(Not) Wordless Wednesday…Vernal Falls Edition

I was prepared to write up a long post all about our weekend in Yosemite, but Ted beat me to it. He did such an awesome job, you can read all about the bears, etc., here. I got our pictures developed…since we THOUGHT we had forgotten our camera (it was in a side pocket, which we didn’t check. NEWMAN!*), we bought a disposable camera to use…and we only took pictures on the hike up to Vernal Falls. No pictures of any other camping stuff, I’m sorry to say.

Anyway, if you read my post on Saturday, you know that hiking to Vernal Falls was the one thing I REALLY wanted to do. So I’m really glad we got to. Hiking up there made me realize one thing, though. I’m not 18 anymore. The last time I made that hike, I was 18, and it was a LOT easier. But the combination of the altitude being a lot higher than we at sea level are used to, and the fact that it feels like a vertical climb of about 1,000 feet in just over a quarter of a mile adds up to a very hard climb, where my legs felt like they were going to give out on me. My heart and lungs felt it, too, but the legs I was more worried about. Actually, there was a woman on the hike who broke her leg, but she was wearing clogs, I think, which wasn’t too smart for such a climb. Because at one point, my legs started shaking on me, I doubted that I could make the climb, so I stopped to let everyone go on ahead. I sat for maybe 10 minutes, and then I thought, hey, I feel a lot better…let’s see how much further I can go. So I did. And I quit again. And I rested. And I felt better. And I tried again. 4 or 5 of those, and I found myself at the top! YAY! I cannot tell you how good it felt to make it the whole way. I was really disappointed when I thought I wasn’t going to be able to make it. So it was a small personal victory, I guess. 🙂

Anywho, here are some pictures for you to enjoy/laugh at us:

The trickle that is Vernal Falls this summer. The best time to see the falls is in spring, as it is fed by snow melt. As last winter we received very little snow, it’s even smaller than most autumns, I suspect.

This is Maya, trudging up a less steep part of the walk, with one of her troop leaders in the foreground.

Ted and Maya at the top. Tired and happy.

Maya’s troop…not all of the troop, but those who went on the camping trip.

Me at the top…SO happy to have made it. WHEW. Now, where’s the taxi to take us DOWN? Hmmm. Glad Ted made me bring the knee brace for that downward climb…my bad knee would have been SCREAMING without it. Or maybe, Ted would have been screaming, because he wouldn’t want to have to carry me down. 😉

*That’s what we say around here…picture Jerry Seinfeld when he realizes his nemesis, Newman, has foiled him yet again…