Our Most Recent Travels

Nate and I spent the last week going from one family reunion, to Yosemite, and then to another family reunion.

Our first reunion was for the Wilcken family (Nate's mom's side of the family) in the little town of Leamington, UT. It started on Friday, June 4th, but we didn't get to head down to it until Saturday. We spent our time eating lunch and floating down the Sevier River in a canoe with family members. We then stayed at an uncle's house until Monday morning, when we took off for Yosemite. We spent Monday night at a commercial campground a little outside the park. (We tried to get a campground in the park, but they were all gone when we looked. Based on a conversation we overheard on a shuttle in the park, it sounds like they were all gone on the first day they were open to reserve.)

Tenaya Lake

Since it was a pretty cool year, the Tioga Pass on the east side of the park didn't open until a couple days before we were scheduled to head through it. We were very grateful when it did open, since that saved us from the three to four hour drive around to the other side of the park. However, we were sorry to learn that the cables for Half Dome were still not up. The abundance of snow forced the park to postpone putting them up a couple weeks later than usual. I had been eagerly anticipating the hike for several months, so I felt rather acutely disappointed when our plans were frustrated. We will have to go back and try another year.

On Tuesday, we still followed the lower parts of the Half Dome trail (along the Mist and John Muir trails) to see Vernal and Nevada Falls. It was one of the most interesting and most beautiful hikes I have ever been on. There is so much to see on it and so many changes in the trail itself, I don't know how anyone could beome bored with it. It was also very wet with the mist coming off the falls. We were soaked through by the time we reached the top of Vernal Falls, and other sections of the trail weren't exactly dry either.

Mist Trail to Vernal Fall

 

Vernal Fall

Nevada Fall

Wednesday we tried hiking around Mirror Lake. Unfortunately, we missed the sign at the beginning of the trail explaining that a large rock slide had caused damage to the trail, and that it was closed after that point. We reached the rock slide and found the trail buried in large fallen trees, not to mention a bit flooded.

We still saw Mirror Lake though. However, there was so much run off the waters were not as calm as they are at other times, and the slight turbulence prevented the clear mirror effect on the water's surface. It was still pretty though.

Mirror Lake

After eating lunch, we headed over to Yosemite Falls.

Yosemite Falls

Then we drove up to Glacier Point. This proved to take longer than anticipated due to road construction that restricted traffic to one lane. We had to wait in line for our turn to go up, and again for our turn to come down. By the time we left the park, we were already behind schedule. Then the drive to Folsom ended up taking a good deal longer than what Google Maps estimated...

But the fabulous view at Glacier Point made it worth the trip up to it anyway.

At Folsom Lake

We spent the rest of the week with Nate's family for a family reunion with just immediate family members. Thursday we played soccer and frisbee, went bowling, and spent time on the beach at Folsom Lake. Then Friday we headed out to Stinson Beach for a hike and some more time playing games by the water and on the sand. I haven't been to the beach since we lived in Texas, so I was particularly happy to enjoy the afternoon there.

View of Rocks along beach from top of the trail

Waves coming in on Stinson Beach

Saturday we were able to be in the Sacramento Temple while Nate's brother Jonathan and his wife Karris were sealed.

We spent Sunday at church and with friends and family. We were even able to visit my studio partner from BYU who is living in Sacramento. We then drove back home to Utah on Monday.

It was a good trip.

If you want to see more of our pictures, you can view them here.