Yosemite: Wawona/ Half Dome

 Christine and I needed to bounce back.  After a trip like the feather river, we needed something more organized safe and intense. I had never fully experienced Yosemite so Christine and I decided thats where we would take our next trip. I had been keeping in touch with Marcus a guy from my Wilderness Living class (tall dark and handsome, yes you would keep in touch with him too). Marcus and his friend Jeremy were going to be hiking half dome around the same time Christine and I were doing a trip to Yos as well. We decided to co-mingle our trips and make it one big epic journey.
Christine and I headed for Yosemite, taking my car for fuel efficiency and drove to Yosemite. It was July so naturally the place would be packed. We arrived in the park around 10 at night. We drove around in the dark like headless chickens. No camp sites were available and it was so damn dark we had no idea where to keep looking. We made an executive decision to park in the hotel parking lot and sleep until 3 am, which is when we had to head to the ranger station to get permits for half dome.  Our car was filled with food, our gear and us. It was July. Our windows were down. We were in Yosemite... Bears... Smart? No.
I didn't sleep much, I have never been one to do well in heat. I tossed and turned trying not to honk the horn with my knees. My Honda Civic isn't the best choice for car camping. I was startled when I heard 40 lbs jump on the hood of my car. It was dark but I could see its green glowing eyes. It was a raccoon. I stared at him, he started at me. I was a deer in headlights, frozen in my sleeping bag. I had never seen one so big. He began walking closer to the wind shield. He put his paws on the glass and began tapping, as if he was trying to wake Christine. I said, "good idea," and began trying to wake Christine up. She ignored me and rolled on her side. The raccoon began climbing up the windshield towards the open sun roof. I began shaking Christine, I was so scared, I'm still to this day not sure why. She finally woke up angry, "what Sil!?"... "AHHH" I replied. She screamed. We both began pounding the doors and shaking the car, hoping to get the big guy off. We had no idea what else to do. Finally he jumped off, turned and lifted his nose to us, then walked away. In the morning we examined my car and found paw prints all over the vehicle. They were even at the door handle as if they were trying to open the car door and get in. We both laughed at each other because we realized how dumb we were to sleep in a car full of food in bear country. A raccoon should have been the least of our worries.
After these realizations we continued to wait in line for our Half Dome permits for 4. We were there early but there were so many other people before us. We got the last 4 permits and had to leave from Glacier point. However our scheduled date wouldn't be for two days. We had planned a route in Wawona so we headed there next.

Wawona is in the South end of Yosemite. Its hot. Very hot. We had a 20mile loop in mind. It was rated, "extremely challenging." The entire first 5 miles were zig zag up hill. When we reached the top there was the most breath taking set of water falls. I'll never forget its simplicity and beauty. Pools and pools of fresh water all leading towards one giant fall. We stripped down and went swimming. As we began gearing up to hit the trail again we met some guys. They were from Modesto and I asked them if they knew my best friend Tyson, he had grown up in that area. Sure enough they were from the same town and had even gone to grade-high school together. The guy was kind of cute so I gave him my email address. As we began to continue up the summit the guys flashed Christine and skinny dipped with no shame. I'm pretty sure Christine still has nightmares. She was so shocked, I was glad I hike with my head down because I missed it all, she looked at me and said, "YOU KNOW they knew what they were doing!" I couldn't help but laugh, of course they did. Haha.
Hot and exhausted, we finally reached a suitable camp site. We set up shop and began to make dinner and build a fire for smoores. Christine taught me a bit more about camp fires. Then early in the morning we took off to the end of the loop, to the car, to drive back  to the valley to meet the boys. When we arrived into the valley we were exhausted, we ate and waited for the boys. They arrived around 8 at night. We all got in Marcus' car and headed for the trail head at Glacier point. I gave Christine the "eye" because Jeremy was a stud bucket!
We got to the trail head around 10, packed our bags mentally prepared ourselves and hit the trail for half dome. The boys wanted a sunrise summit so we would have to hike the entire night. The hike was long but fun because we stopped every half hour for pictures. We had no idea what surrounded us. I felt very grateful we did most of the hiking at night, when I couldn't see just how sketch most of the routes up to the cables were. At the cables Christine and I were both physically and emotionally exhausted. Jeremy and Marcus were feeling great! Jeremy shot up the cables headed for the top, we only had a little time before sun rise. I took off after him. Christine had a major panic attack on her way up. Thankfully Marcus was there with her the entire time, making her laugh and helping her forget what she was doing.  The top was unbearable. We took so many pictures. The boys had brought wine in a bladder and began celebrating. Christine was too shook up to drink and I was already too intoxicated off the view. We then ate some breakfast enjoyed the view a bit longer, Marcus updated his facebook status from the top because his iphone hit a strange pocket of service, and we headed down.
Going up wasn't an issue for me because I was able to stare at Jeremy's back side the whole way up, but going down was another story. Now that it was day light I was able to see what the hell I was standing on and what I was holding onto. This is when I lost it. I had to go down the entire way backwards. I refused to look. I was frightened out of my mind. Christine helped and comforted me down. Now we had to hike all the way back down to the car. Christine and I were exhausted. We hadn't slept and we had just put in a 20 mile trip just hours before. When we reached the car, we had celebratory Blue Moons. We laughed and told silly jokes about our conquer. We looked at some pictures, told a few more stories, then packed our bags up and headed home. That trip was hard. But nothing will ever be as hard as Immersion. However, now I could appreciate every detail of that trip, every ounce of hardness made the trip that much more memorable. Jeremy and Marcus became people that I care about a lot. They were now officially bonded with my heart. 
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