McCulloughver's Travels: Yosemite National Park

We have had a pretty incredible past four days camping in Yosemite National Park.

Yosemite Falls and Half Dome

We arrived to this desolate location solely on luck as GPS, cell service, and Wi-Fi are all apparently scared of the place! That actually might have been one of my favorite parts, though. We were so far out in the middle of nowhere that we could enjoy the outdoors without being distracted by checking Facebook, posting on Instagram or seeing the scores on ESPN. All of the above were impossible to do and it was great.

On the down side, there were a few scary things that we had to remain aware of at all times:

1.) Daniel was so gracious as to warn me of a killer virus that had been found in Yosemite, and advised me that the only way to evade it was to avoid breathing in the dust in areas where rat pellets (or pills as Mamaw would say) may or may not be present. So, that naturally only left me with two choices. Not knowing where Splinter had pooped and not pooped, I could either breathe freely and take my chances or not breathe at all and die immediately. We both chose the former and have survived to die another day. Now I understand how my brother felt when I made him watch House with me…the power of suggestion is a dangerous thing.

Half Dome at sunset!

2.) Beware of Bears! That’s all you ever hear while you’re in Yosemite. Everything that smells like anything, even an innocent little tube of chapstick, must be kept in a bear locker when not in use. Well, all of these warnings kind of got me a little bit worried, especially the first night before I really got used to everything. They had me convinced that if I accidentally left my strawberry chapstick in the tent while we slept, a hungry bear would catch a whiff of it, rip into our tent, and gobble us up like a couple of honey-head kids. So, I slept pretty lightly that first night, which is very “abby”-normal for me (no…it’s not a typo…it’s a Mel Brooks reference people!). I put my chapstick in the locker and all was well…until about 1:30 AM. I was abruptly awakened by the shrills and screams of a teenage boy in agonizing pain and terror. I was positive by his sounds that the kid in the tent next to ours had left his chapstick in his pocket and had subsequently become a honey-head kid. I woke Daniel up because I was too scared of what I might see if I looked out the window myself. The people were speaking an unfamiliar language, but the wails and agonizing groans were pretty easy to understand. This went on for a few minutes, and I was getting more scared by the second. Every few sentences, I could pick out a word that I recognized, some encouraging but some discouraging. Then the recognizable words became more and more frequent…they starting even sounding like tunes. By about the third chorus of “Don’t wake me up up up up up up” I realized that this little jerk had apparently either faked a bear attack or had a special brownie in his after-supper sundae. Either way, we were ticked about it. But then I realized, ironically, that as long as he was making all of that racket, no bear in its right mind would be coming around. We went back to sleep, and actually never saw a single bear the whole time we were in Yosemite.

The beginning of our 8.5 mile/3,200 foot descent to Yosemite Valley

3.) We did a few hikes while we were in Yosemite. We figured that was probably one of the best ways to see everything up close and personal, and it definitely was. The scary part was that it would be exceptionally easy to see things way too close and be personally killed by the sheer brute of the wilderness. I learned that life is a lot like hiking/rock climbing: one wrong step and you’re screwed, probably even dead. Some of the trails we were on, if you were to misstep by a couple of inches….dead. For example, if you know much about me you know that I don’t have a great track record with stairs. I think that’s the Strickland in me. But the stairs on these trails were not plush carpeted, nor would the landing be hilariously embarrassing. No, these trail “stairs” were wet from the mist off of a raging waterfall that would, with one slip, send you directly over the sharp, jagged edge. So yeah, I was a little intimidated.

But I bet you want to know about all the good experiences, huh? There were definitely far more than three good things about Yosemite, so it was just easier to do it this way. We had countless good times, which included the hikes (the views were well worth the risk of injury!), the wildlife, the rocks and waterfalls, chasing sunsets, sleeping under more stars than I’ve ever seen and so much more. But you know the drill, either check out the pics or get in the car. I have no words to say how awesome our Creator always has been and always will be. He is more stable than any mountain and stronger than any waterfall. It kills me to think that He designed Yosemite to show us how great He is and to cause us to worship Him. It’s working!

Next Stop - San Francisco, CA!!!