It’s hard to know where to start or how to capture our trip in a nut shell, but I will try. Michaela and I had been training for this trip for over three months. She faithfully got up with me early each morning to hike two miles up and down our hill and around our neighborhood, adding weight regularly to our packs. This was to be an 8th grade graduation gift to her, although she had to work at it!
We flew out to CA on July 29th with my parents, closing their four week stay with us (BTW, Mom is doing great after her two cataract surgeries). We landed in SF and stayed with my brother for two nights. Unfortunately Jeremy was unable to join us on the pack as originally planned, due to work. We enjoyed In-N-Out, good coffee, and great Mexican food with him, though.
We headed for Yosemite on the 31st with a couple of stops along the way. The first stop was to visit with my aunt, uncle and some cousins for a BBQ and family time. Although our time was short, it was so good to see them again. Uncle Marvin has battled cancer this last year and it was wonderful to see him up and about looking so good. The second stop was to visit some supporters of my parents mission work. They live only an hour away from Yosemite. Oh, the beauty!
We arrived into the Park about 11 pm, but needed to wait in line all that night to be first in line when the ranger station opened at 7:30 am to give out wilderness permits. The ladies tried to sleep in the car while Dad slept on the “porch” of the office. I checked in on him a couple of times and he was quite cozy sleeping on his camping pad snuggled down in his sack. By the time the office opened there were more than a dozen people in line and we thankfully received the permit for the trailhead we had requested.
We spent the day enjoying Yosemite Valley. I have been there several times, but never tire of it’s beauty. We had dinner and paid for our last showers. We camped that night in a campground in Tuolemne Meadows.
Monday morning we were ready to head out on our much anticipated backpacking adventure. We hiked roughly 8 miles in and about 4,000 ft up to our first stop at Evelyn Lake. We weren’t very far in when we all stepped off the trail to allow a horse train to pass us. Dad accidentally took a misstep and tumbled and rolled down a large rock with his 50 pound pack on. It was quite scary, as we didn’t know how badly injured he was. He said that his Special Forces training kicked into gear and he just fell and rolled as when he jumped from airplanes. Fortunately he just scraped up his elbows and one knee. Thank you God! Our trip could have been cut so very short.
We spent three nights at Evelyn and took some day hikes around the area and spent a lot of time fishing. Grandpa gave Michaela some good training and she enjoyed the thrill of the “hunt”.
On Thursday we hiked down a different trail back towards Tuolemne. It was a lot of descent, and despite preparation and training, all of our calves were sore the next couple of days. Fortunately my knee that had been giving me problems did great. Hiking poles are a saver!
We spent two nights by Lyell Creek in the canyon and enjoyed some more spectacular views. The mosquitoes were hardly present at the lower elevation and that was a welcome relief. BUT, I missed the mountain top views.
On Saturday we hiked out the last four miles and it was mostly flat terrain. It was a very nice ending to our other days on the trail. It was great to get back to the car and find it intact as well as the few items we had left in the bear proof boxes.
We spent Saturday night and Sunday night with my aunt and uncle on the coast. We enjoyed church service with them and then on Sunday night my aunt was part of a choir that gave an amazing concert. They sang old negro spirituals. It was also sort of a fundraiser for an incredible organization we learned about, Music Camp International. (They do music camps for orphans in Eastern Europe with amazing results. So impressive!)
Mom and Dad dropped us off at the airport on Monday afternoon. Despite being ready to head home and see the rest of our family, it was hard to say goodbye. We had a great six weeks with them, combining our time together in MO and CA. What a very special treat for Michaela to experience a backpacking trip in Yosemite with her grandparents.
We arrived home about 10:30 pm and Chris had let the kids stay up to greet us. What a wonderful sight to be home and give and receive lots of hugs and kisses. Chris, you are too good to me. I am so very blessed. I didn’t do any fishing in Yosemite, but I’ve got the best catch of all here at home! I love you!
I forewarned you that there would be a TON of photos. I captioned most of them and they will fill in more parts of our time on the trip. Believe me, I left out SO many pictures and stories. Maybe I’ll blog some more as they come to mind. I hope you enjoy seeing a bit of God’s amazing creation that we enjoyed!
