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Kya Travels
Up and at 'em camping style at 6:30am, not far behind the sun.
It was tough getting out of bed, but there was coffee and bagels.
Darren hadn't gotten a very good night's sleep, maybe 3 or 4 hours, but he had more energy than me!
I was really struggling to be awake and alive today!
We made ourselves sandwiches for lunch, then when everyone was ready we got on the bus.
We stopped not too far away for some gas, (and saw a cute little squirrel) and both Darren and I weren't feeling the best, so we swapped seats with Sally and Tim to get closer to the front, to avoid the carsickness/hangover sickness.
Unfortunately it didn't help me, and we had to pull over.
It was pretty good timing though, Darren anticipated my needs and Shane was able to pull over straight away and I got out with seconds to spare!!
After a little spew we decided to stop for 5-10 minutes, which worked out very well as we had a beautiful view, now named the 'Spew View'!
Shane thought it was a perfect opportunity for a little geology lesson as we had a great view of some of the rock formations and types that make up the valley. It was pretty interesting and he knew what he was talking about, as he was currently studying geology!
When everyone was feeling a bit more refreshed, (Darren felt a bit worse than me now) we all got back on the bus and headed to our next destination, Olmsted Point.
We had a fantastic vista, looking over the valley, with huge granite stones everywhere that we could climb up. It was a pretty one!
After a photo stop and some tree-hugging there, we got back in the bus and made our way down past Lake Tenaya and through to the Tuolumne Meadows.
Shane told us that "Tuolumne" roughly translates in the native language to "Those Who Live In Stone Houses".
Nobody knows exactly why its called that, but Shane's interpretation was that it referred to the dead, who were buried under the stones, so the spirits in the granite.
I thought that was pretty cool.
Our next stop for the day was at Lembert Dome where we were going to be hiking.
Straight away there were some deer in the meadows, which was awesome.
We got stuck into the hike, which was beautiful.
It was strange because it was such a high altitude that there wasn't quite enough oxygen in the air, but not too little that it was noticable.
Once we started up the steep parts though, everyone was out of breath quite quickly. Shane must have been used to it, because he set quite a decent pace, and stopped regularly for everyone to catch their breath.
Unfortunately though, it was effecting Darren's asthma, so we stopped on a rock to hang out for a while.
The rest of the group kept on ahead, but after a while Shane was coming back to check on us.
He gave Darren some ibuprofen which is supposed to help spread the oxygen around the body better, and we said if we couldn't make it up, we'd just meet the group later back at the bus.
So Shane headed back up to meet the rest of the group again and we hung out on the rock a while longer.
When Darren felt a bit better we decided to keep heading uphill if we could.
So we started walking and stopped regularly. Not just for Darren anymore though, I was starting to get a bit lightheaded from the altitude as we were going up.
Maybe I'll never climb Everest then!
After stopping a few times the incline started to level out and it was a much easier walk so we decided to push on to the end.
And when we came up from our 8,619ft altitude start point, to the 9,180ft high Dog Lake, it was definitely worth it!!
Some of the group had gone with Shane to hike the steeper section to the top of Lembert Dome, (up at 9,455 ft) but there was no way we were doing that, so we wandered around the lakeside to a little beach section, where Eleanor and Izzy were hanging out.
Everyone else had decided on the next hike.
So the four of us hung out and just chilled on the beach there.
Eleanor went for a swim, and I paddled but the water was too cold for me! There were still patches of snow on the tops of surrounding mountains and the lake was fed by snow melt!
We ate our sandwiches and soaked up some Vitamin D, and after a while we saw Yohei on the other side of the lake waving at us.
Then he started running away. Weird!
I had my camera set up taking a video because there were some amazing looking storm clouds building up over some other mountains, and I thought it would make a cool timelapse.
Then all of a sudden Yohei emerged from the water (which I thought I caught on camera, but couldn't find it in the end) and he had swum across the entire lake!
The rest of the group joined up with us (on foot) and they came around to our side of the lake, some of them had a swim and we all chilled out together.
After a while, I felt like I might be getting sunburnt so I moved to the shade, but I think it was too little too late!
I literally watched myself get redder and redder!
After a while on the beach, we put our shoes back on and started making our way down the mountain.
Downhill was waaaaay better!
At the bottom, the deer were still there, just hanging out, and as we walked back to the van we had a chat with a ranger who was riding a humongous horse.
Everyone got back in the van, and I waited until last to get on (for easy exit access!) and before I got in I felt about two drops of rain on my arms.
We pulled out, turned the van around and then suddenly it was absolutely pouring down with rain!
Talk about fantastic timing!
I had a snooze on the way back down into the valley, and my skin slowly kept burning, and by the time we were back in Yosemite Valley I was so red! Especially my legs. Crazy!
We went to a place called Yosemite Lodge to get an early dinner, as everyone was feeling a bit peckish. It was a food court/cafeteria style place where I got a pretty average pesto pasta and Darren got a pulled pork burger.
After dinner as we made our way to the next stop, there were a couple of stags by the road, with huge awesome antlers! It wasn't a place we could pull over but I managed to get one good photo through the window!
We pulled over up the road a bit in the meadow beneath El Capitan.
This is the biggest solid granite rock in the world, and had become a bit of an in-joke with our group, as it means The Captain in Spanish, and Carmelo and Cuki (Angela's nickname) are from Spain.
We chilled out on a big fallen log and a couple of people walked up the road to try see the stags again.
Sean made everyone laugh when he was looking around and asked "Where's Shane" when he was standing on top of the log right there!
He still didn't catch on when Shane said he didn't know where Shane was!
After a bit we headed back to camp where Sean lent me some sweet relief in the form of after-sun lotion, then we grabbed some beers and went down to the Mercad River for a swim.
It was a bit warmer there than at Dog Lake, but not by much, and it got cold pretty quick as the sun disappeared behind the mountains!
We went back to the campsite for some more beers (but not for me, there's another bus ride tomorrow!) and a fire with some more smores.
The ukeleles came out and we had a little jam session. Carmelo and Cuki both could play quite well, and Shane was an excellent bassist, and also had a go at the bari uke when he got his head around the tuning.
Obviously Darren and I had a go as well, it was good fun.
After a while it was getting late so we said goodnight and all went to bed.
It was tough getting out of bed, but there was coffee and bagels.
Darren hadn't gotten a very good night's sleep, maybe 3 or 4 hours, but he had more energy than me!
I was really struggling to be awake and alive today!
We made ourselves sandwiches for lunch, then when everyone was ready we got on the bus.
We stopped not too far away for some gas, (and saw a cute little squirrel) and both Darren and I weren't feeling the best, so we swapped seats with Sally and Tim to get closer to the front, to avoid the carsickness/hangover sickness.
Unfortunately it didn't help me, and we had to pull over.
It was pretty good timing though, Darren anticipated my needs and Shane was able to pull over straight away and I got out with seconds to spare!!
After a little spew we decided to stop for 5-10 minutes, which worked out very well as we had a beautiful view, now named the 'Spew View'!
Shane thought it was a perfect opportunity for a little geology lesson as we had a great view of some of the rock formations and types that make up the valley. It was pretty interesting and he knew what he was talking about, as he was currently studying geology!
When everyone was feeling a bit more refreshed, (Darren felt a bit worse than me now) we all got back on the bus and headed to our next destination, Olmsted Point.
We had a fantastic vista, looking over the valley, with huge granite stones everywhere that we could climb up. It was a pretty one!
After a photo stop and some tree-hugging there, we got back in the bus and made our way down past Lake Tenaya and through to the Tuolumne Meadows.
Shane told us that "Tuolumne" roughly translates in the native language to "Those Who Live In Stone Houses".
Nobody knows exactly why its called that, but Shane's interpretation was that it referred to the dead, who were buried under the stones, so the spirits in the granite.
I thought that was pretty cool.
Our next stop for the day was at Lembert Dome where we were going to be hiking.
Straight away there were some deer in the meadows, which was awesome.
We got stuck into the hike, which was beautiful.
It was strange because it was such a high altitude that there wasn't quite enough oxygen in the air, but not too little that it was noticable.
Once we started up the steep parts though, everyone was out of breath quite quickly. Shane must have been used to it, because he set quite a decent pace, and stopped regularly for everyone to catch their breath.
Unfortunately though, it was effecting Darren's asthma, so we stopped on a rock to hang out for a while.
The rest of the group kept on ahead, but after a while Shane was coming back to check on us.
He gave Darren some ibuprofen which is supposed to help spread the oxygen around the body better, and we said if we couldn't make it up, we'd just meet the group later back at the bus.
So Shane headed back up to meet the rest of the group again and we hung out on the rock a while longer.
When Darren felt a bit better we decided to keep heading uphill if we could.
So we started walking and stopped regularly. Not just for Darren anymore though, I was starting to get a bit lightheaded from the altitude as we were going up.
Maybe I'll never climb Everest then!
After stopping a few times the incline started to level out and it was a much easier walk so we decided to push on to the end.
And when we came up from our 8,619ft altitude start point, to the 9,180ft high Dog Lake, it was definitely worth it!!
Some of the group had gone with Shane to hike the steeper section to the top of Lembert Dome, (up at 9,455 ft) but there was no way we were doing that, so we wandered around the lakeside to a little beach section, where Eleanor and Izzy were hanging out.
Everyone else had decided on the next hike.
So the four of us hung out and just chilled on the beach there.
Eleanor went for a swim, and I paddled but the water was too cold for me! There were still patches of snow on the tops of surrounding mountains and the lake was fed by snow melt!
We ate our sandwiches and soaked up some Vitamin D, and after a while we saw Yohei on the other side of the lake waving at us.
Then he started running away. Weird!
I had my camera set up taking a video because there were some amazing looking storm clouds building up over some other mountains, and I thought it would make a cool timelapse.
Then all of a sudden Yohei emerged from the water (which I thought I caught on camera, but couldn't find it in the end) and he had swum across the entire lake!
The rest of the group joined up with us (on foot) and they came around to our side of the lake, some of them had a swim and we all chilled out together.
After a while, I felt like I might be getting sunburnt so I moved to the shade, but I think it was too little too late!
I literally watched myself get redder and redder!
After a while on the beach, we put our shoes back on and started making our way down the mountain.
Downhill was waaaaay better!
At the bottom, the deer were still there, just hanging out, and as we walked back to the van we had a chat with a ranger who was riding a humongous horse.
Everyone got back in the van, and I waited until last to get on (for easy exit access!) and before I got in I felt about two drops of rain on my arms.
We pulled out, turned the van around and then suddenly it was absolutely pouring down with rain!
Talk about fantastic timing!
I had a snooze on the way back down into the valley, and my skin slowly kept burning, and by the time we were back in Yosemite Valley I was so red! Especially my legs. Crazy!
We went to a place called Yosemite Lodge to get an early dinner, as everyone was feeling a bit peckish. It was a food court/cafeteria style place where I got a pretty average pesto pasta and Darren got a pulled pork burger.
After dinner as we made our way to the next stop, there were a couple of stags by the road, with huge awesome antlers! It wasn't a place we could pull over but I managed to get one good photo through the window!
We pulled over up the road a bit in the meadow beneath El Capitan.
This is the biggest solid granite rock in the world, and had become a bit of an in-joke with our group, as it means The Captain in Spanish, and Carmelo and Cuki (Angela's nickname) are from Spain.
We chilled out on a big fallen log and a couple of people walked up the road to try see the stags again.
Sean made everyone laugh when he was looking around and asked "Where's Shane" when he was standing on top of the log right there!
He still didn't catch on when Shane said he didn't know where Shane was!
After a bit we headed back to camp where Sean lent me some sweet relief in the form of after-sun lotion, then we grabbed some beers and went down to the Mercad River for a swim.
It was a bit warmer there than at Dog Lake, but not by much, and it got cold pretty quick as the sun disappeared behind the mountains!
We went back to the campsite for some more beers (but not for me, there's another bus ride tomorrow!) and a fire with some more smores.
The ukeleles came out and we had a little jam session. Carmelo and Cuki both could play quite well, and Shane was an excellent bassist, and also had a go at the bari uke when he got his head around the tuning.
Obviously Darren and I had a go as well, it was good fun.
After a while it was getting late so we said goodnight and all went to bed.
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