electric relaxation

Lisa and I completed the Half Dome hike in Yosemite this weekend. We drove up to Yosemite after work on Friday, stopping by the Oakland airport to pick up Allen, and then in Stockton to grab Ryan and his friend Meena. We made it to our camp grounds in Hogden Meadows at around 1:30 AM, and then proceeded to stumble around in the dark trying to find our campsite, disturbing all those with the misfortune to actually arrive in time for a good night’s sleep. By the time we got the tents up and the sleeping bags out, it was 2:00 AM.

We got a grand total of three and a half hours of sleep. Just to make things more interesting, I decided to forget my brand new Thermarest at home, and so I had a great time tossing and turning around on the ground. We woke up at 5:20 with the ludicrous intention of starting our hike by 6:00 AM. By the time we ate breakfast (bagels and cream cheese), made sandwiches and packed all our crap, it was about 6:30. It’s about a 45 minute drive from Hogden over to Curry Village, and from the parking lot there to the trail head took another half hour or so, so we didn’t actually start the hike until around 8:15 AM.

Things I actually did right:

• Water. I had four liters in my bag. I drank all that I could, but since I was the only one who didn’t think the website was joking, I had to share. I was mildly dehydrated and a little light-headed for most of the hike, but that’s pretty much how I feel every day anyway.
• Food. I packed two huge sandwiches and ate them both, along with two Pria bars, an apple, two oranges, a couple of bananas, a packet of jerky, a bag of mini carrots, some cookies, and trail mix that Lisa made (which was delicious – it had yogurt raisins!). And that’s not counting breakfast.
• Not being a pussy. The cables were almost the easiest thing on the whole hike, coming in a close second to lunch. What the fuck is wrong with people. Learn how to walk. Then, do that diagonally, while holding a rope. You don’t need to train for this thing. Growing a pair might help.

Alright, I’m done. Back to Googling for people who document their three month training regimes and then making fun of them in my head. Lisa will put up some pictures at some point, and then I will steal them.