue heading towards the beach. It's all of a 5 minute walk.

Find a nice spot under a palm, and relax. :)

The rules:

The locals:

I brought with me my Gopro, and decided to use it to see what sort of pictures and videos I could get. Here's a couple good videos of the local sea turtles:

...and a couple pictures from the day.

After I was done snorkeling, I head towards the left hand side of the beach, so a rocky shore line a half mile or so away.

Here's the walk back towards the highway.

...and just about there.

A visit to the ruins at Tulum

2012-01-20T19:56:00.000-08:00

A true vacation includes some adventure.

I'm sitting in the common area of the hostel when I say "hi" to a couple I spoke with the night before. He was born and raised in Sweden, but is currently studying abroad in Mexico City. His girlfriend is from Mexico. She is a flight attendant, and scored them free tickets to Playa del Carmen. They were checking out of the hostel, and heading south to Tulum. They invited me, but I wanted to make a full day of it, and it was already 4pm. They said not to worry and that they had no plans on where to stay in Tulum, but would find something cheap once they got there. Then they wanted to visit the ruins the following morning. He spoke fluent English as well as fluent Spanish. She obviously spoke Spanish, but also some acceptable English. This seemed like an adventure, so why not? I packed a day bag, and we were off.

Let me quickly toss out the fact that it's about 13 pesos for a dollar, but I got a crappy rate of about 10 to 1.

For 35 pesos, we took a bus into the city outside of Tulum. We walked a couple blocks till we found an internet cafe, and paid 7 pesos to google some sleeping options. We skipped that idea, and hailed a cab for 50 pesos. We told him to take us somewhere nice but cheap. We ended up here:

Google says they are wel known via backpackers for many years. Here is what you get for 350 pesos. It has two scary looking beds, a table, and two chairs. Electricity is only on from noon till 6pm. We got there just after 6pm. We were handed sheets, pillow cases, TP, and a candle.

In the am, we were greeted outside by el gatos.

Literally a 25 foot walk from the cabana is this view:

The below cabana serves as a bar/restaurant at night.

Another 25 feet towards the beach, and looking to the left.

Straght out.

...and to the left.

Ah, no one in site for miles.

After a short walk on the beach, we headed down the road to the ruins. Here's a view of the walk.

We were there within 5-10 minutes. Here's a small scale model out front before you go it. Admission was 57 pesos.

Barely past the admission, this guy fall from a tree, onto the ground about 10 feet from me. Welcome to nature.

Once in, we walked around the ruins.

The Mayans may be gone, but I think they left these guys in charge. They were everywhere.

Ah, the famous picture everyone takes...

Something about me and taking pics on cliffs.

What's right behind me?

Ah, a beach!

Looking back at the stairs that take you down to it.

We relaxed, and went for a swim for a half hour or so. While they dried off, I went walking along the small private beach area, and snapped a couple nice pics. Me by the cliffs...

Once dried, we left the ruins, as the tour buses with the Americans from Cancun, along with their cheesy joke making tour guides had arrived.

We walked a mile into town, and got to the main street, with it's sidewalk project not yet complete.

After a mile of the sidewalk, we came to a 7-11. OH YEAH!!!

Then another mile of walking along streets like this got us into the downtown area.

LOL at the web address:

Being I had some fluent spanish speakers along side, we ventured about 2 blocks off the main road away from the tourists to find a real restaurant. Ah, this looks perfect. The restaurant is the blue building.

Hmmm, what sounds good? Ah yes, nachos con pollo!!!

That, along with an agua de Jamica(berry flavored water), and I was full.

They were staying in Tulum a couple more days, so they got me on the right bus, and 35 pesos later, I was back in Playa, just 3-4 blocks from the hostel.

Hola from Playa del Carmen

2012-01-18T09:40:00.000-08:00

Well I made it. :)

Here's a crappy pic of google maps showing where I am.

I'm at the letter A, which is Hostel 3B. The city blocks here are very small. The walk to the beach is all of 3 minutes.

First I had to go though customs and immigration to get into Mexico. I laughed at the thought of that. I figured I would have problems since I was declaring food. I brought a couple boxes of granola bars. They were cheap, and I figured would be a good snack. They didn't blink an eye at me checking YES to one of the questions. Next I needed to convert my dollars into pesos.

The nice lady at the counter said the rate was 13.X and there were no fees.

A little bit later, I did the math. Yeah, I got screwed. :( The places here in Playa have signs saying 12.95 or so rates. I should have waited till I got here. Oh well, you learn as you go when you travel.

Next, was to purchase a bus ticket. I was told the counter was outside terminal 2, and to the right. Sure enough it was. Here's my ticket.

Here's a shot looking back at the bus ticket stand.

Here's a nice shot of the control tower. I think they may have been about to start more painting.

The bus was a full size grey hound sized bus, but only had about 8 people on it. The drive was about 45 minutes, but I slept. The 3 hours of sleep the prior night didn't do much good.

Here's a shot of the bus.

I got to the hostel a little before check in time, so I waited in the common area. Here was my view out the front door.

20 minutes or so later....

Damn, they were not joking about the afternoon siesta, huh?

Once my room was ready, I got my keys, and was ready to unpack. Here's not exactly my bed, but these are in the same room, and easier to take a picture of. I think there are 6 bunk beds in the room. I got a top bunk which is closest to the ceiling mounted fans. :)

Here's my stuff thrown in my locker.

I then grabbed some tacos from a street vendor, washed them down with a mexican coke, and headed for the bleach. Here's the beach from the streets.

And up closer...

After a swim, I took a shower, and was tired already. After checking email/facebook on my phone, I later went out for dinner. Here's a shot of 5th Ave, their main shopping district.

I had some more tacos, and was exhausted. The outlets in the common area were taken, so I laid down in bed, and actually fell asleep around 9pm, and slept till about 9am. Here's a shot I took out my room's window before I crashed early.

They seem to just do a little work whenever they feel like it. Must be nice, huh?

It's now lunch time on day 2. Time to go get some food.

Half Dome

2011-09-23T14:17:00.003-07:00

Alright, this was the entire purpose of the trip, to hike to the top of Half Dome. My bag was packed the prior night. The alarm went off way to early for me, at 6:00am. After filling my water bladder, and grabbing a snack, I was off. I'll be keeping a time log via when these photos were taken to give everyone an idea of how long of a day this hike is. This, the first photo was taken at 6:32am. It's my permit sitting on my bed before I headed out.

It was a short drive to trailhead 16 where I parked. I continued eating a little more here in the car, hoping to possibly start off the hike following up some strangers. At least that way I know I'm on the right trail. Sure enough I saw another guy about my age double checking his pack before leaving his car. I clearly remember I left my car at 7:06am. The following pic was taken at 7:36am. It was official, Half Dome, here I come!

Here is the trail(s) I ended up taking.

I took the black dotted trail up. The beginning 1/3rd is called the Mist Trail. It gets it's name as you'll see shortly, having it's trail run close along Vernal Falls. During the peak season for the fall, people get drenched taking this trail. Once passed Nevada Falls, the trail is simple called the Half Dome Trail. Coming back down, I took the blue dotted trails. For the first side track in Little Yosemite Valley, I simply missed a fork in the trail. I knew it would get me where I was headed, so I didn't turn back. Once back down to Nevada Falls, I took the John Muir Trail down. I was told it was about a mile longer, but didn't have the steep steps and wet trails that the Mist Trail has. Plus I was fighting the sun setting coming down.

This is the beginning of the Mist Trail.

Shortly into the trail I was walking along this stream.

Looking back into the valley floor, I looked like I was making some progress.

You can see the rocks in front of me were fully wet.

Here's a video showing how strong this waterfall was, despite being August 31st.

Now for some, this is where things would get scary. The metal poles felt sturdy, and I felt fine.

Ah, at the top of the falls.

Nice view from up here.

Here is where the 3 hikers went over the falls recently. As you can see behind me and the railing, it's flat, smooth rock for several feet before the water. I guess the one hiker got a little to close, and slipped on a wet area of rock. The other 2 then went in trying to save the first one. None of them were seen alive again.

Now the following couple of pics show what I could call a natural water slide. It looks damn fun, but being so close to the fall, it probably wouldn't be smart.

Uploading these pics, I couldn't figure out why I took the next picture.

Oh wait....

Mini-rainbow.

This shows what a lot of the trail is like. It's either slight incline of dirt, or a steeper incline of rock.

Now this picture shows what I would want to do next time. I already learned on the 4 Mile trail that I was wasting to much time taking photos. Had I had more free time, or wasn't going the whole way up Half Dome, I would have gotten off trail here, and gone climbing on some of the rocks. I'm sure it would be an amazing view of the fall from it's bottom. I definitely would have needed my rain poncho for that.

Here's a video showing the area. There's even a downed tree I could use to cross to the other side.

Looking back down to where the water runs.

I noticed a lot of Blue Jays out in Yosemite. I don't think we have any in Florida.

Getting a little closer to the fall.

This shows what a big portion of the trail is like at this point.

Here's a big section of switchbacks. If you look closely near the center of the photo you can make out someone farther up the trail from me.

Portions of the trail are very nicely made, and easy on the feet.

Time for another time stamp. The following picture was taken at 10:15am. Once done with the switchbacks for a bit we arrived at the merced river in the lower yosemite valley. This was a nice area for a break.

It was beautiful crystal clear water. I wanted to go for a swim, but the water was COLD, and I was plans and places to go.

Some cool pic of a giant dead tree.

Here I came to a junction, and of course went left.

More warning signs.

Next picture was taken at 11:53. I'm use to sleeping till noon, yet on this day I've already hiked over 6 miles.

I assumed I was doing well, as the rocks were clearing out, and now I was more in wooded areas.

Just showing how the trail looked at this point.

12:46, and I could now see Half Dome.

I wasn't even to the top yet, but the view was amazing.

Success! 1:11, and I made it to the Ranger's station. She was a hottie, but sort of a *****. She showed no emotion, only gave a yes or no answer, didn't smile, etc. I would guess ex military.

So what do I do? I ask for a photo with her. She didn't seem to happy about this, as you can see from her huge smile.

I thought by this point it would be easy, and the cables would be just around the corner. NOPE! Here's a shot looking back at some switchbacks.

No railing up here, so be careful.

Maybe it's just me, but the song Stairway to Heaven popped into my head seeing these.

Finally I made it to the subdome. Yes, those are the famous cable of Half Dome right in front of me.

For the best feel of the area, and the cables, watch this following video in HD

2:47, and I was officially on top of Half Dome.

Oh yeah, there it is, the whole reason of this trip, to stand out on the diving board as it's called.

...and here I am doing just that.

Picture may be worth a thousand words, but I also got video of me standing on the diving board.

Ah, at the edge of a 4,000 foot fall.

Standing at another edge up on the top of Half Dome.

Up here on both the subdome, and Half Dome, and animals are super friendly, and will even open up backpacks that are left unattended. This squirrel got into someone's bag, and ripped open a ziplock bag of Goldfish crackers. I was curious if he would eat one from my hand.

Looking down into the valley floor.

Video looking down in to the valley floor.

Here's a video panning around, showing you the view from up here at 6,000+ feet.

...and a couple pics doing the same.

One last look at the diving board on Half Dome before heading down. I would have loved to have spent more time up on top of Half Dome exploring all it's surface area, eating a snack, taking a nap, etc, but I was on a time crunch. To top it off, I was already sick of the food I brought with me. There's nothing wrong with granola, crackers, nuts, fruit, and water, but I wanted a real meal. The water in my bladder now tasted like warm plastic. I don't know what was worse, the warm part, or the plastic taste.

You go down the same way you came up. The time was 3:30. That put me at 8 and a half hours to get to the top. Time for the descent. Hang on tight!

Back on the subdome, I chilled behind this rock for some shade while I had a snack.

A view looking around from the subdome.

I'm barely 10 minutes down from the subdome, when I hear some noises from the bushes over by some rock. I was just hoping it wasn't a bobcat or worse, a bear. Ok, just a deer.

Now if I learned one thing at Mariposa Grove, it was that going down is about ten times easier than going up. I tightened all the straps on my backpack, and was doing a slight jog. When going downhill, in my opinion, it's easier to run than try to slow yourself down. For that reason, I just focused on getting down. That's why I didn't take any pictures for close to the next 2 hours.

As I said in the beginning, I missed a turn in the Little Yosemite Valley, and took a slightly longer path. That was fine with me, because I had an idea. My water was warm and tasted like plastic. If I could make my way over to the water, I could float my bladder in the river, and chill it.

I was walking near the river, when I spot a big opening about 10 feet wide. I was down to the shore, and there's a downed tree right along the shore, perfect to tie my bladder's tube to. Even better, there's a large flat rock about a foot from the shore line. It stood about 3 feet out of the water, with a large flat top of about 5 feet by 5 feet. I took off my backpack, set it on the shore, and jumped up on this rock to lay down, and stretch my back.

It felt great! I figured I should let the bladder float for 10-15 minutes. So I'm sitting on this rock, facing my shore line, and decide to snap a couple pics of my resting area. This first pic is looking to my left, which would be the way I would be heading shortly.

This pic is to the right, which would be the area I just came from.

I lay back down, with my feet towards my short line. I was enjoying the sound of the running water, and birds chirping. After about 5 minutes, I hear some twigs start snapping directly behind me, thus across the river. I slowly sit up, fearing the worst, and I am correct. Directly across the river is a large bear. He was about to take a drink, but was now directly staring me down.

Now lets thing about this for a minute. I'm damn tired, and still a good 3-4 miles from civilization. That's bad. I have a large stream/small river separating us. That's good! My heart was beating a thousand beats a minute. I know you're suppose to make loud noises to scare the bear off, but I didn't. My immediate thinking was as long as he didn't get in the water I'm fine. He probable just wants a drink.

After being looked over by him, he took a drink, and then proceeded to walk down the shore line. At this point, I can now breath again. After he walks down the shore 20 or 30 feet I realize my point and shoot camera is in my pocket. Still scared, somehow taking pictures/video seemed like a good idea.

Here's the first pic, he's still walking away.

Here's a quick video I shot of him.

Here's a couple more pictures I took, now zoomed in a bit.

Once he was a little farther away, I started to feel safe. I jumped back to shore and grabbed my HD camcorder from my backpack. Here's a little clip of the bear walking back into the woods.

With the bear now gone, I needed to get going. Plus my heart is pumping, and I'm now 100% wide awake. The bear encounter was just after 6pm. I know the sunset is coming, so I hit the trail. Just as I start, two people walk up who were also heading down to the valley floor. They had been camping at Little Yosemite Valley. They said they planned to be at Curry Village around 10pm. As I've already said, I'm super hungry for a real meal, and I really want a drink that doesn't taste like plastic. They were walking. I knew I needed to start running.

This is most likely Nevada Falls from the John Muir trail. Like I said, I wasn't stopping for photos really. I was dead set on a sausage pizza, and either a Gatorade or Dr Pepper...maybe both. Those shops close at 10pm, so I had a deadline.

Somewhere half down the John Muir trail I came across this really tiny little stream of water that crossed the trail. It looked so delicious. It was damn cold, and I was sure it wouldn't taste like plastic. I knew better however. That didn't stop me from being stupid though. Despite Lt. Dan in Forest Gump's word of wisdom to Forest and Bubba, I took my shoes and socks off and soaked my feet. The water was so cold it was almost painful, but felt good at the same time. I shot this video of the water while sitting there soaking my feet.

The following picture was taken at 7:06. Sunset was 7:32.

That's it for pictures, but I'll finish the story. I knew I wouldn't make it by sunset, but I had a flashlight with me. I kept trying to make good time as I wanted that pizza. It gets dark quickly. I'm sure I still had a mile plus once it got dark. It was nearly pitch black when I got to the restroom near the valley floor. I'm speaking of the one with the large outdoor water fountain near the bridge. Words can't describe how awesome that semi-cold non-plastic tasting water was. I downed a good bit, wet my head, and was off.

At this point, I should be on a trail I recognize, right? Wrong. I did start at the trail head, but I was slightly off. While walking and BSing with the guy who left the parking lot at the same time I did, we missed a turned. We started up a trail that was meant for horses. I can say this because we walked past piled of crap the entire time before passing a women with 5 horses. A time or two we could see people on the other side of the stream. The lady with the horses told us the trail we were on would meet up with the other trail shortly.

So I was now going down a trail I've never been on, it's pitch black, and I know for a fact that there are bears in the area. I decided the best bet was to loudly talk to myself. I was very loudly saying stuff like, "It's time for sausage pizza!" "Off to Curry Village, here I come" and so on. FINALLY I get to a bus stop. I was almost about to cry I was so happy. Words fail to describe how beat, tired, hungry, and thirsty I was. Problem is I didn't take the bus. It shows up within 3-5 minutes, and I ask where is the parking lot. He says just down the road a bit. I asked for a ride, but he said it was the wrong way, which I already knew based on his pointing. I walked what felt like another half mile down a paved road before I hit a parking lot. I say "a" because I don't recognize it at all. I look around, and I didn't see the rental. I took out the keys, hit the unlock, and saw it's lights now flashing. I again literally almost cried with joy. As I turned the key over, the clock read 8:32.

For some rough math, that's roughly 8 hours to get to the top, and 5 coming back down.

Once at curry village I left everything in the rental and went straight for the general store. I knew I should grab a Gatorade, but I love Dr Pepper. I figured this would be the best tasting over ever. Man that was a stupid idea. I think it took me like 20 minutes to drink half of it while sitting outside the store on a bench.

My body was ready to give out. I was so sore/beat/tired that I literally felt like I had the flu. I then walked over and got a pizza which tasted AWESOME! I then went back to the store and bought a Gatorade. I took that with me, grabbed my sandals and headed for the shower. I had the hot water maxed, and sat there on a plastic bench meant to set your clothes on, while drinking my Gatorade. I think I sat there about 30-45 minutes. It felt great. I then grabbed my stuff from the rental, and went to bed.

Bridalveil Fall

2011-09-23T14:17:00.001-07:00

will do later, I want to get the Half Dome post up.

Yosemite's Mariposa Grove

2011-09-21T14:02:00.000-07:00

Well it's a little bit of a drive from Curry Village in the valley floor, but I wanted an easy day to prepare for hiking Half Dome the following day. I think it was about a 30 minute drive. The parking lot was full, so they have you park about a mile away and bus you up.

Once there, you'll find a small little shop with your basic souvenirs, drinks, and misc items. That's nice and all, but I was here to see some giant sequoias, which are believed to be some of the largest living things on Earth.

Shortly into the trail, I found a downed small tree, so I figured this was time to bust out the camera, and start taking pictures of myself.

Below is a piece of giant sequoia bark. It is amazingly light. This entire piece felt lighter than an empty coke can.

Alright, I was starting to finally see some big trees.

A minute later I turned a corner, and couldn't help by say "Oh my God!"

Here I am in the photo so you can attempt to grasp how large this tree is. BTW, I'm just shy of 6 foot.

Me again, along side of it.

Here's a little video showing how long the tree is.

Close up of the root system.

Extreme close up.

Even the smaller trees are still ten times bigger than what you're use to seeing.

Caution, enjoying this grove my cause neck pains from constantly looking up.

The super thick and light weight bark acts as an insulation when forest fires happen. The tree may be a little blackened, but no damage is done.

When not near the actual Giant sequoias, here's what a lot of the scenery look like.

Close up of the rings.

Me again for reference. This trees are HUGE!

Don't scroll down to quickly or you may miss me in the next photo.

Nice use of a fallen tree.

Once you turn a bend in the trail and come to this tree, you get the feeling of "now THIS is what I came here for!"

Those branches way up there are probably bigger than normal trees.

From the front side. Be sure to watch in HD!

The following is one of the best known trees in the grove.

Have you ever walked through a tree? Want to? Watch the video below and you'll get the feel for it.

Inside the tree, looking up.

I continued up the trail. Hmmm, walk 40 feet around, or risk walking on the fallen tree that's probably 10-15 feet up from the ground? I took the risk, both going up, and later back down the trail.

Look at me, I'm in a tree!

If you happen to look in the bottom left of the next picture, you'll see where I was headed.

I was going to run up and give the tree a hug, but park rangers ask you not to get close to the giant sequoias. I was going to until I noticed a park ranger's truck 100 feet away I ran up to this tree. I stopped, and the following is the result.

Below, you'll see the small museum they have, and how small it looks compared to the trees.

Alright, time to get do some learning.

In the center of the following picture is a baby giant sequoias. If I remember correctly, it was less than 4 years old. The bottom left of the picture shows some branches that rangers used to make an arrow, pointing to the tree. The tree is right above the pine cone, sticking out of the ground maybe a foot if that.

Another piece of bark. This large piece (notice my shoe in the picture on purpose for reference) felt about as heavy as maybe an average pair of mens shoes.

Even the pine cones are huge up here!

Finally got to huge a tree. I think my step-sister would be proud.

Me in a tree again.

Picture of the museum I was in earlier.

The two smaller trees in front of the giant sequoias were still probably 20 feet or taller.

Slow video looking up, trying to get a video feel of the size of these trees.

Got pine cones?

Another downed tree, but not as big as the other two.

The Four Mile Trail

2011-09-05T12:11:00.001-07:00

On this day, I set out on my first "real" hike of any distance. The trail I picked was the Four Mile Trail. It take you from the valley floor, up to Glacier Point which I had heard has some amazing views. The first step was taking the shuttle from Curry Village to the El Capitan drop off point.

From there, just cross the street, and you're good to go.

Within a couple hours, I should be somewhere way up there.

The trail starts out giving you the thought, "Oh, this looks easy!"

I guess this is more the real starting point.

4.6 miles to go. That's not that far...right?

Now once on the trail, you quickly learn the term "switchback" which is a road or trail that follows a zigzag course on a steep incline.

Here's a little video I shot showing you this.

That video, as well as the next picture shows a majority of what the trail looks like. I saw the number before, but you really don't understand what 3,200 feet in elevation increase is like until you experience it.

Only a short time into the trail, and several switchbacks later, you're already getting a little high.

More of what some of the trail looks like.

Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls in the distance. I started using the falls as a guide as how far up I was getting.

Me taking a quick granola bar break.

Alright, looks like I'm making progress in regards to my height compared to the falls.

All those trees in the valley sure are getting small.

More of the trail.

By my look, I think I'm at least half way up now.

Here's a video I shot showing both upper and lower Yosemite Falls, plus zooming in on the area I was playing around at the day prior.

That valley floor sure is looking small down there.

Looking down at a steeper part of the trail at some of the prior switchbacks.

There were lots of these small bushes that have this red bark that is very smooth.

3/4ths the way up now maybe?

Quick break to relax, and also phone Dad to say hi.

View looking down.

The sun was still low enough that parts of the trail were still in the shade.

I'm getting there.

No safety nets on the edges. This isn't a family theme park.

You can see some people ahead of me, and get an idea of how the trail is a constant elevation increase.

Plenty of trees were covered in this neon green moss.

The moss was also on the cliffs.

The sun was starting to peak out between the cliffs.

Alright, I think I'm about as high as the upper falls now. I WIN!

More to go? :(

Ok, yeah, I'm definitely taller than the falls now.

Spectacular view from up here, and I'm not even to the top yet.

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/308807_10150281745541274_6193951_n.jpg http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/308807_10150281745541274_715186273_8058075_6193951_n.jpg

Hope you're not scared of heights.

No question now, I'm taller.

Bear, bobcat, deer? Who knows?

Ah, half dome, we meet again.

Oh I wish everyone could smell this. It was the most vivid and amazing pine smell ever.

Still has tree sap on it.

Me and my goal, to climb half dome.

More of the neon moss.

Nature slowly breaking down the dead to make way for the new.

Cliffs are gone now, I should be getting close to the top.

FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!

First order of business was to swing into the gift shop/snack shop and down two of these bad boys.

Then we enjoy the view. Here's looking down at Curry Village. Right at the edge of light/dark, you can see the pool. More towards the cliff area, you can see the massive rock slide they had several years ago, and that explains why about 1/3rd of Curry Village isn't used any more, for safety reasons.

2 more days till I climb Half Dome.

Check out this video. Once I zoom in, you can make out some people walking around on the top of Half Dome. It really gives you an idea how large it is.

Ah, the famous hanging rock at Glacier Point There is a famous picture from the late 1800s of a couple standing on the rock. They no longer allow that.

Here's a little panoramic video I shot at Glacier Point.

Prepare to get educated.

Another panoramic video from another view point.

I'll be up close and personal with these falls when I hike Half Dome.

This would have been an awesome place to stay at. Sadly it's no more.

So I had made it to the top, and enjoyed the view. Now what?

Well the plan was to take a different trail down. The panorama trail takes you down a less steep trail, past some waterfalls, and finally to the valley floor. It's about 6-8 miles if I remember correctly. However, by the time I made it up to Glacier Point, relaxed, took some pics/videos, etc it was now 4 or 5pm. The last shuttle had already left for the valley.

Hmmm, that only leaves one option. People can drive to Glacier Point. It's a winding, curvy road, that is probably 20 plus miles, and due to the speed limit, takes you a good 45 minutes. So, I chilled by the parking lot asking people if they were headed to the valley, and had a spare seat.

About 30 minutes and several "No's" later, I got a yes....sorta. This nice Canadian couple in their 40 or so were driving down to the valley, but told me they had no back seat in their van. I would have to sit on the floorboard. I didn't care, it was a ride down, and I was way to tired to hike back down. As we get to their van, I see what they mean. They removed both the mid, and rear rows of seating, and were literally camping in their van. They had stopped at Mt St Helens, the Grand Canyon, and other sites along the way.

I won't lie, I get motion sickness sometimes. Come to find out, sitting on the floor of a minivan while on the most curvy of roads I've ever been on will trigger this. About 1/3rd the way into the drive, they decide to pull over and check out the scenery. Good, fresh air!!!

They were currently some forest fires in Yosemite while I was there, and this viewpoint shows the smoke in the air.

Here's a little video showing more of the smoke from the forest fires.

A little farther into the drive, we ended up going through Yosemite's famous tunnel, and then stopping just outside it at the famous Tunnel View Overlook.

Here's a video showing you some of the view from the tunnel view overlook.

View looking back into the tunnel.

I was back to Curry Village within an hour of leaving Glacier Point. Sure beats walking. However now I felt like crap partially due to some Canadian's crazy driving, partially due to not eating enough, and possibly some due to the heat/sun. I took about an hour nap, and felt much better. I then made a trip over to get another sausage pizza from the pizza patio. After that and a Dr Pepper, I was back to my normal self. I got to bed at a good time with lots of plans for the following day.

My first hike, lower Yosemite Falls

2011-09-05T10:59:00.001-07:00

After returning to camp, and getting some early dinner, I now really wanted to go somewhere, explore something, go hiking! The map showed Yosemite Falls was pretty close. Without a second thought, I was off.

A couple shots of the scenery leaving the camp site.

I'm sure this cool arch area has a proper name, but I sure don't know it.

They really don't mess around when it comes to bear warning!

Map of the transportation system. From about 7am till 10pm, the buses hit each of the 20 or so points, every 20 minutes.

Ah, there's where I'm headed.

Walked along this nice meadow on my way.

Then this little guy came out of no where, and didn't think twice about me walking past.

What do you do when you see wild animals...you get HD video of said animals!

Walked along this nice grass field.

Another glance over at Half Dome. Ah, can't wait to climb to the top!

I'm still making my way along the grass field, when I hear some movement...

What the hell? This isn't good luck.

I still couldn't help having a seat and petting the cat for a while. There were several very nice and expensive looking cabins all of 30 feet away, and judging by the cats tags, I'm sure he belongs to one of the cabins. I'm guessing the cat didn't read this sign though.

Getting closer!

Cool seeing how this long is decaying naturally.

Now technically this is a short trail. If I would have taken the bus, it would have dropped me off at the trailhead, which is only a half mile fro the falls. I think it's their shortest trail. I'm not 5 minutes into the official trail, and a guy coming back from the falls says, "Hey, there's a bear up that way, be careful." A minute later I'm saying to myself, "OH ****, he wan't joking!"

He went out of sight for a very short time, and then just strolled across the trail.

He was out of sight again, and then could be seen just walk away through a meadow.

Now one might ask how safe was that. There were about 15 people at this time standing there taking pictures and videos. One guy said, "Shouldn't we get back?" I responded, "as long as I can out run someone in this group, I'm fine." A women in her 60s laughed, but gave me a look that she didn't approve of my comment.

That was the bear encounter that didn't scare me. I'll get to the other one in another post.

Up near the falls, there were some people rock climbing.

I could have gone farther up, but I didn't want to show off or anything.

Ah, finally to the falls.

That pic is slightly zoomed in. There's this large, nice wooden bridge for people to stand on at a far distance, and enjoy the scenery. Plenty of people told me, "don't do anything stupid while in Yosemite." Second I got to this bridge, I took one look at the rocks and said to myself, "time to do something stupid!"

Picture showing the rocks and flowing water.

Looks back at where you're suppose to view the falls from.

However, this is MY view of the falls.

The next picture should be deleted, but it shows exactly how close I was. The mist was hitting me constantly.

How often do you get the chance to touch a waterfall?

I love this last picture.

The Merced River

2011-09-05T10:58:00.000-07:00

Even before grabbing something to eat, I just wanted to do something. I grabbed my camera, and headed out. I knew I saw some water near by on the drive in. A quick shot of Half Dome from the walk.

Ah, here we go.

Such clear water, and a beautiful background.

Sure would be fun to go rafting down this river.

I decided to walk over to the bridge for a better view.

As I got close, my firs thought was...

Damn. :(

Still a beautiful sight. I got in the water about up to my knee. Its was way to cold for my liking.

I started to notice a lot of the trees in this area are covered with moss.

Curry Village

2011-09-03T16:47:00.000-07:00

Having mentioned my plans to visit Yosemite while at work a time or two, I discovered a coworker grew up in the Yosemite area. She insisted I stay at Curry Village. I had previously been looking at some hotels just outside Yosemite. Due to the size of the park though, Google was telling me I would have at least a 45 minute drive into the park daily. This isn't how I wanted to spend my vacation, so I took my coworkers advice.

Welcome to Curry Village, located directly in the Yosemite valley.

Here's what I stayed. They call it a tent cabin. It's a wooden frame with with a canvas covering. There is no heat, AC, nor outlets* in the tents. I believe they do have some that have AC/heat, but those ones being nicer, are more expensive. This one by itself was $115 a night.

Here's a little tour showing you what is inside. **Be sure to watch in HD**

Here's a little shot showing you the view from the tent cabins.

Here are the rules to follow:

They are being serious about bears in the area...I'll get to that in a bit. You can not have ANY scented items in your car nor tent. This means not only food, but shampoo, toothpaste, etc. If it smells, it goes in the bear box out in front of your tent, as scene here.

Here's a shot of mine all loaded up with anything I brought that may smell.

With this being 2011, here's the most single important item you need on a trip to Curry Village.

It's the item behind my charging camera battery, a light socket extender or call it what you want. They are all of $3 at Lowes or Home Depot. You unscrew the light bulb, screw in this extension, and then reinstall the bulb into it. It only gives you the two of the two prong plug options, not the 3 prong you would need for a laptop. Still though, with this little $3 piece, you can keep your cell phone charged, charge your camera batteries, plug in a heating pad or fan, and I'm sure many other options. I just happen to google "charging at curry village" the day before leaving on my trip, and found a link saying to buy one of these. I did just that, and then when I got to my tent, I found someone had left their own one behind.

Now, what to do around Curry Village? Well there are tons of things.

First off, there is a general store, which I didn't take pictures of. It looks a little weird taking pictures of people shopping. They have everything from merchandise(tshirt, sweatshirts, key chains, posters, hats, etc) to food items(full fozen food area with a microwave in the store, chips, salsa, sodas, beer, wine, bread, crackers, granola bars, and tons of other health food items), to all the small basic items you may need here at Yosemite like cameras, batteries, Tylenol, etc. It's like the nicest 7-11 you've been to, but a bigger selection. Next door to that is a full on outdoors store with tents, hiking poles, boots, backpacks, hiking attire, ropes, clips, harnesses, ponchos, etc.

Here's a list of some of the times other places are open:

I'll start with the Pizza Patio. It's pretty simple. You wait in line, order, get a pager, and come grab your food when they page you.

Here are the prices as of 8/26/11

All the tables have these little reminders to not feed the wildlife.

They mean business!

Here's a sample of the personal pizza. I think I ate 3 of these on my trip. They are VERY good, not some frozen food quality junk.

You'll see these little guys anywhere and everywhere. Despite the park's attempt to stop they being so friendly, they still are. They will climb up onto your backpack and attempt to look inside when it's sitting next to you. In this case, they will quickly attack a spill in front of the condiment table.

Onto the buffet. I'm a little disappointed I didn't get to try their dinner buffet, but I did manage to hit up the buffet for breakfast twice.

The prices and a sample of what they will probably have on average.

The rules.

The food in straight in, right past all those plates.

More of the seating area.

Here's a majority of the breakfast items. I'm not a breakfast person, but I know I needed fuel to hike, and the price was VERY reasonable in my opinion.

Milk, soda, and juice machines:

Here's what my first round look like.

Inside the same building that houses the buffet is also the Coffee Corner/Ice Cream Corner.

The Coffee Corner pricing.

The Ice Cream pricing.

Here's the breakfast I picked up at the Coffee Corner one day. It was a little over $5 if I remember correctly. Here's a little tip. That carton of milk was $2.XX, but for within $0.60 or so the general store sells a half gallon. I wish I would have realized this earlier as on my second time to the buffet, I mainly went simply because I want at least 2 big glasses of milk. That would have been over $5, so I might as well just pay $11 for the buffet.

Here's the bar. It seats about 8 or so, and then off to the right of this picture, indoors, there is seating for another 20 or so. A lot of people would just grab a 6 pack at the general store and sit around on the benches outside drinking and enjoying the views.

Here's the lounge building/area. I overheard someone say at least part of this building use to be the post office. Now the entire building it just tables, chairs, and couches, so one can relax, read a book, or do whatever. Being 2011 though, most of the people inside are huddled around the many outlets charging cmaera, phones, laptops, etc.

Here's a quick inside picture. I tried taking a picture of a squirrel that was up on the chair, but je jumped as I took the pic. This building doesn't have AC, so the windows open, and people often leave the doors open despite signs saying not to. This causes the friendly squirrels to wonder in hoping to steal food some people's backpacks or the garbage cans.

Here's a shot of the pool area. It closes at 5pm, which I find a little odd. I never got to use it during my stay.

Here's a shot of it while I was off to get lunch one day. It gets busy there.

Swimming pool history:

If you don't make it back to camp before 10pm when everything closes, they still have you covered for drinks.

Here's the amphitheatre. They have several performances/shows/movies throughout the day. This is perfect for families with kids. I know I walked by towards dusk at one point and they had a projection system showing some movie about the history of Yosemite. Had I not been going for a late dinner, I would have sat down(if I could have found an open seat).

There are also several options for fun over at the Recreation Center.

They rent out bikes by the hour or by the day. They also rent rafts, so you can raft/float down the Merced River. The river is only a 3-5 minute walk from the Rec Center. You jump in, float away, and get off at a set end point. They then take care of bring you and the raft back to the beginning point. I hear it about 1-2 hours depending on the water speed, if you paddle, etc.

Now hopefully seeing how nice Curry Village is, hasn't made anything think you are far separate from the actual park. Here's several pictures taken no more than a minute walk from the shops/restaurants/tents.

The drive to Yosemite

2011-09-03T10:00:00.000-07:00

I left San Francisco around 9am after picking up my rental car. Having never driven in California before, it was a pretty interesting and scenic trip into Yosemite.

Upon leaving San Francisco, I was greated with heavy fog, and a very hilly landscape.

The farther I got from the city, the more the land turned into farmland.

I even passed a wind farm or two. I had heard of these before, but never actually seen a modern windmill in person.

With the state of California being broke and all, I guess painting lines on their interstates is to much to ask for?

Ah, a refreshing sight to see.

For the next 110 or so miles, this is what most of it was, a 2 lane, 55 zone. I believe you travel through 3 or 4 small cities which require you to slow down to 45, then 35, before back to 45, and then finally 55. That's why google says the drive takes so long.

The landscape started to show a little more elevation change.

Several roads have rock slide warnings posted. Also, when they warn you slow to 25 for a corner, they are being serious!

Never heard of this place before, but I saw several cars pulled over, so I joined them.

Sure had one amazing view looking into a valley

Finally after a little more driving, I made it!

Immediately into the park, this is what the driving looks like.

It's really hard to put the size of everything into perspective, so I used my tripod, and ran out into the field for a quick picture.

A little farther into the park, I see a dead area that must have been burned at some time in the past, so I snapped a couple pictures here as well.

Here's a little video showing the area. Watch in HD if you want better quality footage.

A couple miles father down the road, I see another turnoff with a large number of cars. I figured it must be some nice scenery, so I pulled off. That's where I got my first glimpse of the whole point of my trip...half dome!

Now what do you do if you see signs warning you that you're about to drive through a tunnel? Yeah, you bust out the camcorder!

Sadly is wasn't the tunnel that ends with an amazing view that I had heard about, but this still wasn't bad.

A couple more miles in, I pulled off the road to enjoy the scenery again. Yes, you're seeing a trend here. I think probably everyone driving into Yosemite for the first time probably does this. Anyone planning a trip better give yourself an extra 30 minutes or so if you're like me.

Found a nice stream a couple more miles in.

A couple more miles, I was officially into the Yosemite valley.

The view from the valley floor really is amazing in any direction you look.

Yosemite and San Francisco pics/videos shortly

2011-09-01T13:39:00.000-07:00

Still at Yosemite as of right now. I will be home tomorrow afternoon. I don't work saturday, so I'll probably get around to getting at least a couple pics/stories up.