Did I say 2.5 miles? I meant 3.5...which really makes no difference since it wasn't the length of the trail that was killer as much as the ALTITUDE GAINED. Yes, that's right I used the word ALTITUDE. Because saying we were up pretty high just doesn't do it justice.
Let me give you a little perspective: Tampa is located at sea level, Tallahassee is located as sea level. In fact, I've lived at sea level for the past 5 years. We'll call sea level "0" (this is supposed to be a zero, but for some reason this font makes it look like a fat lowercase 'O' - but I assure you I hit the zero number key and I also assure you I'm way to lazy to mess with the font.) San Jose, CA (where we flew into from the east) is also at sea level. Yosemite Valley is at 4,000 feet. So we had basically gone from 0 to 4,000 vertical feet on our drive from San Jose to Yosemite Valley. By the end of our hike today, we will have gone from 4,000 to 8,000 feet. This means that in 3.5 miles, we will have climbed 4,000 vertical feet. My knees will NEVER be the same, that's all I'm sayin'
Let me give you a little perspective: Tampa is located at sea level, Tallahassee is located as sea level. In fact, I've lived at sea level for the past 5 years. We'll call sea level "0" (this is supposed to be a zero, but for some reason this font makes it look like a fat lowercase 'O' - but I assure you I hit the zero number key and I also assure you I'm way to lazy to mess with the font.) San Jose, CA (where we flew into from the east) is also at sea level. Yosemite Valley is at 4,000 feet. So we had basically gone from 0 to 4,000 vertical feet on our drive from San Jose to Yosemite Valley. By the end of our hike today, we will have gone from 4,000 to 8,000 feet. This means that in 3.5 miles, we will have climbed 4,000 vertical feet. My knees will NEVER be the same, that's all I'm sayin'
That up arrow is actually pretty accurate.
The start of the switchbacks. I took this picture in the beginning when I still had the energy to care about photos of switchbacks. I was naive enough to think that I would need a picture for my memories. Ha. These switchbacks are burned into my brain. I will be 100 years old and won't be able to remember my own name and I'll still be able to describe the shear horror of the switchbacks on this trail.
It wasn't all horror, though. Our views just got better and better. See those pine trees? They're about 200 feet tall when you're standing underneath them. Just a little perspective. And that's a gorgeous view of Half Dome in the background.
yeah, I was tired and this rock held up my pack for me. Plus it was in the shade. I think I sat here a while. Also, I don't normally wear a baseball cap up on my head like that. The stuff on my backpack was so high it kept pushing my hat up on my forehead like that. I was too tired to keep fixing it and just went with it.
Coming Up: WE SUMMIT!
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