Weekend Round-Up: Happy Trails

Yosemite in late October is really so incredible! We had a fantastic time this weekend.

On Friday, we drove up after work. Getting a little lost, we arrived at our campsite around 10:30 pm and quickly set everything up. A quick drink with friends around the fire and then off to bed.

We woke up before 8:00 am the next morning. We had to pack up our gear to change campsites and decided to have breakfast in Yosemite Lodge with friends. We snuck in pink champagne and orange juice for mimosas. By 10, all our friends from Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento and Weaverville had trickled in. It was great to catch up. A big group went climbing and the rest of us drove over to the start of Four Mile Trail around noon.

This hike was more than strenuous. 4.6 miles and 3,200 feet in elevation gain. The start was beautiful, with lots of yellow, orange and pink leaves. The rest was tough. At mile four, we were pretty much over it.

Rob, Seth and Amy decided to run to the top and try to hitch a ride down from Glacier Point. The rest of us turned back and quickly learned that the descent was not going to be a picnic either. Rob ran back down from the top and caught up with us about halfway down. At the bottom, we soaked our sore toes in the Merced River. Seth and Amy made it down about a half hour later on foot. We drove back to the campsite at 5:30, exhausted

Dinner, drinks and lots of fun around the campfire. Everyone was sweet about my birthday. A friend of ours who is a Bulgarian climber convinced us to have our honeymoon there after I convinced him to sing the national anthem. At 10:30, we turned in and it started rain a bit.

Breakfast with the group the next morning. The rain had cleared a lot of the SoCal smoke out of the valley and it was gorgeous out. Too wet to climb, we walked the Mirror Lake trail instead. Much flatter but still hard on my sore legs. Amazing fall colors and vistas. At one point we crossed the dry lake as a shortcut and discovered a bear camp. I managed to step in bear poop, a first.

At 1, we parted ways and drove to Groveland for lunch at a really tasty Mexican restaurant. From there it was straight back to the city. Much needed showers and unpacking at home. You can see all my photos from the weekend, including a ton of leaf shoots, here.