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Published: December 17th 2019
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This was going to be my first vacation in two years. I usually like to plan my trips, but this one wasn't.
My flight to San Jose was supposed to take off at five in the morning. I fell asleep while seated and woke up more than an hour later only to find the plane still grounded. The flight was delayed by more than two hours. By the time I got to San Jose, I was under-slept and tired. I just had some food and went to sleep. The next day was going to be exciting.
The next morning, I had a freak accident. I sneezed not very violently, but somehow managed to pull my back muscle - very badly - so bad that I had trouble moving initially. I struggled to get dressed and saw two options in front of me. Either see a doctor and forgo all that I had planned for the day or pop a few painkillers and go ahead with my plans. I chose the latter option.
After my breakfast I started my drive. It was going to take me more than three hours to get to
the Yosemite National Park. Within a short while, I was able to leave the city. The traffic was more dispersed and driving was more relaxing. But my back was still hurting. When I got closer to the park, the road started to incline steeply. The curves were too sharp. It was time to slow down and put both my hands on the steering wheel. I saw a sign that said 'Roll down your windows, enjoy some fresh air' - I already had my windows rolled down.
I finally reached the park and parked my car in front of the office. I decided to speak to some park officials in order to get some ideas. I wanted to go and hike up to a place called 'Clouds Rest', but I was told that it wasn't going to be a good idea as the hike was tough, long and treacherous and I was already a few hours late. When I asked for other challenging options, they recommended a place called 'Glacier Point'. It was at an elevation of more than 7000 feet, while the base of the valley is at 4000 feet. People who make it, usually reach the
point in four hours. My back was still hurting, but I decided to go for it.
Since it was sunny, I thought of buying a cap for myself. I tried one on and the lady behind the counter said "Nice choice sir, you look very handsome in that shirt". "Oh, thank you", I replied. "Oh, I mean your hat", to which I responded "well, the shirt also" and we both laughed.
I was back on the road, driving across the beautiful valley. The road was narrow yes, but I didn't want to speed anyways - I drove slow, while enjoying the view and also keeping an eye on the road map that was provided to me.
All of a sudden I saw the entrance to the hike - I parked my car at the side of the road, carried my supplies - a cap, sunglasses, fruits and chocolate, water and my phone. The hike is called 'The four mile hike' because when it was first set up, the distance was indeed four miles but over the years, the track changed and lengthened by almost another mile. People usually take around four
hours to hike up one way and another two hours to hike all the way down.
I hadn't exercised in three months so I wasn't sure how well I would do on this hike. But I started, not thinking about the destination but only about taking the next step after the previous one. When you have a big problem in front of you, break it down into smaller pieces and you should usually be able to solve it.
It was afternoon and the heat was on. As expected, not many people were hiking uphill - I could see many going down. I was impressed with my fitness - as I mentioned, I hadn't worked out in almost three months, but didn't seem to struggle on the hike - I took it easy, took breaks at appropriate times and hydrated myself at regular intervals. After a while I got hungry and took out a sandwich and started having it while I walked. I saw some people with tools, working on the way. One of them said 'This guy is having a burger right now - lucky dog!'. I stopped and spoke to them for a
while - they were volunteers who were giving some of their time, working towards the restoration of some parts of the park.
Walking along, I could see big rocky mountains at a fair distance away from me. I didn't know what they were called, but one of them looked happy and content with trees all over and the other one was more barren and to me, looked a bit sad. I was enjoying the view and also took some time to think about my life in general and how things had changed for me over the last couple of years. They say that life is what happens to you while you're making plans to do something else and it's true.
I was almost three hours into my hike and was curious by now - I wasn't sure if I was hiking fast enough and how far away the Glacier Point was from where I was. I had surpassed all the timber trees which meant that I was high enough. The next hikers that I saw, going down, were the ones who told me that I probably was an hour away. This was good, as it meant that I wasn't walking too slow. I continued on this strenuous trail, the higher I went, the more difficult it became - I had to be careful not to slip and fall. The trail was paved only in certain places and some places had loose sand - apparently sprained ankles are quite common on this hike. My bag was much lighter by now - I finished all the food and water that I had brought with me.
It was a little more than four hours when I saw the clearing. I went further and realised that I had made it to 'Glacier Point'. The view was amazing - I could the entire Yosemite Valley, the waterfall and all the mountain peaks together at one place, the most prominent of which was the half dome, standing tall at 8800m. Some of the peaks even had ice on them. I wasn't carrying a camera and my phone was almost out of power. I spoke to some tourists from Germany and asked them if they could take some photographs of me and email them to me later. They obliged happily. To my surprise I saw a tourist bus pull over a little away from where we were - people got off the bus and headed straight to the ice cream parlour. The bus had brought them to Glacier Point all the way from the valley down below. I guess people are different - some prefer to travel in an air conditioned bus for half an hour and have ice cream while enjoying the view - while others like me, find fun in toiling it out while breathing some fresh air and enjoying the change in the view at the same time.
I sat there for a while before making my way down. Going down was easier - it was going to take me just around two hours. On my way, I saw a side trail - I didn't have any charge left in my mobile and couldn't see any people on the trail - it was risky for me to go on a side trail like that, all by myself, especially when it was late. But nonetheless, I went ahead, got to the end, climbed a small rock and saw the mountains from a different angle. Soon, I was joined by another hiker - apparently I wasn't the only one with an adventure spirit.
It took me around two hours to get back to the valley. I started driving to the home-stay for the night - my phone was out of range, but I knew the overall direction in which I was supposed to go and went my way.
The next morning I spent some more time at Yosemite before driving back to San Francisco.
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