Yosemite, Sept 10

We arrived at Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite National Park on September 10. Because it was my first visit to Yosemite, we decided to ride a bus down to the Yosemite Valley. The bus driver looked at me and said: "Are you one of those crazy people who walk forever?" I nodded and got on the bus.
This bus ride down to the valley took two hours and was like a little guided tour. It is a perfect way to get a good look at El Capitan and Half Dome. Yosemite is a magical and an amazing place. Holy is the right word for it. No picture or word does it justice. It was so beautiful that I had goose-flesh and watery eyes.

The valley was crowded like New York City. Yosemite must be one of the most crowded National Parks. It is very well organized and convenient to get around. On the bottom of the valley there are top notch hotels, restaurants, museums, visitor center, and the biggest camping grounds I have ever seen. They have buses that take you around for free. It is almost like an amusement park or Disneyland. The only difference is that this is real, even thought it often feels very unreal and fake.

We are starting our longest section on the PCT on Sept 11th. It is the famous 215 miles long John Muir Trail. The trail gets harder and higher every day. We need to get out of the Sierras before snow comes. Because we have been camping at the elevation of 9 000 feet, the nights have been quite cold.

My biggest fear throughout the hike has been encountering a bear. Even though I know that they are harmless, and that it is very unlikely that a bear will attack you, I still have nightmares of bear encounter. I have seen a bear once before in Olympic mountains and that was actually a very pleasant and exciting moment. It was almost a holy moment. First I froze, and then I felt like I wanted to run to him and give him a hug. I have not seen a bear on the PCT, but Yosemite Valley is where most of them live, so I might run into them.

Last night I was sitting in a restaurant having dinner with Francis and a squirrel came by. I was pleasantly surprised! Well, maybe one day bears will get so used to the visitors and come eat in the restaurants too. :-D No joke, the bears here are so fearless and intelligent that they will brake into your car in order to get some food. They break the car window, rip off the back seat, and get into your trunk.

P.S. I am so happy, I just got my 4th pair of shoes!!! :-)

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MEETING BASMATI, MIKE AND DAVID

We got an e-mail from a section hiker called Basmati. He was hiking south just like us. We hoped we would cross paths and get to hike together for a little while. I saw his journal entries and we estimated that he would be about a day ahead of us. I was looking at foot steps in front of us for two days and wondering whether they were Basmati's. I was not sure, but I wished they were his. I was so eager to meet other hikers. At some point the foot prints disappeared and we concluded that Basmati had gotten off the trail. I was sad about that, I really wanted to meet him.

Right after Donner Pass, Basmati finally ran into us as we were having lunch next to a little stream. We had passed him while he was taking a swim in a lake that was off trail and got ahead of him.

Basmati was a wonderful hiking partner and a great story teller. Time and miles flew by while hiking with him. Francis and I called him a "Walking Encyclopedia". It seemed like there wasn't a question that he didn't have an answer to. I appreciated his company and enjoyed every moment on the trail with him. I was very happy to have met him.





The next day Mike joined us, and then, Dave came along. I was thrilled because I always wished I could hike with a bunch of other hikers. Because they were doing a long section in the Sierra and were not in a hurry, they were going on a slower pace than we were. I envied them because they could take their time, go swimming, and camp when ever they felt like. They were on a vacation. Francis and I were always in a hurry and had to do big miles every day to get to Mexico on time. That was very tiring and stressful at times. We decided to slow down a little and enjoy their wonderful company. I was so happy to have met them. At some point we had to press on and leave them behind. Mexico was waiting and the winter was coming. I was very sad to leave them :(


Dave, Francis, Basmati, Mike

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