The biggest concern for me the whole night was weather or not I was going to wake up in the morning and still be able to feel my toes. After waking up six to seven times in the middle of the night, I finally awoke to the sun. Swiftly I got out of my soaked sleeping bag and ran up to the bathrooms, where I could put my hands and feet under the dryer and hopefully thaw them out. An hour later, I was putting down my tent and packing up my stuff, and not a moment too soon, because again, the park ranger was on the prowl. Now, I was on my way. Knowing that Yosemite valley was still about 25 miles out, I needed to put some miles behind me and start going as early as possible. With my stomach still bothering me, I chose no/was not hungry for breakfast (I don't really know the last day/time I had a real meal). However, a wild thought came across my head... since the Rangers wanted me to return to the entrance so much, maybe they can give me a ride to the valley or the very least the point of where I was before forcing me to turn around the previous night. After asking, they said they couldn't and asked me if I needed to call someone from San Francisco. HAHA! Who I am going to call in San Fran?? They also told me that an additional two to three feet of snow is expected in the next couple days. Most importantly, they told me that the Tioga Pass, the road that was crucial for my success was closed still. OH NO!! Now what am I going to do? With so many questions and thoughts pondering my head, I still ventured up this 8 mile hill in the cold and snow, but this time the sun was out. As I got higher and further, the view and scenery was unspeakable. There were creeks, running water, snow covered trees, hills, and snow covered mountains everywhere. Being in this trance, I was the victim of mini avalanches from trees that fell on top of me and my stroller. Onward still....through hills (I was now up over 6100 ft... not fun with a loaded stroller), dodging traffic, through tunnels, off roading for better pictures. The amount of beauty is unimaginable. Waterfalls, raging rivers, Half-Dome, mountains, trees, etc...INCREDIBLE. For some reason, the waterfalls reminded me of the waterfalls in the movie Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. "The Waterfalls mix the chocolate". With every rock, mist, and spray, I really wanted to drink the water from here. MMM how good would a nice churned, cold drink of water would taste. However, I thought about all of the microbes that could be living in there and refused the temptation. At one specific spot, a lady came up to me and asked if I was the same person she has seen on the roads days previous. I responded saying yes and told her my story and she wanted a picture of me. HAHA. Climbing down, I finally made it to the raging Merced River. WOW, what an amazing river. It sounded like walking near an expressway with the rushing water, and the crashes of waves and rocks. I would love rafting on that or maybe at least getting a drink from it. More waterfalls, more mountains, until... I realized that I got turned around by a misleading sign. I was going the past four hours in the wrong way...how depressing. With the night settling, and my legs toast, I decided to close up shop.
Song in my head....All of Creation
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth... God saw all that he had made, and it was very good." Genesis 1:1,
No comments:
Post a Comment