Yosemite Pt.2
Ready for the rest of the adventure?
My tent is "waterproof" only because of the plastic tent material, so we started brainstorming solutions. We debated sleeping in the car again, but that's illegal to do inside the park.
Connor and I did not want to miss out on a whole day of our trip, so we tried to fit some activities in before the rain. We went on two hikes in the meantime.
The first hike was the Mirror Lake loop. It was supposed to be an easier hike which we picked because we wanted to get a hike in before the rain. Plus, I wanted to see Mirror Lake anyways.
The only problem was, it was not the Mirror Lake loop. Somehow we ended up in a completely different area of Yosemite park – we were even looking at the map. We improvised and started the new trail we ended up at.
We ended up hiking the Vernal Falls and Nevada Falls trails which were really strenuous. I'm in shape, but those trails went straight up hill. Some people had strollers; I thought they were going to die.
When we started getting close to the falls, the trail was closed because of landslides.
We peaked around and got a glimpse of the falls. They were magnificent. The waterfall was super wide with massive amounts of water crashing over the mountain face. If you get a chance, go. I bet they would've been breath-taking.
Luckily, we beat the rain on the hike. The rain got pushed back a couple hours, so we fit one more hike in.
The second hike was the Bridalveil Fall trail. This one was super easy because it is a quick walk to the bottom of the falls. We did get soaked though. Thank goodness we were wearing rain gear.
This whole time we have tried coming up with a plan for surviving the rain. In between the hikes, we went back to the camp to try to barricade it from rain and wind. This picture was the result.
Another hiccup in the long line of problems we have had on the trip, was the fact we didn't have anything to protect the tent. The tarp in the picture was a miracle. We got a tip that the campsite services place might have tarps which sent us on a journey to find the place. We drove around and struggled for awhile until we ran into two women.
Connor was wearing a SDSU hat which started a conversation between us. The two women lived near SDSU, but were working at Yosemite for a couple months. Since they were workers, I asked if they knew where the building was and they pointed us in the right direction.
We found it and they had a tarp they lent us. Miracles do happen.
The picture shows our fortress we made to protect us and the tent. When we got to our site, we noticed a pink slip. We were cited.
We had nailed a stake into a tree to hold up our tarp, and we learned that's against the rules because it damages the trees. We saw a law enforcement officer and talked to him about the citation. He told us it was a warning and we were not in trouble because we fixed everything.
Finally, we could relax. We made a fire and roasted hot dogs. It started raining as soon as we were getting ready for bed. Perfect timing.
Our fortress held throughout the night. The bottom of the tent was a little damp, but it poured all night. We got super lucky.
We took one last look at Yosemite and left for our next adventure – We missed our exited and got stuck in road work for three hours.
DAY THREE
We wake up to a fresh day and eat some breakfast. However, we quickly hear bad news. It's going to rain today and continue for the rest of our trip. We only had today and tomorrow left, but we weren't prepared for rain.My tent is "waterproof" only because of the plastic tent material, so we started brainstorming solutions. We debated sleeping in the car again, but that's illegal to do inside the park.
Connor and I did not want to miss out on a whole day of our trip, so we tried to fit some activities in before the rain. We went on two hikes in the meantime.The first hike was the Mirror Lake loop. It was supposed to be an easier hike which we picked because we wanted to get a hike in before the rain. Plus, I wanted to see Mirror Lake anyways.
The only problem was, it was not the Mirror Lake loop. Somehow we ended up in a completely different area of Yosemite park – we were even looking at the map. We improvised and started the new trail we ended up at.
We ended up hiking the Vernal Falls and Nevada Falls trails which were really strenuous. I'm in shape, but those trails went straight up hill. Some people had strollers; I thought they were going to die.When we started getting close to the falls, the trail was closed because of landslides.
We peaked around and got a glimpse of the falls. They were magnificent. The waterfall was super wide with massive amounts of water crashing over the mountain face. If you get a chance, go. I bet they would've been breath-taking.
Luckily, we beat the rain on the hike. The rain got pushed back a couple hours, so we fit one more hike in.
The second hike was the Bridalveil Fall trail. This one was super easy because it is a quick walk to the bottom of the falls. We did get soaked though. Thank goodness we were wearing rain gear.
This whole time we have tried coming up with a plan for surviving the rain. In between the hikes, we went back to the camp to try to barricade it from rain and wind. This picture was the result.
Another hiccup in the long line of problems we have had on the trip, was the fact we didn't have anything to protect the tent. The tarp in the picture was a miracle. We got a tip that the campsite services place might have tarps which sent us on a journey to find the place. We drove around and struggled for awhile until we ran into two women.Connor was wearing a SDSU hat which started a conversation between us. The two women lived near SDSU, but were working at Yosemite for a couple months. Since they were workers, I asked if they knew where the building was and they pointed us in the right direction.
We found it and they had a tarp they lent us. Miracles do happen.
The picture shows our fortress we made to protect us and the tent. When we got to our site, we noticed a pink slip. We were cited.
We had nailed a stake into a tree to hold up our tarp, and we learned that's against the rules because it damages the trees. We saw a law enforcement officer and talked to him about the citation. He told us it was a warning and we were not in trouble because we fixed everything.
Finally, we could relax. We made a fire and roasted hot dogs. It started raining as soon as we were getting ready for bed. Perfect timing.
Our fortress held throughout the night. The bottom of the tent was a little damp, but it poured all night. We got super lucky.
DAY FOUR
We woke up two hours earlier than planned. There was no reason to go back to bed when we were both awake, so we started packing up. As soon as we got everything into the car, it started raining again. Another case of perfect timing.We took one last look at Yosemite and left for our next adventure – We missed our exited and got stuck in road work for three hours.
OVERALL
Connor and I had many unexpected mishaps, but the trip was amazing. I cannot stress enough how awe inspiring Yosemite is. I loved everything about it. Yosemite is majestic, and I can't wait to go back again.
