Surviving Bananas Bathrooms and Buses

Wow. Wow. Know your figures. Miles of hikes, hours it takes. Find it out, there is no other way. Today (July 28th) I had the most hilarious and incredible hike with part of my group. The other part I sent up a "three hours up and one hour down" hike and six hours later they show up. They loved the view etc but they were not mentally prepared for that much walking.
I took teh wrong trail to begin with this morning. I must have literally either walked by the GIANT sign pointing the right direction or turned around to be sure I'd gathered everyone and missed it. Not one of my 10 people mentioned they saw the sign. They just trusted I knew where I was going. The only thing that really made it okay was 1) I played it off with a smile 2) we saw a bear on the trail!! it was fantastic! So the hike we did, I thought was moderate was really a strenuous hike and it was half way up Half Dome (by that I mean we hiked up 3.5 miles and the top of Half Dome is 3.5 miles more. It was steep! And then to finish off the last half mile of each falls (we hiked to Vernal Falls and then on to Nevada Falls (the tops) its all stairs. Stairs made of rocks. Oh my gosh! It was brutal. No one was really prepared and they were so tired when we were done. No one had the energy to enjoy the valley when we got down and they just sat and relaxed for 2 hours before we left. My gosh! I felt so bad. They think I have a bad sense of direction. Its pretty funny, considering I'm guessing where I'm going all the time. I don't like that feeling at all.
ITMI didn't stress it enough, its really hard to go somewhere you've never been. You really do need to ask people who've been there. No joke.

That was the 28th, this following is the 26th and 27th

Well I better start writing this all down as I’m going to forget it and I didn’t have time to write it down at any time today.

Brian did all the driving which was nice. He really saved me here. I think its getting easier to see how getting into a routine will be nice and it is just one day at a time.

I’m missing some major things it seems like.

Knowing times between things how long hikes take, how long it takes to get food etc can make all the difference. I don’t know any of that and it’s the one thing they ask and it really does matter so you can map out your whole entire day! It really matters because you have to get to your hotel at a decent hour and that isn’t always easy.

We got to Yosemite via Hillmar cheese. I took us there for lunch and we had a mini tour of the place and she told them about cheese. They seemed okay with it. I told them I liked cheese and ice-cream and that was really why we were stopping but they had good food options so it was a good stop. Timed about right. We left San Francisco at 9am arrived Hillmar about 11:30 ish and then went on to the entrance of Yosemite at the mariposa grove. Brian had to drop us off and we took the shuttle up a ways and then went for a small hike about an hour ish (including shuttle time) to see some of the highlights. There is more to see. You could make this a 3 hour day easily and see more of the neat ones.

We came down and about 5:30 headed towards the Valley to have some dinner. We ate at the cafeteria and then headed to the hotel. Phew. What a day!

I got them all sorted out and the put my stuff in the room and off I went to find Brian at the bar. There was another tour guide, Tom there. He works for Inc Ad as well. He had tons of information about where I was going and I got his number so I can call him about recommendations. That was great help. So we 3 had a good time chatting about all sorts of travel and guide related things and also other hilarious stuff.

Tom was so funny, at one point we were talking about how old we all were and he says, he’s rented out his house; he’s dropped his cat off with his parents and something else, now I can’t remember. Sounded just like me! So I guessed his age was same as mine and he’s a year older. It was really funny to find someone with the same story. He has a ton more guide experience than I do though, but soon enough I’ll know what’s what.

This group is so fantastic though that it’s been really fun.

Today I got them up at 8 am and we headed into the park for lunch stuff and then up to Glacier Point to see the view. Three of the group went and did the Panorama Trail and linked to the Falls trails (8miles 4hours~5 realistically as it’s really scenic and all downhill) so they were gone a long time today hiking. The rest of us went with Brian and I and hiked the Taft Point trail 2 hours round trip with a great place to eat food etc if you wanted to. Could be a sunset hike as well. It is so surprisingly quiet and awesome view there too. You are eye to eye with El Capitan and that isn’t easy to do! It’s great. 

After that we drove to the valley and some went to the river and some went hiking up to Mirror Lake.

Tonight I surprised one of the couples with a champagne toast for their 25^th wedding anniversary. It was great fun. We met at this quiet part of the Curry Village (named after a couple named Curry, nothing to do with spice) and I sat them all down and then pulled out the cups and champagne. After that was all said and done we drove away and there was a black bear up an apple tree having a snack so they got to see a bear finally. Perfect!

I will say the champagne thing seemed pretty daunting but I found some for sale in the shop at the Ahwahnee hotel and the Food and Bev manager there helped me with cups and ice and then had this really strong handsome man walk the cooler out to the van for me. His name was Napoleon. Ha! He was great.

I hung out at the hotel and did some paperwork and took a break and then met the group for dinner etc.

Tomorrow we’ll get up and go early again and do the hike up to Vernal Falls and the Nevada Falls. Should be about 4 hours round trip, we’ll see how it goes, its going to take some work for sure. One of my group is proving to not be much of a hiker, he’ll go along but he is a slow mover so I’ll have to be sure to have plenty of options!

I was surprised to find they expected me to be guiding their hikes the entire time. They were surprised to hear me say I’d not be along on all of them and that it was independent

hiking etc. They really prefer to be told what to do and where to go and then go along with them. It’s very interesting how that works. I’m learning so much. These guys have been great subjects.

One of the ladies reminds me of Aunt Maureen. She is quiet and a great sport and then she’ll do something so funny and out of the blue it’s great. She is really willing to go for it!

Let’s see what else I have figured out today. Don’t let Brian hold the pizza while you walk away as he’s likely to eat it all! I also learned that Tom was right about a few things that English people do and that was really funny.

He said they wouldn’t like thick milkshakes and they didn’t so much. He said they’d likely order vanilla and strawberry ice-cream and they did. It was really funny. I can’t wait to tell him how spot on he was.

So I’ll try to keep good notes on times and distances. They really like to know that and it makes my day easier to know it’s an hour from the Valley to El Portal.

Also they like to know where everything is and it’s been challenging to get them to go find it for themselves. I’ll point them in the right direction and that’s not good enough. I’ll know those sorts of the things soon enough but right now I just want them to go and find out.

I’ll have my work cut out for me for the next portion as it’s all new to me but it should be fun. We’ll be seeing some cool stuff anyways.

So all for now. I’ll put notes in here for weds and then have internet hopefully at the next stop.

Brian leaves me tomorrow. I really don’t want him to go. Its been nice to have someone to hang out with and he is great company. I really like him. He’s got great advice and he knows a lot about this place. And he’s so mellow its unbelievable. What a great guide he’d be (has been, will be again I’m sure) also a great travel companion I’m thinking. His girlfriend is lucky.

So to finish up this day (back to the 28th again) I had to run down the last mile of the trail to get to where Brian was today. He ended up leaving early afternoon and we had things to cover still. I got really sad (its so pathetic) its been so nice to have someone to hang out with and vent to etc. 

Thank goodness my group is so cool. They've been great sports and they all get along well which makes it easy. They look out for each other and they bought me an ice cream today even though I walked them to death so all is well. 

This is a tough job and I lost heart today on the hike. Not the hike itself but having wobbly hikers and families that split up and tough terrain, it was stressful. 

From now on I will walk them to the Visitors Center at the park and turn them over to the Ranger. 

I'll be able to blog regularly again now that we are headed out of here so all will be well. I'm trying to think of what else...

My bear count is 3. I saw one and then another up a tree eating apples (we stopped for that one, the group was thrilled!) and then the one on the way to the wrong trail. Sheesh! 

 That photo is of the stair case. There are people standing at the railing at the top of that falls. Vernal Falls on the mist trail.