Yosemite

Well, I'm going to have to do the short version, since I've let it sit too long now and my brain leaks.

Saturday morning we got to school at 7:30, packed up, and were on the road by 8. Last year we stayed in the hostel, so we didn't have as much equipment, but this year we were camping, so P-Man rented a U-Haul and the kids just threw all their stuff in it, so it made packing easy. I was the scout car, sort of, and my mission was to get to the camp before noon, when our reservation would be forfeited. So we tore ass out of there, stopped once in Oakdale for McDonalds, then got to the camp at 11:30. (Well, there was one brief carsickness episode that we stopped to clean up.) I looked at both group sites (they were across from each other), determined that camp C was bigger than A, and that we had more girls on the trip, so we toook C and I set up my tent (including my air mattress -- I come prepared). Soon, other people arrived and we all unloaded the U-Haul and got everything set up. We put our food into the bear lockers (that which we didn't leave in the U-Haul) and then helped the kids with their tents, etc.

Then we drove down to the valley floor (about a 45 minute drive) and caught sight of Half Dome and El Capitan. The first time you come around a corner and see a huge meadow and forest in a valley nearly 6000 feet below, it's breathtaking. I kept pointing out to the kids the waterfalls, the views, the wildflowers. They were a quiet group, so I was pretty much the only one talking. In the valley, we took half the kids on the Lower Yosemite Falls walk (I hesitate to call it a hike, as there was a woman on a Lark up there to watch a wedding --- the bridesmaids in their sleeveless dresses looked FREEZING in the mist and wind coming off the falls!). The other half went to the Miwok village, the cemetery, the Ansel Adams gallery, etc. Then we traded groups. I went on the walk again. When we got back, it was almost 6:30, so we hurried back to camp. On the drive, the sun was slanted at eye level, which was annoying but also created some incredible effects, like the underside of a stone bridge all lit up. It took a long time to get everything set up for dinner, and we didn't eat until after 8. By the time everyone was fed and everything was cleaned, the kids were like "So are we going on the night hike?" And we had to say no, it's almost curfew! Brush your teeth and go to bed!

I slept like hell that night. Actually to say I slept like hell is almost an exaggeration of how much I slept, because mostly I laid around and was cold and alert and thinking about stuff. I think I finally fell asleep about 4 am and woke up at 6 when the boys wandered over. I heard later that the two counselors went to the bathroom in the middle of the night and saw a ranger standing perfectly still in the clearing by our tents. We also heard some shots that night. We all suspect there was a bear nearby.

We got breakfast set up (cereal, bagels, danishes, cinnamon rolls, oatmeal, fruit...) and pretty quickly cleaned up and got in the vans. That day was the Nevada Falls/Vernal Falls hike. We drove to Curry Village and parked, then let the kids do a little shopping. Then we rounded them up and shuffled them off to the shuttle stop. The first shuttle that came was pretty full, so half of us got on and half of us (my half) just walked the mile to the trailhead. I am usually the one to bring up the rear on hikes. I know I can make it all the way, and I don't mind waiting for the slow kids. But within a couple hundred yards, I was so far behind the group! The counselors and other chaperones were the slowest walkers ever! I was trying to stay behind them, but going that slowly was going to keep me far from the kids. Thankfully, Pman relieved me of my duty and took up the rear. I left him and three other chaperones behind (this is important later). Anyway, I caught up with the kids soon, and walked with them to the first lovely photo op spot. It's a bridge that overlooks the waterfall. It's just gorgeous. Coey (the hike leader and a good friend) was laying on a flat rock in the sun and I joined him. "It's kind of zen, being here with all these kids. Sometimes I look around and think 'What am I doing here with all these kids?! But then I look at them and think..." I finished for him, "What would I be doing here without them?" It's really rewarding and cool, honestly. Like, maybe an hour before, as we walked to the trailhead, one of the other teachers pointed out an unusual spiderweb and told a kid who was hanging back with us that only a particular kind of spider made that kind of web. Then the teacher wandered off and I sped up a bit and I heard the kid, a fifteen year old boy, say totally to himself "I'm learning so much on this trip." Isn't that cool?

Anyway, then we started up again, and for a while, the trail continues as a moderate uphill. But then you hit the stairs. There are three tenths of a mile of stairs straight up the side of a mountain, and for about half of them, you're beset with winds and heavy mist. It gets cold and slippery, and the stairs are narrow. This is where the kids get a little concerned. I met up first with one girl who asked if she could go back. I said no, because everyone else was going up and she couldn't be alone. Sounds harsh, but I know she just needed the motivation to get up. She followed. Then I ran into another young lady who was hot, tired, scared, and dizzy. I walked with her, encouraged her, and we went about ten steps at a time, but we were moving. As we got closer to the top, we picked up two more stragglers, and I pushed them to the last 40 feet of stairs to the top. I know it's dorky as hell, but getting to say "You're almost there! That's the top! You can do it!" is just... It's great is what it is. We all got to the top of Vernal Falls and sat down with the rest of the kids to eat lunch and taunt squirrels.

Then came the split. A little more than half of the group wanted to go to the top of Nevada Falls, another mile and a half straight up. Twelve kids wanted to go back down via an easier route. We decided that the three male teachers would go up to Nevada Falls and the three female chaperones would take the route down. I suppose it's a little sexist, but the truth is that all three of the guys are very outdoorsy and I had already confided my achilles tendon problems to Coey, so it really was fair. The plan was, they would go a little way to the scenic overlook and we would follow, then split up. But right as they set off, the two other female chaperones decided to use the facilities, so we waited. The kids asked how they would get their shower things if all three male chaperones had their van keys, so I sent two kids to run after them to get the keys and turn right back. Now, these two kids set off just thirty seconds behind the first group, so they were able to follow them easily. By the time the bathroom trip was done, however, they were nowhere to be seen. We set off anyway, assuming we were following them. We hit the first sign, which said only "trail" and had a large yellow arrow pointing right. We followed it. We thought we would see the two girls any moment. We kept walking, mostly uphill. We did not hit a scenic overlook. We asked some other travellers for a map, and it was vague, but the trail we were on did not seem to include a scenic overlook. We started to worry. The kids were not back. It did not appear that we were following them. We called someone in the other group on their cell (after about three failed tries) and found out that they had indeed gotten to the other group and turned around... twenty minutes ago. We had been walking for twenty minutes. If we were on the same trail, there was no way we could have missed them. So now we were really concerned. There were a few options. We could turn around and try to find them, re-tracing our path (with kids who were already tired and unhappy) twice. We could go on and hope they followed us and caught up quickly. We could turn around and potentially NOT find them. But wait! There were four adults still on the trail behind us! They hadn't made it up by lunch, but they must be there now, and the kids would certainly run into them if they went back to our lunch spot. Slightly relieved at the prospect, we went ahead. When we reached the bridge again, about 1/2 a mile from the trailhead, we sat down to take a rest. Within thirty seconds, someone yelled the name of one of the missing students. Sure enough, they were stumbling down the same trail we had come down!! I ran to them, saying the kinds of things you'd expect ("Oh thank god! We were so worried!") and one of them started to cry. I almost cried, too. When we started walking again, they gravitated to the head of the group so as not to get left behind again!

As in turns out, three of the adults at the end had quit and gone back to Curry Village, while the counselor who had gone on had suffered an attack of vertigo at the foot of that 40-foot staircase to the top. A friendly Scout leader walked her, arm-in-arm, all the way back down the wet staircase to the bottom. So they wouldn't have run into her at all.

Our group got back to Curry Village first and was there taking showers, shopping, and eating pizza, and about two hours later, the other group arrived to do more of the same. Finally, my carload of kids was ready to return to camp, and we had an earlier and more pleasant dinner. Then we toasted marshmallows (at least I did!) and made s'mores, and finally went on our much-anticipated night hike. It was a very short one to a meadow at the campground. We made the kids turn off their flashlights and walk in the dark, and when we got to the meadow we looked at the stars. I saw a shooting star (I have a knack, I think). Then we walked back in the dark, too.

I slept much better that night. Well, I bought an extra blanket and took two sleeping pills, so I guess it would have been surprising if I hadn't.

The next morning we pretty much broke camp and left. I got the kids back to school around noon. There was a little drama because Coey had to give a test at one, so he left super-early, and took whatever kids were ready to go right then. The kids who had been in his van were hurt that they had to be split up, and were trying to manipulate people into trading with them and stuff. I ended up with most of them, and allow me to just say that it was a much more talkative ride home.

When I finally got back to my house (it took a long time to get the van returned, because there was a train sitting on the tracks, so I spent ages on the road on the way to the rental place), I took a long lukewarm bath. I was really overheated, because I was still in my jeans and had been sitting in the sun in the car. It was 30 degrees when I woke up and 90 degrees when I got home, which was a little disconcerting.

And unless I think of anything else, that was this year's Yosemite trip!