Yosemite Part 4 - Rock Climbing and Yosemite Falls

The boys were itching to climb and I only wanted to do a small 3-4 mile hike so we decided to climb then hike. Well it took so long to find something to climb I didn't really get to hike but we'll get to that.

It took a long time to get into the park due to construction. I was really hoping it wasn't that bad ever day (it wasn't). We parked at Curry Village and took the shuttle to Camp 4. Kevin led but that was just a silly idea. We ended up in some crazy woods and got completely eaten alive by mosquitoes. No words for how many there were in this one fallen tree. John saw a snake but I did not get the pleasure. Woo! We finally back tracked to a path and followed that and what do you know, we found rocks! Kevin chatted with a woman who was teaching this kid to climb to try and find good spots. Of course this rock face was very popular so it was full. But the boys wanted to start easy so we found a crack and went to set up anchor. I enjoyed a book, food stuffs, and became their photographer.

After awhile it became clear that I was not going to get to hike because it took too much time to find the climb and get set up. So I decided to wander around the Valley by myself while they kept climbing. I did the lower Yosemite Falls trail (2 miles, paved and flat) which was just down the road from where we had set up "base camp" for climbing.

The trail is short, easy, and crowded since all the tourists want to see these famous falls. But I enjoyed the quiet stroll through the woods. The temp keeps dropping as you get closer to the falls. And then you cross a bridge and get soaked by the mist. It was a great day for this as it warmed up quite a bit in the Valley. All of the falls in the park were insane this year because of the record snowfall Yosemite had this winter. And Yosemite Falls were spectacular. I also managed to wander down the road a little more and get some great shots of Half Dome.

I wandered back to the boys, watched them climb more, and then we all wandered over to the Falls again, to catch the shuttle, not to do the entire trail. I drove home that night and as I'm going past the spot where the guys had been climbing John yells "Bear!" Of course I was not at a place where I could stop so I had to keep going. But there was totally a bear on the trail right in front of the rocks. A trail I took by myself! Just about 30 mins after we left. Of course I was really disappointed that I was driving and didn't get to see it :( In the car is the perfect time to see a bear. Glad I didn't run into it on the trail but very sad. John's report is that it looked like a giant sloth.

Also, on the way home we stopped to see the sunset.