West Coast
Earlier this month I went out to visit friends and do some camping and climbing in Yosemite National Park. It was the first time I had been Yosemite, and only the second time I had been to California. This time around I was spending time in the Northern Reaches (Oakland, Davis) and saw a very different side of the state.
The first day and half were spent bumming around in Oakland and Davis, watching movies and picking oranges. Not a bad way to spend a day, and definitely good to see old friends again, but not the main attraction for this trip.
The main attraction was a 4-night and 4-day camping and climbing trip in Yosemite Valley. It was my first time doing much crack climbing, and I had never been trad climbing before. All in all, a lot of firsts. The whole time we were there we were lucky with weather. Sunny and mid-50s during the day, and mid-30s at night. Not a drop of rain while we were there, and the snow was mostly gone. Also, this early in the season, there weren't many other people in the park (a huge plus).
Our first day in the park, we stopped at a few places on the drive in to get some tourist-y photos. They may be viewed below.
This is the view on the way in. That is us (me and Maura) in the foreground, and in the background are El Capitan on the left and Half Dome on the right.
This is Bridalveil Falls. We heard a lot of crashing/crunching noises while we were in the park. I suspect it was either ice falling off the waterfalls or it was rockfall.
This is a closer shot of Half Dome on the right and that is Washinton Column on the left.
The remainder of the first day in the park was spent practicing my crack climbing skills on Swan Slab, and learning some trad technique.
Maura prepping for our first climb on Swan Slab. While in the Park, the wildlife tends to be very close to you. They have gotten used to having people around, and they are not shy. Around 11am we saw a bobcat walk past base of the crag. Over the week, we also saw two coyotes, a lot of deer, no bears and on the last day we saw a guy hit a bobcat with his car. He was pretty pissed about the dent in his fender, but didn't seem to concerned for the bobcat.
Day two was our big climbing day. We climbed Nutcracker on Manure Pile Buttress. It is five pitches of great climbing, and tops out at 600' above the valley floor. The road that leads to the picnic area near the base of the crag was closed, so we had to hike in a couple of miles. This climb may be the most strenuous thing I have ever done in my life. The first pitch was a pretty sustained lieback, which took a lot out of me. The second pitch was a long easy ramp. The remaining three pitches were a good mix of crack climbing, corner work, friction work on the face, and a good mantel on the last pitch. The last three pitches were very exposed, and it took a lot of concentration to focus on climbing and not on the view.
This is me pointing to where we topped out. Manure Pile looks a little dinky next to the Three Brothers on the right, but it sure felt tall standing on the top. The guidebook says it is a 2-4 hour climb, but I would say we spent somewhere in the neighborhood of 6 hours on the climb.
This is a closer look at the route. The climb basically follows the white line on the picture. You can see the top two pitches of the climb in this shot. I have more pictures from the top, but they are in a disposable camera that I haven't finished yet, so I'll post those when I get them developed.
Day three brought some challenges. It's a lot to get into, but I'll just say that we did ultimately get the keys out of the trunk, Maura didn't get any tickets, and I found my wallet. We camped at Upper Pines that night, and had a fire. We feasted on boil-in-bag pad thai and s'mores.
Day four was a short climbing day. We had to leave the park in the middle of the afternoon so I could get to the airport for the return to Ye Olden Easte Coaste, but we did do some sport climbing at Pat and Jack Pinnacle.
Here I am rapping off of a route at Pat and Jack. The whole trip was an incredible experience, which I highly recommend.
Next Stop: Ohio!
