This morning, we got up really early and drove north of Lee Vining for a long day of adventure. We turned west into Lundy Canyon and drove to the trail head. We'd been told that the wild flowers here were amazing.
We parked and hiked in and up and up and up. This canyon was filled with flowers, water falls (endless it seemed) and bird. I can't believe I forgot my binoculars!
Dave took many nice photos and even I, with the point and shoot, managed to get some images - some of which are actually focused!
The mosquitoes weren't terribly bad. I did use Dave's new bug bucket for a while. It is more joyful than it should be to sit there and watch the little blood-sucking bastards land on the net over my face and try desperately to bleed me dry. DENIED!
It is a beautiful place - and quite popular given the number of hikers we passed on the way out.
We then drove to the Mobil station and split some famous fish tacos en route to Tuolumne. Again, because I don't learn, I thought I could possibly climb something in Tuolumne.
We headed to the dome to find that again, something out in CA is on fire. There was a LOT of smoke coming from the Hetchy Hetch area.
We hiked until we reached our destination - a place with no other climbers. Well, that is not exactly true. There was another climber there, and a very unexpected one: A little green froggy. This frog with friggin' miles from anywhere I would expect a frog to be. He was so cute and such a surprise.
Dave headed off on his first 10d pitch of something. I roped up, put one foot on the wall, placed the second foot on the wall, groaned, grimaced and jumped down. No go. I mean, really - what was I thinking? All that granite - and I could climb none of it!
More belaying for me.
After about 5 or 6 pitches, we hiked back to the truck and headed to the Tuolumne Grill for dinner. We ran into some friends from Supertopo and had some fun conversation with them.
Then we headed to the river to scope views. Dave hoped to get some nice sunset photos of the place. It was unclear if all the smoke would help or hinder this.
It was a nice place to spend the evening and watch the sunset. It'd been a long day, so we hopped in the truck to head back to base-camp.
Every time we get on 395, I think of Fishfinder and Donna hitting that deer. I tried to keep my eyes open to watch for them, but I was so tired. So I dozed. Peacefully. Until Dave screamed!! I opened my eyes to see a deer right in front of the driver's side of the truck. How Dave didn't hit it is a miracle.
He swerved over to the shoulder to avoid it and for a brief moment, I'd accepted that we were gonna roll the truck. And I was still waiting for the collision. But it didn't occur.
Masterful driving on Dave's part no doubt. Those darn deer are deadly there. We didn't have a problem staying alert the rest of the way home!
This morning, we got up really early and drove north of Lee Vining for a long day of adventure. We turned west into Lundy Canyon and drove to the trail head. We'd been told that the wild flowers here were amazing.
We parked and hiked in and up and up and up. This canyon was filled with flowers, water falls (endless it seemed) and bird. I can't believe I forgot my binoculars!
Dave took many nice photos and even I, with the point and shoot, managed to get some images - some of which are actually focused!
The mosquitoes weren't terribly bad. I did use Dave's new bug bucket for a while. It is more joyful than it should be to sit there and watch the little blood-sucking bastards land on the net over my face and try desperately to bleed me dry. DENIED!
It is a beautiful place - and quite popular given the number of hikers we passed on the way out.
We then drove to the Mobil station and split some famous fish tacos en route to Tuolumne. Again, because I don't learn, I thought I could possibly climb something in Tuolumne.
We headed to the dome to find that again, something out in CA is on fire. There was a LOT of smoke coming from the Hetchy Hetch area.
We hiked until we reached our destination - a place with no other climbers. Well, that is not exactly true. There was another climber there, and a very unexpected one: A little green froggy. This frog with friggin' miles from anywhere I would expect a frog to be. He was so cute and such a surprise.
Dave headed off on his first 10d pitch of something. I roped up, put one foot on the wall, placed the second foot on the wall, groaned, grimaced and jumped down. No go. I mean, really - what was I thinking? All that granite - and I could climb none of it!
More belaying for me.
After about 5 or 6 pitches, we hiked back to the truck and headed to the Tuolumne Grill for dinner. We ran into some friends from Supertopo and had some fun conversation with them.
Then we headed to the river to scope views. Dave hoped to get some nice sunset photos of the place. It was unclear if all the smoke would help or hinder this.
It was a nice place to spend the evening and watch the sunset. It'd been a long day, so we hopped in the truck to head back to base-camp.
Every time we get on 395, I think of Fishfinder and Donna hitting that deer. I tried to keep my eyes open to watch for them, but I was so tired. So I dozed. Peacefully. Until Dave screamed!! I opened my eyes to see a deer right in front of the driver's side of the truck. How Dave didn't hit it is a miracle. 
He swerved over to the shoulder to avoid it and for a brief moment, I'd accepted that we were gonna roll the truck. And I was still waiting for the collision. But it didn't occur. 
Masterful driving on Dave's part no doubt. Those darn deer are deadly there. We didn't have a problem staying alert the rest of the way home!
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