Dad & Cameron Yosemite Trip

September 2007
On the weekend of September 12-15th, Dad and Cameron went on our special "before-you-leave-on-a-mission" trip. Thursday I turned my computer off around 3pm, and Cameron and I jumped into the van (which Cameron had so efficiently already packed up) and headed east. We stopped for dinner at IN n Out in Tracey, then another 150 miles, pretty much due east to.... Yosemite. We arrived at our campsite in the dark (around 9:30), set up the tent, then went for a walk. The moon was just a sliver, so we could see like a billion stars. Around 10 we climbed into our sleeping bags and got a good night sleep. The next morning we woke up around 8, packed everything up and drove to yosemite village to catch a shuttle up to Glacier Point .

We had a bit of an adventure getting to the shuttle (drive to the pick up point, no parking, back to the parking lot, where is the bus to the shuttle.. ok, here's the bus, we have 5 minutes. wow, just made it). Then we had a nice 1 1/2 hour tour up to the top of glacier point. where we had lunch.

So at 12:30 last friday we started our hike back to the bottom of the valley. Here is the description of the hike from the Yosemite web site.

Panorama Trail (strenuous)
8.5 miles/13.7 km one-way to Valley floor (via Mist Trail); 6 hours for 3,200 feet/975 m descent
Begin at the Panorama Trailhead, Glacier Point (trails ends at Happy Isles in Yosemite Valley) As its name implies, this trail offers some incredible panoramic views of Yosemite Valley. The trail crosses Illilouette Fall after 2 miles ( 3.2 km) and continues partially uphill along the Panorama Cliff. At the top of Nevada Fall, the trail joins the Mist and John Muir Trails to Happy Isles.


Cam took lots of pictures, but they aren't on my laptop yet, but I found a blog on a website with pictures I am including to give you an idea of how beautiful the hike was.

Here is a link to a cool virtual tour of the trail this picture was taken from http://virtualguidebooks.com/CentralCalif/Yosemite/VernalFallsMistTrail/MistTrailAboveMist.html
So the hike was really strenuous, and my legs were like rubber when we finished around 6:30. We jumped into the car and drove into the village and had pizza for dinner. (There are good restaurants in the park). Then we drove to our campsite for the night, and just slept in the car. we were too tired to set up the tent.


Saturday we got up and drove out to see a different part of the park, then back to the village to see a few sights we had missed on Friday, like watching the rock climbers 2000 feet up El Capitan (believe it or not the record for climbing this 3000rock face is 2 hours and 48 minutes)

Then around noon we pointed the car west and headed home. Stopping at Del Taco for lunch, we made it home in time for Cam to go to Big Daves drive in. I stayed home... I could hardly move. But now I am nearly healed up and ready to go hiking again. Maybe this summer when Nate gets home we can go. Yosemite is a beautiful place, you will love it.