John Muir once said, “The clearest way into the universe is through a forest wilderness.” Last week, I figured this out for myself. I spent the week in Yosemite with my advisory class and I have to say, it was one of the most amazing place I have ever seen.
On Monday, we had a little excitement in the van because our back right tire’s tread stripped off in Carlsbad. We made the best of the situation and found a small park while the van was driven up to Oceanside to have the tire replaced.
From rain, to snow, to sun, we had all types of weather. The snow was definitely the most fun, giving us something to do for the few (hah) minutes of free time we had. On the right, you can see some of our beautiful artwork that was featured on the bridge in front of the lower yosemite falls. There is an obvious Southern California influence because the snowman has a mohawk (cleverly called a “snowhawk”). This is actually only the second time I’ve been in snow but that didn’t keep me from starting mad snowball fights with my classmates.
On Tuesday, it was raining for most of the day. We took a small hike to see the lower falls, took a few pictures and walked back to our rooms to dry off until about noon. We then left to see some of the main attractions in the yosemite valley and take pictures. There was an interesting fog shrouding almost everything in the valley that made for awesome pictures. Sadly, not many of my pictures turned out because I got water on the lens. My camera also stopped working temporarily but I got it dried off and it worked perfectly for the rest of the trip. After we got back from our little tour, we had a lunch consisting of chili and then went on to explore a little. We found a meadow in the back of our room and a slackline between two trees. As the afternoon progressed, the temperature dropped and the rain turned to snow. We had some pizza for dinner that tasted like it was microwaved and there were some middle schoolers looking at us and pointing.
Wednesday was definitely more fun but a lot colder and a lot wetter than I thought it would be. We were originally planning to go up to Badger Pass but the roads up to Badger Pass were closed because of the snow. We ended up hiking, again, up to the lower falls but then continuing onto the Ahwahnee. We went back to the room, had PB&J and slept until dinner (we probably did more but I don’t remember).
Thursday was, by far, the coolest day we had. The roads opened back and we went up to Badger Pass to go snowshoeing. We didn’t make it very far, snowshoeing is hard, but we stopped and dug out a snow cave. At the end of it, I couldn’t feel my toes but it was fun anyway. We took the bus back down to the lodge, had more chili and took a short rest. A group of us went exploring again, taking almost two hours to follow the river up and take pictures. We saw ten deer at one point. We went, again, to the lower falls but by then it had started to rain again. We stopped at a small cave and took an cool picture.
Yosemite is amazing and anybody that enjoys the outdoors should go to see it. Remember to bring a camera. Billy!
