Yosemite: Yeah, I'm a Slacker

So, let's do some backtracking. A couple of weeks ago, which would be the weekend after Half Dome, a couple of friends and I took a quick camping trip to Tuolumne Meadows, hiked to Dog Lake and Lembert Dome once again but this time near sunset which was that much better.

Last weekend, a couple of friends and I went to San Francisco. It was the first time I'd been out of the park since I got here. So you could imagine that it was quite a change of culture. But it was fun. We visited the piers, the coffee shops, the Chinatown, the shopping areas, the Golden Gate Bridge which we walked across and back. But the more cities I go to, the more I find that although some have their particular flavor and what not, they all seem the same to me. And you could probably guess that cities just ain't for me. But I did enjoy it. Pretty fun.

There was something that troubled me while we were there though. While we were walking back across the Golden Gate Bridge, we saw a man getting handcuffed and getting put into a cop car. When we asked what had happened, we were told that he had tried to jump off of the bridge to kill himself. It was a real awakener. I just can't comprehend the thought of seriously wanting to kill yourself. And while I know it happens and I can sort of understand what would drive somebody to do it, it was the first time that I was on site in the midst of it. The look on the guy's face as he was being walked to the car was unbelievably sad.

The full moon was last week, so we drove up to Glacier Point around midnight to hang out and it was unbelievably beautiful. And we just chilled up there (literally) and talked and took pictures. It was a pretty good night. However on the way back down, we were delayed about an hour due to road construction at 3:30 in the morning.

And this past weekend, yesterday actually, I hiked to North Dome which is right across the Valley from Half Dome so when you're on top, you are looking directly at the face of Half Dome. Pretty sweet. So it was 9 miles up via the Snow Creek trail and then 8 miles down via the Upper Yosemite Falls trail. So an overall total of 17 miles with about a 4100 ft elevation gain. And as always, the views made the hike worth it.

So I only have a little over two weeks left. The past couple of months have gone by pretty fast. And although I've really enjoyed living here I'm ready to be back home with the family, back in the South, back in the swing of things, back at school with friends and professors.

Mariposa Grove and the sequoia trees coming up soon, hopefully this weekend. Possibly another trip to Tuolumne Meadows to see other lakes and the wildflowers that are supposedly there right now.

Dog Lake