Monday, September 28, 2009

Family and friends visit in Yosemite










It was a pleasure to have our parents, Jen and Tony, come and visit us in Yosemite. To start our adventures with them we met in San Fransisco. We enjoyed an amazing day biking around the San Fransisco Bay, crossing over The Golden Gate Bridge, and finishing in Sausilito where we took a Ferry back to San Fran. Renting bikes was a great way to explore the waterfront and other scenic views.
Our next stop was Yosemite Valley. In Yosemite we hiked through Mariposa Grove, home of giant Sequoia trees that are thousands of years old. These trees are a rare treat to see. The largest Sequoia in Mariposa, named the Grizzly Bear, stands just over 200 feet tall with a base of 30 feet in diameter. Another tree, named the California Tunnel tree, was cut in 1895 to allow stagecoaches full of tourists to pass through.
Jen and Tony were blown away by the view at Glacier Point and just beyond the Wawona tunnel, where the Yosemite Valley landscape can be seen. Our parents were very easy to please. They hiked with us to various climbing areas to watch us climb. Tony enjoyed reading and relaxing at the cliff while Jen took pictures and cheered us on. We stayed in a little tent cabin by the Merced River. We saw a family of deer every morning, a peregrine falcon, and a bear swimming on its back with paws in the air.
It’s always a special treat to have your family visit and take interest in what you do, and to spoil you in little ways. We enjoyed some meals out and a bbq feast at Camp 4 with all of our new climbing buddies. We were sad to see them go but we look forward to seeing Jen and Tony again somewhere around the world.
Dave and Dennis, two friends from home, came to Yosemite for a week. They were keen to do some traditional climbing, and climbed well sewing up the classic 5.8s and Half Dome’s Snake Dike. Together we spent a day in Tuolume, bouldering some classic Kauk and Bachar problems. With 45 minutes until sunset, Dave and Dave, ran up a two pitch climb named the Hermaphrodite Flake, and they made it back to the car just in time. It has great meeting up with friends from home on our trip and we hope we will meet up with more as our trip continues. Make plans everyone!
We only have a few more days left in Yosemite Valley and we plan to make the best of them.

1 comment:

  1. It was a pleasure meeting you in Yosemite Housekeeping Camp this past weekend. We'll be following your adventure.

    Daniel and Dave Lambing

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