Nowlin News: Fall Break 2019: Yosemite National Park

Fall break in Yosemite National Park was fantastic! What great adventures we had! One of our favorite trips EVER, requiring one million photos to document properly. #sorrynotsorry

We flew in to Fresno, CA and drove into the park via the south entrance which put us near the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias. This was our first stop and it did not disappoint. It doesn't matter how many we've seen ... they blow our mind every single time. It was James' parents first time to see any giant sequoias and I think they were quite impressed.

The Grizzly Giant

Then we headed on into Yosemite Valley. This was our very first glimpse of the valley and Half Dome, off in the distance!! We were getting so excited.

Then through the tunnel .... and ....

Bam! The most beautiful view!

One more ... just because

We tried to get a Christmas card-worthy family photo ... it was rough.

Hiking to "inspiration point" wherever it is ...

Driving in a little further into the valley, our first up-close view of El Cap. We got out the binoculars to take a look at the climbers going up. They were like tiny ants on the side of the rock. Incredible.

Checking out one of the beaches

We made it to our tent village just in time to check things out before dark

We spent the first two nights in a quaint little tent in Curry Village. Our tent wasn't heated and it got down to around 40 degrees at night but we made it pretty well. I was warmer the second night when I layered my sweats on top of my fleece-lined long johns and threw on an extra wool blanket (which made four total). It really wasn't bad. All the best parts of camping without all the annoying parts. They provided the tent, beds, all the blankets you want, clean towels every day, hot showers, electricity ... I mean we were only sort-of roughing it. It was a really fun experience. The village also had a general store, a pizza parlor and dining room with plenty of tables and a fireplace. It was the best National Park food we've ever had.

James' parents had a heated tent so we hung out in there at night and played games until bedtime.

Day two was a BIG day! James and I entered the Half Dome lottery and didn't get it but decided to take our chances and hike without a permit in hopes that we would find some unused ones along the way since a permit isn't required until you get to the top (or the base of the subdome). So we were up at 6AM to begin the 16.5 mile (18 from our tent) trek up Half Dome and back. It is an amazing beautiful, incredibly difficult day hike. We gained about 5,000 feet in elevation and the whole thing took us 12 hours. Incredible! James' dream come true. He's had the Half Dome hike page torn out of Backpacker magazine for 12 years just hoping that maybe one day he'd get the chance to do it. I never would have thought I'd have the courage to make it up the cables, but somehow I did it. And without much fear.

Our first look at Vernal Falls (and a glance at just a few of the millions steps we climbed along the way)

And then after a million more steps we made it to Nevada Falls.

Getting higher ... a good look at the path that led us up, up, up.

And then on to "Little Yosemite Valley" which was a nice flat stretch at just the right time.

Getting higher...

Almost to the subdome. At this point, we'd found a group with one extra permit. So we knew James would be able to go to the top. But not sure about my fate.

We tried talking real nicely to the ranger that was guarding the trail beyond the base of the subdome and she was NOT going to let me by without a permit. So James went on and I waited to see if I'd get lucky. About 30 seconds later, a guy came walking up with his UT Knox shirt on by himself and I asked if he had an extra permit and he said, "As a matter of fact, my buddy just chickened out. So I do have an extra." Score! I was on my way! James was still within earshot, so I hollered up and he waited for me to catch up and then we went up, up and away!

The trek up the subdome was tough. It was steep and was not short. But our adrenaline kept us from noticing much.

The views!!

At this point I'm thinking ... "can I really do this?"

Did I mention that the climb up the subdome was steep and tough?

We made it to the cables on the dome! The last leg! And if we thought the subdome was steep ...

Little ants marching ... don't look. Just do it.

Ready or not ... yikes!!

And then we zipped our phones up in our packs and up we went.

I really didn't have much trouble. I only freaked out for a few seconds when some idiot near the top dropped their empty water bottle that came bouncing down the side of the rock, silencing all those on the cables who suddenly realized ... that could be me. It really was alarming. A good reminder that there was a VERY small margin for error. But I gave myself a quick pep talk and kept climbing.

Hallelujah! We made it to the top alive!

So very happy!

You can see in this next photo the smoke from a nearby forest fire that was rolling into the valley. Thankfully we enjoyed the views from the top for about an hour before there was any sign of smoke. Every afternoon the winds would shift and bring in the smoke. But it would clear out overnight so we were lucky that it didn't impact our plans much.

About to head back down

I thought the trek down the cables (while much easier, physically) was a bit scarier than going up. The rock was just so slippery in some places, causing me to slide. But I somehow remained calm. I just kept talking to myself (outloud) the whole way ... "board to board ... slow and steady ... board to board ... slow and steady."

Down the subdome

And that was the last of the photos of that day. It truly was the best day with my favorite guy. A dream come true for him and I completely surprised myself (and James too, I think).

Meanwhile ... the grandparents entertained the kiddos all day, hiking to the Vernal Falls footbridge (the first mile of the hike we did) among some other adventures in the valley. They had a great day too.

Day three we decided to trade our trail shoes for some wheels and explored the rest of the valley floor via bike. It was a fun change for us!

Mirror Lake was completely dried up this time of year, but still a beautiful spot!

The afternoon smoke was starting to roll in ...

A closer look at Bridal Veil Falls

Day 4 we left the valley and headed out to Glacier Point, hitting a few highlights on the way.

Sentinel Dome was our first hike along the way

This definitely ranks near the top of all the things we did. The views from Sentinel Dome were the most stunning of them all, in my opinion. Such perfect views of Half Dome, El Capitan and the rest of the valley and surrounding granite!

David and Debra making their way up, up and up!

This next shot was taken at a lookout just off the road that overlooks the 8.3 mile trail that James and I hiked to get to the top of Half Dome. If you zoom in, you can see both waterfalls, little Yosemite Valley, etc. It was so cool to see how we got there from up here. You can get kind of disoriented when you're hiking, so it was great that we were able to stop here after we'd finished the hike and get a real sense of what we'd accomplished.

Made it to Glacier Point ... just as the afternoon smoke was really rolling in (again).

Coyote spotting

Short version to the long story of our one bear spotting ... we saw this BIG guy while driving back from Glacier Point and were able to pull over to get a better look. David, Case, James and Emery had the bright idea to cross the road and take off after the bear while myself and Debra stayed safely across the road to watch the bear. David and Case accidentally got dangerously close to the bear, I was yelling at them to get back, James stepped on a stick that made a VERY large sound that got the bear's FULL attention and I was afraid I was about to see all four of them get eaten. Thankfully the bear eventually moved on and everyone was fine ... but it was a little too much excitement for all of us. Hopefully a lesson was learned that you don't go chasing bears. And if you do, you don't take my precious children with you.

The only bear we saw ... but it was a HUGE one!

Day 5 was spent way on the other side of the park at Toulumne Meadows.

Great morning view of El Cap on our way through the valley.

Pit stop along the way

Another pit stop on the way

Another pit stop along the way with a fantastic view point of the back side of Half Dome. This was the only place you could view the back ... where James and I climbed to get to the top. You could see the climbers with binoculars from where we were. We were so thrilled to see the side we actually climbed up.