02 June 2011

Hiking is hard

Hiking is hard. I could stop there and leave the post at that, but what fun would that be? We went to Yosemite for the long weekend.  As I'm starting this post on Tuesday, I'm still so tired I can hardly think. Not sure how physical tiredness translates into mental tiredness, but somehow it does. Or at least that's what I'm going with.

Let me just give you a run down of our epic hike to the top of the highest waterfall in North America. First of all, when the little guide thing says "Strenuous to Very Strenuous" they are not joking around. At all. I consider myself to be in pretty good shape since I run 3-4 times a week and lift weights 2-3 times a week. Apparently that really doesn't translate into being in good shape for hiking.
The start of the trail is a bunch of zig-zags going up. Like a whole bunch. Then there's some not so zig-zaggy sections. Some of which have waterfalls going over them. I was wishing for some waterproof shoes, but with Hubs' help I managed to keep my feet dry by stepping on rocks that stuck out of the water.
Then more zig-zags, but this time with snow! At this point I'm realizing my narrative makes it sound much easier than it was. When I was desperately hoping to be done we were getting close to the top we asked some people how close we were and these people were NOT being totally honest. I don't even know how many almost there's I heard before we actually made it. Seriously people, one more hour does not qualify as "almost there"!
Hubs was euphoric over the scenery and snow while I was still thinking about the lady that passed out on the trail and hoping I wouldn't be like her. The snowy landscape was very pretty, although I wasn't enjoying it quite as much at the time since we'd just hiked for over 3 hours. Near the end of the trail you have to walk across a ledge with no outside rail to get to the overlook point. I wish we had taken a picture, but as you can imagine we were pretty focused on not falling off. I attempted to create a paint rendition of the scene, but my paint skillz are even worse than normal right now so you'll just have to imagine. Here's a view from the top of the falls - right before it goes off the edge.
We headed back down, which was easier than going up but still took a long time. 
By the time we finished we were completely out of food and water - yeah, didn't plan ahead very well. We headed to the little grocery in Yosemite village for some ridiculously overpriced snacks and water. Then we just had to find the car. And, oh yeah, it was completely dark outside by this point and we weren't 100% sure where we parked.

Maybe you can imagine my energy level at this point. Let's just say my tank was close to empty. Funny thing about that is, you can be totally revived with some good ole adrenaline. As we were walking to the car, Hubs noted that it was probably not the smartest choice to walk to the car in the dark with a bag full of food since bears like food and there are bears in the park. I think we could've won a power-walking race after that revelation.

Thankfully we didn't make any wrong turns and managed to find the car without a problem (or any bear attacks). We did pack multiple flashlights, so we weren't that unprepared.

Even though I almost died up there was really tired, it is really cool to be able to say I hiked to the top of the tallest waterfall in North America. In fact, if you'll excuse me, I think I need to go update my resume...
Susan - expert hiker, totally owned the tallest waterfall in North America. Hiked uphill, in the snow (literally) both ways. Also skilled at avoiding bear attacks.
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I have way too many pictures from the weekend to only share those, so here are a few more! And I can't take all of the credit for these, Hubs took some of them. : )

10 comments:

  1. Wow! What a cool place but boy you had to earn those views, didn't you? :) Good job!

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  2. WOW!! I can't even imagine how grueling it was. I thought 10K was the peak of your physical endurance. Your comments and pics great.Thankful you made it to the bottom to write. (-;

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  3. Wow!!! That's so neat and those pictures are gorgeous!! I admire both of y'all so much! I'd love to hike that one day! Okay, I'd just love to be fit enough to be able to. :) Congrats to you both, for staying alive!

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  5. I agree. It was an epic moment. Worthy of a bullet on your resume. Love ya!

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  6. I just looked on your etsy and I love those coasters!! they're so cute!!

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  7. Ha! Just this past weekend, my husband and I went on a hike in Red Rock Canyon. The trail we chose was labeled as "moderate," only one step up from beginners, but, WOW, we had to climb straight up a huge mountain to see the final view. It was a lot harder than it sounds. Hubs and I asked each other what was reguired of a "strenuous" climb, ropes & carabiners? Whoever chooses the descriptions for these trails needs to get back to reality. We all don't climb mountains on a daily basis, you know. Lol!

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  8. I never believe a person when they say you are almost there. NEVER. When I run a race and people are finished and start running back (Hate those people) they alwasy tell us to hurry up, it's just around the corner. When I tell people they are almost there, I really mean it! I feel like screaming, NO REALLLLLLLY, you ARE almost there! REALLY! I have never hiked for 3-4 hours up. I can't imagine. I am fit and hate it when I do things that make me feel unfit. I think about all of those people who are NOT fit and do the same thing and I feel like just sitting down and eating potato chips because being fit doesn't seem to help. I suppose it's better for the recovery and in the long run, of course. Found you at Anna and Kelley's linkup!

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  9. Oh, I loved these!!! It totally brought me back. We went to Yosemite in May 2000 and did the Half Dome hike. You are making me want to go back. So glad you linked this up with #findingthefunny! It made me smile. :)

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  10. Being tired is your body telling you to slow down. It's not a bad thing. It's really your body communicating with you. You need to listen.

    lisa

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