In the morning we woke up early, awaiting our next mission. After showers and a quick pack up, Mike told us that we would be hiking through Yosemite National Park to see two waterfalls. So, we packed our backpacks light, strapped on our sneakers and headed out for the park. What awaited us was the most beautiful and strenuous thing in the world.

During the drive up to where we would be hiking, we stopped and took pictures in front of the half dome. Though it was over ten miles away, it was as vivid as ever in the distance. Already we could start to imagine what lay in store for us for the rest of the day. We packed up and moved out to curry village, where the vans would stay for the day.

As we got there, if you looked straight ahead without glancing up, you would have thought a huge rain storm was heading our way. However, with that upward glance, you would see that those clouds were nothing more than a huge rock face that surrounded curry village in almost all four directions. From there, we took a tram car to our trail. Inside the tram, Kim found a quote that she really wanted me to put here. It was “The soul perceives what the eyes can only see”.

As we got to the trail, it was clear that we were in for quite a hike. Though it only went about four miles, there and back, we would be moving up in elevation – over 2,000 feet. As we thought, the climb up was absolutely crazy. Nearing the end of the climb we were faced a long set of stairs that when looking directly at them seemed be at a complete vertical drop off.

After the cliffs of insanity were over, we were treated with the best view of the entire valley below, a rushing waterfall, and the emerald pond. After the long hike the freezing cold water of the emerald pond was the best reward. Stepping out of the refreshing water, we had a packed lunch of peanut butter and jelly. All around us, little squirrel like creatures looked up for the food in our hands. The little things had become so used to humans that if you held out a piece of bread, they would come right up to you and take it from your hand.

After lunch, we geared up for the hike back down, which we son found out was just as hard, if not worse the way up. Either way the hike was awsome, and the top was so rewarding that there was and still is absolutely nothing to complain about. When we finally got back to curry village, we stopped in for dinner at their buffet. Stories of the hike were passed on to each other, and soon we were all back in the vans, ready to head back to camp. Within five minuets of the ride, all of us had passed out, asleep, waiting for what was in store for us next.

Hope everything at home is going great as well. Don’t be afraid to reply to the pictures or posts, we would all love to hear from you.

~Jake~

This entry was posted on Thu, Jul 24th, 2008 at 12:26 pm and is filed under Journal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.