Yosemite

After farewelling Felice the morning after the baseball, I had my first of many "dramatic public transport in America" days. It involved queues at post offices, missed trains, spending 5 hours in the most scary ghetto suburb sitting in Burger King to while away the hours, and middle of the way motels. 

But the day after that I was finally on my way to Yosemite! Stunning drive in, Californian countryside here looks a lot like home

And then we arrived, and tears came to my eyes when I finally laid eyes on El Capitan and Half Dome for the bus. These are two of the most famous big walls in climbing, and after watching video after video of people climbing these classic and beautiful routes, it was pretty special to finally see them. 2000ft of sheer granite on each!

I somehow got extremely lucky and met a ranger that squeezed me into a campsite at Camp 4 - the rockclimbers camp. And has been since the 70s. This site is so popular through most of the year that to get a spot you have to usually line up at 4am. I couldn't get there by then - and when I did arrive, all other accomodation in the whole of Yosemite was also booked up, so was very lucky that the ranger was happy to squeeze me in, understanding my solo-traveller-by-bus predicament!

So after setting up the tent I took a look around the park - there is a free shuttle bus that takes you to all the camp sites, lodges, shops, visitors centre and restaurants. When I got back to my tent for a rest at about 4pm, the rain that had been looming all day began. Later on I went to see a film/talk from a local. It was supposed to be about climbing, so it seemed, but all he did was show images of scenery (with some climbing) and spoke shit about understanding the earth etc etc. should have been inspiring but was just hippy bullshit. As if he was a revolutionist, but he was just saying things that people like me experience daily. I have never been more bored!!!!

The rain continued through the whole night. 14hour straight! And drizzled the next day. But I headed off on a walk anyway - through one of the valleys and to a place with views of Half Dome from th very base! Found a few friends along the way aswell :) 

After a full day of walking, I found a building in the curry village that was being used as a cosy place to stay warm and dry. Scored a couch in there and rolled up with a magazine for a while, oh and a pizza!

Next morning the weather was beautiful!!! So I headed off on a long hike around the whole perimeter of the main Yosemite Valley. This was to take me through every view of El Cap that I could get, including right to the very very base where the climbers start from!

Very psyched to see people bivvying on the wall!

And got to film some guys doing the most classic of moves on the Nose, where they have to run (literally feet on vertical cliff, gathering momentum with rope holding them upright) on the sheer wall to try and jump to get the next hold. Which doesn't work, so they need to try and try again!! And finally stick the hold. All about 1000ft off the valley floor!

Nicely labelled climbing trails :)

And on returning to the main part of town I got some sunny views of Half Dome today :)

That final evening I went to a star gazing tour. Got to lay on some tarps and look up at the sky, listening to a really informative talk on astronomy. It was awesome to learn about the northern hemisphere of which the stars are unfamiliar. And a good perspective is always wholesome to hear. We are, afterall, smaller than the smallest atom in relation to the universe out there!!! And made of star stuff. Of course!