Fine, I stole the idea from Red Hot Chili Peppers but if you google the title, you won’t find any reference to Yosemitecation so I am first. Anyway, over the weekend I finally got to go on my first camping trip … ever. I can’t believe it took me this long but I am glad I am no longer a camping-virgin. And it’s Yosemite Park. I’ve never been there either. I am an embarrassment.

There were 4 of us. We left around 1 pm on Friday to beat the traffic out of San Francisco. We left in two cars because on how our hiking trip was planned. I left with a close friend of mine who had to be on conference call for the first 2 hours of the trip. That means I had to drive.

The trip took longer than usual; taking a wrong way out of San Francisco, a stop at Tracy, another stop at Safeway, and a miss turn at highway 120. We didn’t arrive at Toulomne Meadow Camp until about 6.30 pm.

Upon arrival, I setup my tent immediately because it was getting dark. Plus I needed some helps so it’s better if it’s done early. Once that’s done, it’s dinner time. We brought a portable cookware with us so we had a pretty good dinner. Spaghetti, barbequed chicken, etc. etc. Yum yum …

We had to store our belongings in a bear box. A what? No one told me anything about bear. I have to admit I was a little nervous. Sleeping in a tent was a lot of fun though. However, I didn’t get a good night sleep because I was awoken by some noise from a tent next to mine. Snoring can be so destructive.

We woke up early the next morning, had breakfast, and started our hike at around 9.30 am.

I don’t remember the name of the lake but it’s beautiful isn’t it?

We started our Saturday morning hike from Toulomne Meadows to Sunrise High Sierra Camp. The journey is about 7.8 miles. Not too bad actually. The early part of the hike was more difficult because it was uphill and may be a little adjustment to the altitude.

Omer, Brian, and Colleen.

Brian, me, and Omer.

I can’t pass up the opportunity for a kodak moment here. The meadow is so beautiful.

I took this picture with Omer’s tripod. And it was taken seconds before a group of hikers walked by. Thank goodness they were a step late because I love how this picture turns out. We are only about 1 mile away from High Sierra Camp.

Sitting on a meadow in the middle of a beautiful day at Yosemite Park enjoying the nature simply took my breath away.

Is that right? 9400 feet above sea level?

This is the view from the High Sierra Camp. I don’t have words to describe how amazing the view is.

The host are at High Sierra Camp was incredible. They cook us a nice dinner. Steak with mushroom. Eating dinner in a dining hall with other campers/hikers was an experience I truly enjoy.

After dinner, there’s nothing much left to do. We were in the wilderness. So the obvious choice was to go back to our tent and slept the night away. After all we would need to wake up early the next day.

This picture was taken around 5.53 am on Sunday morning. We wanted to catch the sunrise so we woke up around 5.15 am and brought our sleeping bag with us outdoor so we could lay down on the ground without freezing our tail ends off.

You know I am not lying when I said it was cold outside at 6 am in the morning.

I love how these 2 pictures turn out. Thanks Tripod.

We slept in a tent like this at High Sierra Camp. This picture was taken right before our hike on Sunday morning.

A little less than an hour into the hike, we came across this lake. Time to fill up the water bottle.

Look at the reflections on the lake. Amazing …

We almost missed this spot if not for some hikers who pointed us to this direction. It was about 100 yards from the turn-off towards Cloud Rest. That is Half Dome in the background.

We got back to our car around 4 pm. I think we hiked about 11 miles in total. The downhill hike to the car was rough because it was so rocky.

All good things have to come to an end. We’ll be back.

Related Posts

• No related posts