Anywho, the 6:45 am alarm slapped me square across the face this morning. I know 6:45 is nothing for a lot of you--heck, it's a piece of cake for Maddie--but I'm predicting rough mornings for the next several days. We had to catch the bus at 8, and Lauren and Kelly were nice enough to mail our package to Red's Meadow for us, as the post office only opened at 8 as well. On the subject of Kelly and Lauren, it was a sad, sad morning to see them leave us at the bus stop. Thank you both for an incredible weekend--so many good memories.
The silver lining of our departure is that our bus was whisking us off to Yosemite Valley to meet Maddie's mom and brother. Within moments of plopping our stuff at the mammoth bus stop, we were greeted by fellow eager hikers. One woman had the same backpack as Maddie, so the two of them engaged in gear talk until a very gregarious 14 year old Israeli boy stepped in.
Now, we've all experienced this. You're travelling, you're tired from an early wake-up, and all you want to do is wallow in your own thoughts or whine quietly to your companion. But instead some stranger with espresso for blood barges up to you and commits what I can only describe as "conversation rape," holding you hostage as he or she tells you jokes that aren't funny this early in the morning, asks you questions that require too much brain power to answer, and generally shuns the social norm of leaving a tired person the f#&@ alone. The worst part about this interaction is that I feel like the terrible person for not wanting to engage with this friendly, albeit over eager, stranger. And this is all coming from someone who normally enjoys talking with fellow hikers. So we do what good parents raise their kids to do: we nod, we smile, and we suck it up. In the scheme of life, not a big deal. And now that I've had time to reflect over the day, his joke does make me crack a smile:
There's a boy, a girl, a woman and a very angry man sitting together. A man walks by and sees several of them clutching some fancy looking devices and asks what they are. The boy holds up his iphone and says, "iPhone". The girl holds up her iPod gleefully and exclaims "iPod". The woman next proudly displays her iPad and says "iPad". Finally the angry man just crosses his arms and furrows his brows and says, "I paid".
Despite the joke's reinforcement of the stereotypical gender role of the man paying for stuff, not bad little Israeli boy, not bad.
So, with me donning my notoriously unfashionable off-road Crocs and Maddie in her usual cute workout attire, we embarked on our bus ride, passing beautiful, though slightly underwhelming Mono Lake (already feeling spoiled with the scenery) until reaching Yosemite national park!
Maddie slept most of the crowded four hour bus ride, so as to prevent car sickness. Speaking of sickness, I really hope those couple of days in Mammoth becoming winded after climbing a short flight of stairs pays dividends by fending off altitude sickness in a few days. Today we make our way down to 4500 feet for the start of our hike. Over the course of the past couple of training hikes, Maddie has developed a misappropriated sense of pride from not developing altitude sickness while I generally struggle to breath and think. Conventional hiker wisdom holds that there is no rhyme or reason as to who gets affected or when--it doesn't matter your fitness level. I guess it just gives her some small sense of delight seeing me struggle in her footsteps, and per good boyfriendly protocol, I am content to afford her this little victory.
I have found that many people react to our journey with a similar response resembling any collection of the following:
-you're dragging your GIRLFRIEND along?!
-what did she do to deserve that?!
-and she's actually okay with this?!
-long distance female hiker, say whaaaat?!
I know these people mean no harm with these inherently insulting questions. In all truthfulness though, Maddie is as capable and strong a hiking companion as I could ask for. She carries her weight, she doesn't complain very much, she walks a comfortable pace, and, well, she's fun to be around. So I guess this answers one of the most Frequently Asked Questions that belongs in my first post: Yes she can do it--she's a baller.
A couple of shuttle transfers later, and we made it to housekeeping, where I got Maddie an ice cream sandwich while we waited in the shade for her Anne and Liam. It was pretty warm, but with Mindy Kaling's audiobook keeping me company (don't judge), it was quite pleasant.
Unsure of their arrival time, I decided to go on a run. I set off toward the permit office to kill two birds with one stone, while Maddie read one of our guidebooks and watched our things. After being questioned by the parks administrator about Leave No Trace practices (if you aren't familiar with these, please do the world a favor and read/follow them), I began my run back to camp as dark clouds swirled around Half Dome and thunder started to rumble. Our friend John gave us some sound advice that has proven true after only one day out here: if clouds start to form before 10am, you're likely to have afternoon thunderstorms. If they form after 11am, then you should be in the clear. That hour between 10 and 11? It's anybody's guess...
It was great running and stopping to take pictures, including an emotional stop in front of Yosemite Falls, at the top of which, I buried my grandfather's ashes. The sight gives me chills every time I see it, as it also takes me back to my first Yosemite trip with my dad.
A light warm rain began to fall as Liam and Anne arrived. It was great to see them, and they were nice enough to bring us our last Chipotle bowl before our trip!! With food safely secured in our bear boxes, we ventured down to the river before settling into camp. I made the bold move of testing out my new waterproof phone case with a video I will try to find a way to show you another time.
Most of our stuff...
We just capped off the night with some deliciously greasy pizza from Curry Village's Pizza Patio. Quite tasty. After wading in the river one of my sandals started rubbing my big toe raw and Liam was gracious enough to let me borrow his for the walk back to camp. What a champ. Up at 7 tomorrow and out by 9am, as we want to get to camp before any thunderstorms roll in!
And with that ladies and gentleman, we conclude our last night before hitting the trail. It feels really weird that the day for which we've been planning for over a year has finally arrived. We could not be more excited.
Just so everyone knows, service is incredibly spotty and nonexistent in most places along the trail, but I will do my best to write as much as I can and post them when I can. Afterall I don't want to be a slave to my phone when a major reason I'm out here is to simplify life for 24 days and limit use of the gadgets. So with that, we wish you a good night and thank you everyone for all of the support! Mom and Dad, I'll be safe. Ryland and Lauren, have fun wedding planning. Love you all!
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