Yosemite Part 1 - Getting there

Instead of telling, and re-telling, and re-telling the stories of my recent trip to Yosemite I decided to finally get up off my butt and just create a blog about it.  I've had the intention of doing this kinda thing since my friend Leah mentioned I should last year when I went on a ski trip.

Anyway, to this story and some cool pics from my latest adventure.

The Plan:

7 days of climbing (roughly) with my friend Mitch.  A day of travel on either end.  Starting with an early Saturday AM flight and ending with a slightly earlier Sunday AM flight the following weekend.


Day 1 - 08 September 2012:

Flight was at 0700ish outta Dulles.  Damn that's early.  Woke up at roughly 0445 and was mostly ready to go by the time Leah arrived at 0515 (precisely, I should add).

We flew to Chicago, changed planes, and then flew to Reno, NV.  I have to say, Reno's airport is pretty nice.  The assault on the senses from gambling machines is mostly limited.

Picked up our sweet Toyota Corolla rental car and we're off! To find a local REI so we can buy fuel...and some other random crap like bars, shot blocks, etc. 

We're off again! To find some lunch at a local Mexican place where I would've been better served if I knew Spanish. 

A few errands later in that same shopping center and we're off! To some random supermarket where we pick up a styrofoam cooler and some other random food items.

Ok...finally, we're off leaving Reno.  Just an FYI to anyone heading south from Reno anytime soon, the new Interstate (I580) doesn't show up on any maps yet.  So by following the directions on my iPhone it had me going on the old US 395, which is the same as I580 for a bit.  But where 395 makes this turn, 580 now continues.  We got off 580 and took the 'old' highway because we were following the directions.  We quickly realized that the big highway we could see going parallel to our road is where we really wanted to be.  Ugh.  But what's a road trip without a detour? Later, we would learn from Arthur that it isn't a road trip at all unless you have at least one detour.  Check!  We get back on 580 and head down to Carson City.  One more stop there at a Whole Foods and we're really on our way.

The drive down to Tuolumne Meadows (TM) from Reno is pretty cool.  The road winds through a few rugged canyons, past some prairies and pastures and finally goes through the small town of Lee Vining.  A right-hand turn and you start the climb up and watch the temperature drop.  I can feel the elevation change when we stop at the check-in station.

By the time we got to TM and checked in at the campground it was after 1700.  As we turned into the campsite I noticed Lembert Dome in the rear-view mirror.  "Wow. That's big", I thought.  Man was I in for a surprise.