My birthday was June 11th and to celebrate I wanted to go to Yosemite with Josh, Abi, Jon, Jolie and Ethan. But this trip I wanted to hike to Vernal Falls instead of just walk around the Valley. Let me start off by saying that we had a fabulous time, the kids did great and we all had a blast, but oh were we all tired!!!! We started the day early, leaving around 8:30am. Josh and I decided that we would drive thru Mariposa figuring that the line into the park would be shorter (since it was the first weekend after school has gotten out). Good thing we went through Mariposa, the line there was super long and we had to wait 20-30 minutes, I can't imagine how long we would have had to wait at the main entrance. Once making our way through the valley to Curry Village we found the last parking space and got packed and ready to embark on our journey.
From Curry Village you have to walk or take a shuttle to Happy Isles where the Vernal Falls trail head is. We had to wait for the second shuttle to arrive because the first one was too full, and the second shuttle was standing room only, gotta love summer in Yosemite! While waiting for the shuttle a dear walked through the crowd of people, random.
We arrive at Happy Isles and started to make our way up the trail. It has been many years since I have done this hike and I didn't remember how steep the trail was. This wouldn't have been a problem except for the fact that we were hauling two 21-month old toddlers! If I was just carrying the camera the hike would have been fine but Abi is heavy and so was all the supplies and lunch that was also packed in the backpack. About 2/3 of the way up Josh had to take over and carry Abi the rest of the way. It was a tough mile hike up hill, but the views were awesome!!!
We got to the bridge where we planned on having lunch and decided that the bridge is as far as we would hike that day! We found a level spot to set up a blanket and enjoy our picnic lunch. When the kids were done eating they desperately wanted to get out of their backpacks and walk around. Mind you this is not the safest place to let toddlers wonder around, more than half the deaths that happen in Yosemite happen on the Mist trail, so with lots of hand holding the kids got to walk around a bit.
The kids even wanted to hike up the Mist Trail a little past our lunch spot. It was so cute they held hands the whole time and managed the trail pretty well too.
The hike back down the hill was much better and faster, we thought the kids would pass out on the way but I guess there was too much to see. We got back to the shuttle stop and decided to walk back to Curry Village after seeing 2 full shuttles. It is about a mile back but flat, so much easier than up hill!
After getting back to the car and having a snack we headed for the park exit. I had no idea that it would take us so long to get out of the park, traffic is so congested and with no parking the roads are a mess. Good thing we didn't hike to the top of Vernal Falls we would have gotten home too late. We had our traditional dinner at Carl's Jr in Oakhurst and got home about 8:40. As we were dropping Jon, Jolie and Ethan off at their house Abi was throwing a fit and we figured it was because she just wanted to get out of the car, she got so worked up that she puked all over her car seat :-(. We decided to just drive the long way home and take care of the mess there. I had to take the car seat apart, again, we went through this in December when she threw up on the way to Yosemite, we had to get her in the bath and into bed. This was not in our plans for when we got home. After talking with Jolie later that night it turns out Abi was probably throwing a fit because she didn't get to say goodbye to Ethan. When Jon and Jolie were trying to get Ethan ready for his bath he took off running to their front door and was trying to pry the door and window open to look for Abi. I guess we underestimated the strong bond between those two. New rule: let the kids say goodbye, unless they are asleep.
Despite the icky ending to our day we had an amazing time with the greatest friends we could ask for! I think I might have been crazy to suggest physical exercise as a way to celebrate my birthday, I am still sore! But it doesn't matter what you do for your birthday as long as you spend it with those you love!
2 comments:
We had so much fun! Thanks for letting us celebrate your birthday with you by "forcing" us to endure a grueling and painful hike. lol!
That sounds awesome! I don't know if I'd want to do those granite steps with a toddler on my back either (We'll see). I'm glad you had a happy birthday (except the puke).
Post a Comment