Day 8

Another great day, the only downside of which being that I might have burnt myself a little trying to even out my lovely farmers tan that has been developing.

We started out early, aiming to get up at midnight and leave at one, ending up waking up at one and leaving at two :). Driving nine hours through one time zone change, we arrived at yosemite at nine. You do the math. This is the second time we've gained a random hour on our trip and have no idea where it came from. Yosemite is obviously gorgeous, with my favorite type of driving (hugging cliffs through tight turns) almost the whole way through. We parked and headed to get some food, knowing that with the hike to come we would need all the strength we could get. Our choice for the day was called the four mile trail, which actually turned out to be 4.8 miles both ways. Liers.

Anywho at the base of this trek which the handy dandy map says will take about 6 to 8 hours to fully complete, we see two ladies who seem to be doing the same thing we were, namely looking for the trail head. We had a good idea that it was one way so they followed along and we found the way to the top. We decided, based on our short conversation up to the beginning of the trail, that they were fun people and we could do far worse than them for company so we made a little pack and started up the mountain.

Let's just leave it at the climb was pretty intense, and we were all beat but exhilerated when we made it to the top in three hours. The view, as always, was spectacular, and we relaxed in the sun for a good time, enjoying the sheer unbelievability of the scenery before us. Our goal for the way down was two hours and we made it in 1:45. Cuz we're awesome. So the stats are 4:45 total time, 3,200ft change in elevation both ways, 15,000 or ao steps to the top, and only a very minor scrape to show from it. The company was lovely and we all had a good time talking our way up and laughing our way down. Did I mention that two members of our party had asthma? Yeah good times. Thanks Sly and G-Spot :).

We left the park after that for a 1.5 hour drive to our campsite, where we showered and then got some pizza. We are currently crashing and waking up with a plan to do some leisurely strolling tomorrow on our second day here.

Ps I will most likely be getting a new comp in San Francisco or similar area so Monday or Tuesday you can expect an explosion of pictures on my facebook page :)