Last weekend I did a trip to Yosemite with one of my friends named Connor. We packed up and drove out at around 5am on Friday morning, dreary eyed and ready to make the long drive to Yosemite. We hit the road and ran into a little bit of traffic, but the overall drive was pretty smooth. We hit every kind of weather on this initial trip, we went from darkness and fog to sunrise and clear skies. I knew the trip was off to a favorable start when I checked my phone to see that we had won the daily lottery to climb up the cables at Half Dome, which I've always wanted to do, its pretty rad.
We drove straight through the morning until we finally started to hit the mountains and caught glimpses of the Sierra's. We started to drink up the crisp mountain air and take in all the vast landscapes. We kept on driving right into the Yosemite gates, got our weekly pass and made our way into the valley floor and started to wander, hike and poke around the valley.
Mirror Lake - THE best swimming hole I have ever been to, hands down. A crisp mountain lake sandwiched between Half Dome and another large wall of pure granite.
After a long day of hiking around the valley floor, we made our way back to our AirBnb campsite located about an hour outside of the park. We drove into camp and was greeted by an elderly man, missing a few screws and teeth (presumably from meth), but very nice none the less. We got settled, had a very large meal and prepared for the grueling hike the next day.
Saturday morning creeps up very sharply at 5 am for the start of our day. We eat a hearty breakfast and get ready for our day ahead. We are getting ready to do the Half Dome Trail which is about 17 miles round trip, gaining 4,800 feet of elevation and were carrying around a 30-40 pound pack.
The best coffee on the planet.
