I've been bad about blogging, but there isn't much to say... I'm still at Yosemite. It's still unbelievably gorgeous. I've stopped taking so many pictures because I kind of think, what's the point? Pictures cannot capture how BIG everything is here. One of the guys I met shared a great quote with me- "In the East, nature whispers. In the West, nature roars."
On Saturday I went on a 10 mile hike through Lyell Canyon. This was the first hike that I didn't think was completely spectacular. It was supposed to follow a river, but I didn't see a river for the first 5 miles. I finally went off trail and found the river on the other side of the canyon and just followed that back, which made the hike a little more interesting.
On Sunday, I started freaking out about job stuff, so I spent most of the day on the Internet handling that. It was a good choice because I was able to calm down and spend the rest of the day reading by the Tuolumne River. I read the book "Touching the Void," which I couldn't put down and highly recommend.
That night I made my very first campfire. I realize this sounds ridiculous, but I am either with friends who start the fire, or in a place where fires aren't allowed. Now that I'm camping somewhere where I can have a fire, I've been hanging out at new friends' campsites, or I get back late and don't feel like dealing with it. Not to mention that I didn't want to spend money on firewood. But my new friend Eric left me firewood, so I decided to have a fire that night. And that meant that I had mothereffing s'mores for dinner. (For some reason, in my head, the word s'mores is always preceded by "mothereffing.") It was pretty wonderful.
I spent Monday devouring the last Sookie Stackhouse book and swimming in the Merced River. I had read that Sentinel Dome is a great place to watch the sunset, so I headed up there. Not far from the trailhead, I finally encountered my first bear (while hiking). It was pretty close (maybe 30-40 feet away). I always wondered what I would do in this situation, and apparently the answer is... talk to it in a Mr. Narwhal voice. Remember in Elf, when Will Ferrell is leaving the North Pole, and the narwhal pops up and is like, "Bye Buddy, I hope you find your dad?" I was like, "Hey bear, whatcha doing? How are you?" in that voice. The bear stopped and turned towards me, and I swear he rolled his eyes before walking off in the opposite direction. He seemed irritated, just like those mountain goats I yodeled at last summer. He was probably thinking "stupid humans." I got a picture, but he was already pretty far away at that point, so it's not very good.
I ran into some people a few minutes later who were like, "OMG, did you see the bear? We were so scared!!!" It honestly didn't even occur to me to be scared.
My mom and I were discussing this today, and I was telling her that black bears probably aren't going to mess with you unless they want your food. And she said thoughtfully, "You know, in addition to the bear spray, you should carry a huge container of cheese balls with you. And then, if a bear comes at you, you throw those everywhere and he'll be scrambling around trying to collect them, giving you time to get away."
If anyone wonders where my crackhead tendencies come from, look no further than my mother, who probably would also have spoken to the bear. One time, we were out hiking, and there were these enormous butterflies dive bombing us, and my mom was sticking out her finger trying to get them to land on her like she was a Disney Princess.
Anyway, I climbed up Sentinel Dome to watch the sunset, and I can say it was one of the most beautiful experiences I've had in my life. You have a 360 degree view of the park, and the colors were amazing. There were two other couples up there with me, and as the sun set, everyone was silent... It was almost a spiritual experience. I know that sounds stupid, but you had to be there. I took some pictures, but it really seemed silly trying to capture that on film. In the pictures below, you can see El Cap, Half Dome, Nevada Falls, and the Cathedral Range.
Today was pretty chill. I went to check out some hot springs near Bridgeport and met a group of girls a little younger than me. They were teachers too, so they invited me to join them and it was fun to hang out with girls after all the guys I've been meeting. It was my first time at hot springs, too, so that was fun.
Tonight I think I'm going to watch a movie (I love the HBO Go app; I've been keeping up with True Blood). Not sure what I want to do tomorrow. I know this sounds crazy, but I'm kind of done with Yosemite. Since I'm not backpacking or climbing, that limits my options. I'm ready for what's next. Hopefully, that will be meeting up with Jason at Zion and doing some canyons!
On Saturday I went on a 10 mile hike through Lyell Canyon. This was the first hike that I didn't think was completely spectacular. It was supposed to follow a river, but I didn't see a river for the first 5 miles. I finally went off trail and found the river on the other side of the canyon and just followed that back, which made the hike a little more interesting.
On Sunday, I started freaking out about job stuff, so I spent most of the day on the Internet handling that. It was a good choice because I was able to calm down and spend the rest of the day reading by the Tuolumne River. I read the book "Touching the Void," which I couldn't put down and highly recommend.
That night I made my very first campfire. I realize this sounds ridiculous, but I am either with friends who start the fire, or in a place where fires aren't allowed. Now that I'm camping somewhere where I can have a fire, I've been hanging out at new friends' campsites, or I get back late and don't feel like dealing with it. Not to mention that I didn't want to spend money on firewood. But my new friend Eric left me firewood, so I decided to have a fire that night. And that meant that I had mothereffing s'mores for dinner. (For some reason, in my head, the word s'mores is always preceded by "mothereffing.") It was pretty wonderful.
I spent Monday devouring the last Sookie Stackhouse book and swimming in the Merced River. I had read that Sentinel Dome is a great place to watch the sunset, so I headed up there. Not far from the trailhead, I finally encountered my first bear (while hiking). It was pretty close (maybe 30-40 feet away). I always wondered what I would do in this situation, and apparently the answer is... talk to it in a Mr. Narwhal voice. Remember in Elf, when Will Ferrell is leaving the North Pole, and the narwhal pops up and is like, "Bye Buddy, I hope you find your dad?" I was like, "Hey bear, whatcha doing? How are you?" in that voice. The bear stopped and turned towards me, and I swear he rolled his eyes before walking off in the opposite direction. He seemed irritated, just like those mountain goats I yodeled at last summer. He was probably thinking "stupid humans." I got a picture, but he was already pretty far away at that point, so it's not very good.
I ran into some people a few minutes later who were like, "OMG, did you see the bear? We were so scared!!!" It honestly didn't even occur to me to be scared.
My mom and I were discussing this today, and I was telling her that black bears probably aren't going to mess with you unless they want your food. And she said thoughtfully, "You know, in addition to the bear spray, you should carry a huge container of cheese balls with you. And then, if a bear comes at you, you throw those everywhere and he'll be scrambling around trying to collect them, giving you time to get away."
If anyone wonders where my crackhead tendencies come from, look no further than my mother, who probably would also have spoken to the bear. One time, we were out hiking, and there were these enormous butterflies dive bombing us, and my mom was sticking out her finger trying to get them to land on her like she was a Disney Princess.
Anyway, I climbed up Sentinel Dome to watch the sunset, and I can say it was one of the most beautiful experiences I've had in my life. You have a 360 degree view of the park, and the colors were amazing. There were two other couples up there with me, and as the sun set, everyone was silent... It was almost a spiritual experience. I know that sounds stupid, but you had to be there. I took some pictures, but it really seemed silly trying to capture that on film. In the pictures below, you can see El Cap, Half Dome, Nevada Falls, and the Cathedral Range.
Today was pretty chill. I went to check out some hot springs near Bridgeport and met a group of girls a little younger than me. They were teachers too, so they invited me to join them and it was fun to hang out with girls after all the guys I've been meeting. It was my first time at hot springs, too, so that was fun.
Tonight I think I'm going to watch a movie (I love the HBO Go app; I've been keeping up with True Blood). Not sure what I want to do tomorrow. I know this sounds crazy, but I'm kind of done with Yosemite. Since I'm not backpacking or climbing, that limits my options. I'm ready for what's next. Hopefully, that will be meeting up with Jason at Zion and doing some canyons!
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