Yosemite National Park

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Post Vegas we left for Yosemite National Park via LA. We stayed in a Chinese run motel during this transition period, with Taoist dolls on the JVC ghettoblaster (with twin tape decks to enable high speed dubbing, 3D sound and hyperbase function - all of which didn't work) and dead cockroaches under the bed.

Our preffered means of accommodation, as you have already seen, is the tent. Sadly, four poles broke on the old Vango in one windy stay at the Grand Canyon meaning we had to find replacements before we could use it again. Apparently, they don't do replcements in the US (because they would rather you just buy a new tent) - only via an online company who make bespoke poles for dollar. We rang our new friend Tim (a climber we met on Mt Whitney) who happened to live round the corner on Santa Monica Blvd. One thing lead to another and he fixed our whole tent giving us spare poles in the process!

So, we finally made it Yosemite and settled down at Camp 4 in the valley, a highly popular climbers site near to the foot of El Capitan - a 1500m vertical/overhanging rock face and one of the more challenging climbs in America. Climbers spend 3-4 days on their ascent sleeping in hammock style 'beds' wedged into cracks in the rock. A freeclimber (no ropes) recently completed this ascent in under 3 hours. Madness.

We opted to climb Half-Dome, a long 17 mile round trip, with a 75 degree ascent for the last 200m, where each clmiber is assisted by fixed cables and foot-holes. I was really testing my fear of heights here as Lindsay shot up and periodically turned to take the piss out of my wobbly legs (I still contest it was the lack of friction in my gloves on the cables). See photos for views etc (my descriptions won't do it justice.

One of the problems with an out and back route is the boredom factor on the return. We had set off in the dark at 4:30am using the moonlight and headtorches to guide the way. This meant we had to share the top with only 2 other guys when we got there just before 9am. On the return we went via the Nevada and Vernal Falls to keep things interesting. These are two of the more beautiful waterfalls in Yosemite - its packed with them and they flow throughout the spring to autmn gradually reducing in volume until they finally peter out. Yosemite is home to the 5th and 7th highest falls in the world. The former is Yosemite Falls, a seasonal waterfall that we climbed to the top of the day prior to half-dome as a warm up after our Vegas antics.

Many thanks for all your offers tot ake the TV off our hands and save us the 'bother' of carting it around the world with us. I'm sure we'll find a solution.

We're in San Fransisco now where its misty! Its been sunny (low 30's) everyday for 4 weeks and now we get this, it's so unfair.

The itinerary from here is more relaxed:
Down Pacific Highway 1 to LA via Big Sur and Santa Barbara
LA - Ecuador (N.B. Flights to Colombia have been changed due to the fact that our Travel Insurance will no longer cover us there. UK government travel advice suggests we don;t go and that is good enough for us.)


Love to everyone... more when we touch down in Quito...

George and Lindsay

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Comments

[Louise]

Awesome pics
Hi Both, looked at Half Dome on YouTube clips ... wow! Also watched two people fall to their deaths..... it was on the same batch of clips!!!! The scenery just takes your breath away... well it would mine beacuse of the ascent. Enjoy the rest of your stay in US... hope you can come to some arrangement re TV! Hear from you in Ecuador. xx