Geo: 37.4326, -121.898I don't even know how I'm going to sleep tonight.. Gonna have to drug myself due to major excitement. lol. Chris and I have been gradually getting up earlier this week since we've both been on a night schedule from all the overnights I did. Today we got up at 8am! So odd... there is just a lot of damn sunlight during the day... who knew...Tomorrow we have to get up at 5:15am. We're gonna get some breakfast and coffee at good 'ol Noah's and Starbucks. Then it's off to my dad's house. At 6am we'll leave for SFO... navigate the morning traffic within an hour hopefully. Our flight leaves at 8:56am (our time). It's a 5.5 hour flight to New Jersey, where we'll have a 1.75 hour layover. Which isn't much of a ... read more

Geo: 37.7163, -119.665 Today we packed up camp. David and Anna were both in a hurry to get home- I think one had work and the other wasn't feeling well. Galen and I were both still energized and spontaneously decided to stay behind an extra day and then just drive home that night. Since we brought two cars it was totally workable. After seeing the Mist Trail from Glacier Point the day before, he was deadset on hiking it, potato-chip blisters and all. With moleskin on, too. So we headed down to the Valley and the Mist Trail trailhead. Because of this hike, Galen was inspired to do Half Dome with us the following month. =D We even saw the brand-spankin new "Do You Have Your Permit?" for Half Dome signs. They weren't in effect yet ... read more

Geo: 37.7163, -119.665Our second day, we got out of bed once we forced Galen to get out first and make us coffee. Then we headed down to Yosemite Valley to the Upper Yosemite Falls trailhead. I had hiked it once before with Chris. My siblings all wanted to go up since they'd never done it before, though. I probably should have made sure they were in better shape first but we did all make it up and down without dying of heatstroke!The trail is 7.2miles roundtrip, which doesn't seem too bad until you consider it's pretty much a straight shot up the cliff via switchbacks. With the exception of one flatter portion that lasts all of ten to fifteen minutes, it's all uphill with an elevation gain of 2700ft. It's a 6-8hr roundtrip hike.We started the ... read more